Selecting Businesses

Let's start by compiling a list of potential businesses to offer an energy assessment!

Getting Started

> Selecting Businesses

Reaching Out to Businesses

Conducting the Energy Assessment

Following Up

Next Steps

Before you start reaching out to businesses, let’s start with some tips and methods to generate a great list of businesses to approach.

Start with who you know.

Think of any businesses where you have existing connections. Maybe you have a friend that works there or maybe you’re just a frequent customer. Whatever the connection, having an existing contact will go a long way.

Think local first.

The more local and part of the community the business is, the more likely they’d be willing to support local volunteers from the community. If you’re a student, try to think of businesses close to campus and frequented by students.

Utilize the resources available to you.

If you’re having trouble thinking of businesses, ask your professors, coworkers, advisors, or classmates if they have any ideas or know any local business owners. Or hop on Yelp and see what pops up.

Take Notes

Start compiling a list of businesses that come to mind using the form below:

GIC Training - Selecting Businesses
(e.g. restaurant where a friend works, your favorite bar, your dentist, etc.)
(e.g. neighborhood grocery, local attraction, famous donut shop, bookstore next to campus, etc.)
People (e.g. professors, coworkers, mentors, etc.) and resources (e.g. Yelp, Google, neighborhood business associations, etc.)
Enter your email address
Sending

Download the GIC Assessment Tracker spreadsheet to easily compile and organize your selected businesses:

Download GIC Assessment Tracker

Go to "Reaching Out to Businesses" section

Selecting Businesses FAQs:

What types of businesses are eligible?

There are no restrictions on what types or size of small businesses can participate.

Try to pick businesses with 50 employees or less to keep in the “small” business sector. It can be any industry or business type.

How many businesses will say yes?

It’s hard to say and every business is different.

But as a rule of thumb, about one out of four businesses will likely say yes to an assessment. Be sure to keep that in mind when brainstorming your list of businesses, figuring how many assessments you want to complete.

What types of businesses are most popular?
  1. Restaurants
  2. Retail shops
  3. Offices