In 1988, when Seventh Generation launched in Burlington, Vermont, going green was nowhere to be found in the business vernacular. But over the next two decades, co-founder Jeffrey Hollender expanded the company -- which makes environmentally friendly household products such as diapers, laundry detergent, and dishwashing liquid -- from a tiny mail-order business into a $150 million operation. Seventh Generation has 112 employees, and its products can be found on the shelves of thousands of stores across the country.
During these difficult economic times, how does one forecast future demand with any type of accuracy?
Marge Clark
CEO
Nature's Gift, Madison, Tennessee
When you go several years without a major disruption to the economy, you can forget what it's like to be faced with this kind of economic unpredictability. It takes a different mindset to run a business in a time like this. Instead of just looking forward, you've got to take a step back.
At Seventh Generation, for example, we've recently had eight years of extraordinary growth. During that time, we put most of our energy into generating more sales by seeking out new distribution channels, expanding into more supermarkets, and adding new products. But at a time like this, you can't just assume sales will grow at a regular pace. You need to take an item-by-item look at what's selling and what's not and who's buying and who's not.