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If you haven’t tuned into the news over recent years, it would be fair to say that we are well and truly in the era of sustainability and as the press like to put it, “going green”.
This seems to be slowly rolling out across industries. At first, it was the construction-sector, but now more and organizations are taking part. As a business owner, it can be difficult to put forward any sort of case to become more sustainable. Small businesses, in particular, have this issue, as funds tend to be tighter.
As it turns out, it’s absolutely paramount that you try and put a case together. Sustainability doesn’t just involve printing less paper; it also touches upon making sure that spills are taken care of, and the environment as a whole is just looked after. Bearing this in mind, let’s now take a look at some of the points that can form your sustainable business case.
The brand-factor
As we all know, brands are extremely powerful from a marketing perspective. Unfortunately, this is something of a long-game, and it can take years to establish any sort of brand (unless you have exceptionally deep pockets). Sustainability is something, at least at the moment, which can help you with this. It can set you apart from the competition, and show that you mean business when it comes to the environment.
It can fuel innovation
Quite often, going green is something that can help companies think more outside the box. While it’s certainly not a given rule, on the most part, a lot of traditional development techniques don’t take the environment into account.
As such, by opting for a green approach, you will tend to turn to new methods which might just make your company a forward-thinking and innovative firm that subsequently grabs more market share.
It can even help with employee retention
If recent studies are to be believed, more employees would prefer to work for sustainable companies (and even sacrifice their pay in return for this).
It means that one of the most eyebrow-raising points is that sustainability can prompt better employee retention. There are probably other indirect reasons behind this – mostly related to the point that if an employer pays a lot of attention to sustainability, they are also likely to value other ethical concerns. Regardless, the stats don’t lie, and this is another way to build your business case.
You develop a USP
This final point ties in with the second point we made in today’s article, about innovation. Nowadays, a lot of customers are actively seeking companies who place a high emphasis on sustainability. It means that if this is something you can provide; you are immediately providing yourself with something of a USP. Is this going to be enough to close every deal that comes your way? Probably not. It will be something that gradually gets more important, though, and over time allows your sales to grow even more.
