Examining the impact of a sustainability strategy.

Having a sustainability strategy may sound like the province of starry-eyed dreamers rather than those concerned with the hard, dollars-and-cents operations of a business, but such a strategy can do more good for a business than expectations allow for. So what kind of benefits can a business expect to derive from having a sustainability strategy in place?

The Benefits Available to Those With a Sustainability Strategy

Nowadays, setting up a sustainability strategy isn’t just for reducing a carbon footprint or improving peace of mind that you’re doing your part to help the environment. It offers direct, measurable benefit in both cost cutting and revenue generating potential.

Improve your sales potential. A sustainability strategy can actually be a jumping-off point to improve your marketing. The Natural Marketing Institute surveyed over 53,000 US consumers and found that 58 percent of them considered a company’s overall environmental impact in making buying decisions. This might not be so helpful if you’re a business-to-business operation, but for those dealing directly with consumers or looking to deal with businesses who do, a sustainability strategy can be a direct draw to customers. What’s more, it also improves the chances of poaching market share from competitors. We know customers place sustainability in the overall buying decision process, so if your company is sustainable and your competitor isn’t, that improves the chances the customer will migrate from one company to another.

Improve risk management. Business risks are a big part of everyday operations, but the good news here is that risks can—indeed must—be managed. A sustainability strategy can actually serve as a guide to other potential business risks, including anticipations, overall trends in the market, and even regulations in the industry. Sustainability strategies force a company to look forward, and in doing so, it improves the chances of spotting potential problems and addressing those sufficiently early to protect the company against the worst effects.

Improve your talent pool. This particular advantage works in two different ways. Not only do you have the advantage of being perceived as “green”, making more potential employees interested in you, you’re also more likely to embrace the concept of remote working which is an extremely sustainable form of work. It requires zero commute time—unless something’s gone wrong with an employee’s home internet connection—and has the business spending a minimum of power to keep servers on and running. Better yet, remote working allows for employees that work in different states, time zones, or even countries, which means you can hire the very best from just about anywhere, not just within an immediate driving distance.

How to Get Started Establishing a Sustainability Strategy

A sustainability strategy can provide a lot of value for the business that puts it to work, but they don’t come out of thin air. They’re the end result of a lot of planning and expertise designed to take a business from where it is currently to where it should—or even could—be. Thus, setting up the best in a sustainability strategy can be a challenge and one that takes the best in help to produce.

To get access to that kind of help yourself, start by reaching out to us at Edge Insights. Our lineup of environmental services can help serve as the basis for a sustainability strategy, or the jumping-off point to plan a larger, more extensive campaign of sustainability. No matter what your needs are, get in touch with us to get started on a path toward greater sustainability and an improved bottom line.