In the face of increasing public interest and widespread media coverage businesses can no longer ignore the opportunities, concerns and risks posed by not having a green business strategy.  Being a ‘green business’ is like the fax machine- once you realized you needed one to conduct business, you needed it right away.

The opportunity presented by ‘greening’ your business is akin to how the Internet revolutionized the business world.  If harnessed correctly, a green business strategy will deliver tremendous results to your bottom line.

There are three main areas to developing a smart green business strategy that will deliver results in both the short term and long term.  They are: Green Operations, Green Customers, Green Branding.  You can expect to see results as follows:

GREEN OPERATIONS:

Short-term benefits: operational expenses ( electricity, water, gas, supplies, etc.) all immediately go down.

Long-term benefits: Carbon footprint reduced, more profitable vendor/supplier relationships, insurance premiums reduced.

Your operations can be defined as how your business interacts with your employees, your customers, prospects and your community.

Questions to ask:

What areas can we reduce our resource consumption?
Who are the key players needed to drive this effort at our company?
What are our competitors doing?
What are our green business goals?
What is our green strategy for the next 5 years?
How will we measure our results?
What opportunities should we pursue?
What happens if we do nothing?
What rebates and incentives are available to us?

Strategy creation:

Measure where you are at right now.(thats the starting point)
Green every part of your operations by asking 1 question in relation to every aspect of your business- “how can we make this process/relationship more sustainable?”
For example: buying paper:

• good-buy recycled.
• better-buy post consumer recycled.
• even better- post consumer recycled from green company (like greener office.com).
• best- reduce use by 50% and buy post consumer recycled from local green company that gives back (1% for the planet, etc.).

GREEN CUSTOMERS:

Short-term benefits: Happier, more productive employees, fewer sick days.

Long-term benefits: Lower turnover, productivity increased, employer/employee bond strengthened.

GREEN BRANDING:

Short-term benefits: Legitimacy, competitive advantage, first-to-market advantage.

Long-term benefits: Seen as a leader in your industry by prospects, vendors and customers.

Let’s talk about how a green strategy can help your business!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 at 3:50 pm