The Benefits Of Making Your Business A Greener Place
To many owners, the benefits of making your business more environmentally friendly might not need all that much explanation. For some people, the priority of preserving our planet, protecting ecological diversity, and minimising our impact through reducing our carbon footprint might be enough. But for those of you who need a little more justification as to why it’s good for business, that’s what we’re going to take a look at now. Green business isn’t just good for the green, it’s good for the business.
It can win customers
What is it that drives customers to your business? A great value proposition for your products and services. What makes the value proposition, however? It’s not just the pricing strategy, it’s not just the quality of product or the solution that your services offer. It’s also knowing what kind of business that they are supporting. Corporate social responsibility is something business owners are becoming much more aware of, as the political and ideological values of companies are being more publicly scrutinized than ever before. Customers do care that businesses are green, and have shown that they’re willing to pay slightly more for products that bear logos such as Fair Trade or proven environmentally friendly.
It can make things more convenient
Efficiency is a very popular world when it comes to talking about green business. It’s not energy efficiency or carbon efficiency, but efficiency in how you carry out your work processes as well. Perhaps the best example of this is the switch to a paperless filing system. Paperless filing software like Mariner Software doesn’t just cut the costs of buying paper. It also cuts on the costs of printing, including ink and toner, and the costs of the very real physical space and storage equipment you need for your files. What’s more, it takes a lot less time for your team to move a digital file from one folder to the next rather than to file it manually, and retrieving it digitally is much easier, too.
It costs less
Speaking of efficiency that’s important to the business, we can’t forget about cost efficiency. Though the initial install price of green hardware, whether it be a more efficient air conditioning system, LED light bulbs, or water-saving taps, will cost you a little more in the short-term, the long-term savings aren’t to be underestimated. However, there are some green switches that be made with very little initial cost, such as the switch from petrol to more efficient gases like LPG from suppliers like Supagas. Not only does it burn hotter, producing more energy while burning less, but it’s also easier to store and transport in liquid canisters, making it a much more effective choice for warehouse and industrial equipment.
It can improve employee morale
It’s not just the customers who are paying attention to the spoken values of the company, and how well (or poorly) their actions live up to them. Your employees care just as much. If they can get behind the company values and culture 100%, they are more likely to be engaged and motivated in your work. What’s more, they can provide just as much help towards your goals of a greener business as making all the right investments can. More businesses are starting to use green incentives, whether it’s offering rewards for contributing to office goals or offering time off for them to volunteer at green non-profits of their choice.
It’s good for the brand
We’ve already mentioned how customers care about how a company is perceived in relation to its corporate social responsibility. However, the truth is that being the green alternative can help you not only convince customers to stay with your brand, it can help from a marketing position angle, as well. Making the switch to more efficient practices gives you good reason to produce press releases that will be picked up, allowing you to improve the status of the business. What’s more, it can help you develop a niche that your competitors might not already have, drawing even more attention to you. It can that cementing aspect of the brand that allows you to fix yourself a space in the industry where you’re not constantly clamouring for attention.
From winning more customers to establishing a brand niche to making real cost-effective decisions on how you run your business, green business is becoming more and more sustainable as time goes on. The sooner you start considering the money and time cost of making the switch, the sooner you can start benefiting from those long-term wins.