Magic Carpet Ride for Business

How many of you struggle with sales, growing your business, being profitable, and negotiating pricing with your clients? Anyone out there struggling with this?

This was a wall post on facebook to which, as a sustainability consultant, I could not resist the urge to reply with a single word answer: sustainability.

As far as we are concerned at Taiga Company, business sustainability is the power that fuels the profitable business model of the future. It makes invisible opportunities –visible, unlikely business partners –allies, illuminates risk not on your radar, and raises the consciousness of the impacts of business choices.

Sounds like magic. It's not. But understanding what it is might be. One way to look at it is to ask, what drives profitability in your business? Cost? Revenue? Shareholder return?   Business sustainability is best appreciated when viewed through the lens of your business. Consider how business sustainability programs can help your business to improve sales, grow your business and differentiate your business from the competition.

Reduce business cost:
Sustainable business strategies of waste reduction, energy efficiency, and other operational efficiency measures reduce costs and enable competitiveness.   By adding general eco awareness or simply incorporating a few sustainability concepts into and existing supply chain as best practices, companies can proactively address supply stability and quality issues from a different perspective.

Improve Sales:
Business reputation matters. Developing and delivering commercially successful products and services that build customer loyalty are essential in today’s markets.
•    Integrate sustainability concepts into product and service development
•    Shift sustainability from a cost add-on to a value driver
•    Change perceptions to build stronger brands
The result: increase sales, new revenue streams, improved brand loyalty.

Stay ahead of the curve:
The Environmental Protection Agency is set to complete its determination that greenhouse gases pose a danger to human health and the environment, paving the way for regulation of carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles, power plants, factories refineries and other major sources.   As a result, it has become critical for many companies to have comprehensive business sustainability strategies to address emissions.

Differentiating your business from others comes down to implementing the right actions that will promote growth. By taking a sustainable business approach, you are positioning your company to leverage sustainability concepts and best practices from across industries to implement specific solutions that deliver targeted value to your business.