Selling "Good" to Businesses: Social Enterprise in the B2B world

Yesterday I went to an event at the PR firm Edelman where the car-sharing service I-GO was presenting to Corporate Responsibility executives about using their service as a replacement for their corporate fleet of cars.  The presentation was engaging.  I-GO does have a significant value proposition but it made me think about the challenges social enterprises face when marketing to businesses.

In case you didn't know, "I-GO was launched in 2002 by the Center for Neighborhood Technology as a non-profit corporation to introduce car sharing to the Midwest." (from I-GO Company profile) Unlike its competitor (ZipCar), I-GO has a deep social mission to not only achieve the environmental savings of a car sharing service but also provide further transportation options to all areas of the city to help spur economic development in underserved areas.  ZipCar, while a great company and possibly a social enterprise on its own, does not have that expanded mission to serve traditionally underserved markets with convenient transportation.

When it comes to marketing to consumers, we know that consumers place some value on brand and the feeling of social responsibility.  But this situation is less obvious when selling B2B.  Companies are likely to make sourcing decisions on a more traditional economic trade-off.  Especially for sourcing that is not likely to have brand consequences. 

What should a social enterprise do to make them more competitive in a B2B marketplace?  I have four suggestions:

1. Focus on the economics at the beginning.  Just simply saying, "this will save you money over competitors" is not enough.  The B2B community expects concrete examples, spreadsheets, formulas case studies and testimonials.  After you attack the economic hurdle, you can expand on your product's (and company's) unique attributes
2. Go at it from the correct angle and involve a company's corporate responsibility department from the beginning.  This is what the team at Edelman was doing with this event.  Bringing in the leaders of the CSR and Sustainability strategy at a company puts everyone in a different mindset and gives those CSR leaders an opportunity to further demonstrate their value to the company.
3. Provide plug and play CSR material that the purchasing manager can use to justify purchasing to supervisors.  Unlike the Corporate Responsibility executives at the Edelman event, most purchasing managers will not have expertise in corporate social responsibility.  As CSR professionals, we know that they way you communicate the story and value of your product is even more important than typical products.
4. Understand how your product fits into your prospective client's larger CSR and sustainability goals. If you look broadly at the company's CSR goals, you may see that your product helps to achieve other goals as well.  For example, I-GO may not only further a company's environmental commitment.  It can also dovetail with some diversity goals that focus on making the company more attractive to under-served minorities since I-GO has cars in underserved locations that can cut down on commute time for your employee living in those areas.  Even if it feels like a stretch to you, it is worth mentioning.

What do you think?  How can social enterprise more effectively target the B2B market?