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?

Thoughts from UC Berkeley talk by John Anderson, Levi Strauss CEO, “A New Way of Thinking About Companies, Society and Sustainability”

I recently returned from a visit to my alma mater, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. Along with meeting with some of the wonderful people at the Center for Responsible Business, I got a chance to relive some of what makes Haas so extraordinary.  I attended a talk by Levi Strauss CEO, John Anderson entitled “Levi Strauss & Co.: A New Way of Thinking About Companies, Society, and Sustainability.”

Anderson started by going through the greatest hits of Levi’s social responsibility performance and commitment to profits through principles.  He mentioned

• Keeping employees on after the damage of CA Earthquake of 1906
• Integrating factories in the South long before any other manufacturers
• Developing a comprehensive strategy to support employees with HIV/AIDS long before any other brands
• Setting up the Red Tab foundation to support current and retired workers
• All the way to the current matching grants for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti

While all of these achievements are laudable, Anderson stressed what makes Levi Strauss a socially responsible company is the consistency of these actions.  He talked about the trust that Levi Strauss has built with its customers as an authentic brand.  He was candid about how Levi Strauss had to trade of that trust when Levi Strauss lost their grasp of what products the consumer wanted.  He says that Levi’s values bought them the time to figure out what consumers want and deliver on that. 

Overall, there were no groundbreaking insights or ideas that came out of Anderson’s speech.  It was more of going over what we already know about Levi Strauss but that is not necessarily a bad thing.  In fact, I think that it is a good thing.  It means that (with this audience at least) Levis is doing an effective job communicating their CSR and sustainability goals.  I think the goal of Anderson’s speech was more to inspire MBA’s and show that Levi’s program has top level executive commitment.  I wonder what else they could have done with this platform.

What do you think?  If a company is already doing a good job telling their story, how should they push the envelope in communicating?

Making the Connection with Employee Volunteerism Programs - Employee Volunteerism Strategies (Part 4)

How to Leverage Employee Volunteerism Programs in a Down Economy (Part 4 of 4)

Definitions of the Employee Volunteerism Strategies

In order to thrive in this economy, my advice is that employee volunteerism programs should pick one strategy to pursue in alignment with the business’s larger strategic goals.

Below is a brief list of some volunteerism strategies defined:

Strategy	Brief Description
Volunteering Together: Team Volunteering	This program focuses on getting employees out to work as teams outside the typical corporate structure in new creative ways.  This program would be flexible in impact areas and types of organizations served.
Engaging Employees’ Passions	This program focuses on getting grassroots involvement from employees in the company.  Passionate and empowered employees will drive and shape this program with support and guidance from an EVP manager.
Living Our Commitment	This program focuses on a few impact areas that are culturally important to the company and maintains a consistent message of commitment by the employees and the company.
Volunteering to Grow: Skills Based volunteering	This program focuses on building capacity both for non-profits and within your company.  This program works closely with managers and human resource departments to identify which skills need to be developed for which types or levels of employees.
“In Our Customers’ Shoes” Volunteering	This program focuses on the community being helped and can cross many impact areas that serve that community.  This program works closely with the marketing and business development team to make sure the community served is relevant.

Conclusion

Employee Volunteerism Programs take many different forms to support different goals.  This flexibility is one of the strengths that make employee volunteerism programs such a valuable tactic for achieving business goals.  These programs will be most successful and most effective when they are aligned with CEO and senior leadership goals.

Making the Connection with Employee Volunteerism Programs - Achieving Marketing Goals (Part 3)

How to Leverage Employee Volunteerism Programs in a Down Economy (Part 3)

Marketing Goals

Beyond human resource and basic corporate social responsibility goals, employee volunteering is a powerful tactic for achieving marketing goals. Whether your company is entering new markets, delivering customer focused innovations or finding new ways to make your brand more relevant in your customers’ lives, volunteering can provide a new way for your employees to get close to your customers.  If volunteering with or for your customers is not possible, volunteering will provide your marketing or R&D employees with a constructive break that will lead to more creative and inventive thinking.

If your business’s marketing goals are	Your EVP adds value in this way	EVP Strategy
Entering new markets, affinity-based line extensions, diversity marketing Example: “As the demographics of our communities change, we need to focus on entering these new growing markets.”	Volunteering in the community you wish to enter will help expose employees to the needs, desires and culture of the target customers in a very authentic way.  Working side by side with your target customers will give your marketing team insights that they could never learn in a focus group.	“In Our Customers’ Shoes” Volunteering
Being more customer focused Example: “In this environment more than ever, we need to listen to our customers and design products for them.”	When marketing teams become isolated from their customers, they are less productive in speaking to their customers.  Volunteering with and for your customers can help lead to breakthroughs in product design, promotion development and other marketing mix components.	“In Our Customers’ Shoes” Volunteering
Make your brand more relevant in consumers’ lives Example: “To thrive in this economy, we need to become a lifestyle brand for our customers.”	No matter if your brand means trust, like Allstate or value and good design like Target, marketing teams want to find new ways to make your brand relevant in your consumers’ lives.  By aligning with brand-right volunteer opportunities, you can strengthen your brand in more authentic ways while engaging your employees and helping the community.	“In Our Customers’ Shoes” Volunteering

Next up - Definitions of the Employee Volunteerism Strategies

Making the Connection with Employee Volunteerism Programs - Achieving CSR Goals (Part 2)

How to Leverage Employee Volunteerism Programs in a Down Economy (Part 2)

CSR Goals 

In the past decade, many companies have made aggressive and admirable goals to around environmental and social responsibility. Some companies are scrambling to find ways to maintain their commitment in an era of tighter budgets and increased corporate scrutiny. Maintaining the commitment is important to proving to internal and external stakeholders that your company takes its responsibility seriously and is not just green-washing.

If your business’s strategic CSR goals are	Your EVP adds value in this way	EVP Strategy
Be involved in solving community problems Example: “We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work.” – Johnson & Johnson Credo, Allstate 2009 Annual Report	Having your employees volunteering in the community is a concrete way to make a difference in the local and global community.  Because groups of employees volunteering in company t-shirts is easier to see than philanthropic donations, the public will give your company more credit for what your employees do versus what your foundation donates.	Living Our Commitment
Bring attention to pressing environmental or social issues Example: Johnson & Johnson’s Campaign for Nursing’s Future helps bring attention to preventing the impending nurse shortage.	Make sure to aligning your employee volunteerism program with non-profits that are working toward the same goal as your initiative.  This alignment will show your stakeholders that you are not just talking about the problem; you are dedicating your most important resource, your people, to that cause.	Living Our Commitment
Make our philanthropic donations more strategic Example: “It is not enough to just give away money anymore.  We need our philanthropic dollars to make a difference in our customers’ world.”	Many companies have goals to give away a certain amount of money to help an important cause.  Donating through giving hours of employees’ time allows your company to give money in a more authentic and effective way.	Living Our Commitment

Making the Connection with Employee Volunteerism Programs - Intro and Achieving HR Goals (Part 1)

How to Leverage Employee Volunteerism Programs in a Down Economy (Part 1)

Introduction

During the economic downturn of the past year, many companies have been tempted to eliminate or scale down their employee volunteerism programs (EVPs). Yet, EVPs are a perfect example of programs that “does more with less.” In fact, EVPs are cost-effectively achieving very many strategic goals for companies. If EVPs are aligned and organized around a strategic business goal, they can even grow in this economy.

Making the Connection: What are the different strategic goals that EVPs can further? 

Human Resource Goals 

Goals of improving human resource metrics are high in the mind of every CEO. The struggle for EVP managers is to make that connection between the EVP programs, employee engagement and the strategic goals. In his Letter to Our Shareholders in Targets 2008 Annual report, Gregg Steinhafel, Target’s Chairman, President and CEO writes:

"In today’s environment we recognize, perhaps more than ever, the importance of providing a workplace that is preferred by our team members and the value of investing in our communities to improve the quality of life. Our legacy of community giving — both in terms of financial support and team member volunteer hours — is a hallmark of our brand and a differentiating factor in our ability to attract and retain top talent."

Some CEOs may not make that connection as quickly as Steinhafel. But there are specific strategies for linking your CEO’s goals and your EVP program that can be extremely effective in making that bond.

If your business’s strategic goals are	Your EVP adds value in this way	EVP Strategy
Focus on team building Example: “Take an enterprise view of our people and processes and work as a single team to advance Allstate rather than our individual interests.” Allstate 2009 Annual Report	When teams of employees go out of the traditional office setting and focus on a common goal, they forge new bonds and experience the benefits of working as a team to achieve a singular goal of which they previously had little commitment. Rather than their personal silo-ed goals.	Volunteering Together: Team Volunteering
Strengthen culture Example: “People come to GE because they understand there is more to life than making a buck. People come here because they want to make a difference, and never has this been more important than it is right now.” Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, GE 2008 Annual Report	Volunteering provides a very tangible expression of the core values of most of the most successful companies in the world. Furthermore, employee volunteerism programs show employees that you “walk the walk.”	Living Our Commitment
Build morale after a layoff or realignment “Our company just went through a huge transformation.  Now we need to refocus. We need to reassure the employees that are still here that our commitment to them and to the company is strong.”	Volunteering as a team or supporting individual employees’ volunteering provides a constructive venue to reignite employees’ passions and remind them why they choose to join your company.  Also, a reduction in force has an effect on the local community as a whole, employee volunteering reminds the community that your company is here to stay and still values the community.	Engaging Employees’ Passions
Cross train employees to take on new expanded roles or to reduce employee turnover Example: “To remain competitive, we need to cut costs dramatically.  We need to reduce employee training and recruitment costs.”	Skills based volunteering not only helps build capacity in non-profits; it also builds core competencies in your employees.  An employee who will soon take on project management skills can strengthen those skills by planning and executing a department-wide volunteer event. An employee who has just taken on more website design responsibility can help a non-profit to ramp up their online presence at the same time as he or she can gain experience with new web design technologies.	Volunteer to Grow: Skills Based volunteering