Sustainable Policies Grow Sales

 - 15th October

The Level 3 team have just completed a client assignment which resulted in some attractive new business from the public sector. This client had never had any public sector business before our assignment, and part of our project involved building their profile among buyers in their market sector and in helping them to convert leads into sales.

One of the things that really struck us as we worked on the project was the tremendous emphasis that public sector buyers now place on sustainable practices. Over the last two years this has grown significantly and it now a very strong opportunity for businesses to differentiate themselves when competing for businesses.

For some time, public sector buyers have wanted to see evidence of green and sustainable policies from supplying businesses and this used to be sufficient to bring success in tenders. Simply having a document that stated how important that sustainable practices are to your business met the requirements of most public sector buyers.

The increased emphasis on practical sustainable practice has emerged in the last 18 months. Now buyers want to see evidence of how potential suppliers build good green and sustainable practices into their business in a way that makes a difference. Our conversations with buyers over the course of this project indicate that most businesses are lacking in this area and are obviously window dressing in this area.

Companies that take sustainability more seriously and make it a core part of what they do can develop an important differentiator. Not only is it valued by many important buyers, but it is relatively simple to implement and it need not cost a lot. It does need businesses to take a step back and to plan some changes in how they do business. More focus on re-usage, recycling, waste reduction and lower energy consumption can all pay dividends. If you are short of ideas, there are plenty of well informed green consultants who can help with advice.

If government contracts and the public sector could be an important market for your organisation, then you will have to take sustainability seriously. If you act now, you can build yourself an advantage in the market. The alternative is to do it when forced to and expend the same effort for no gain at some time in the not so distant future.

This article is the property of Markmedia, a Level3 Consulting brand.

sustainable marketing green marketing public sector public contracts