Greentech: does your ‘mission’ matter to your customers?

If we had to guess what your motivations are for founding a Greentech firm – be it supplying biodegradable cleaning products or providing sustainable data centres – purpose would be high on your list.

After all, it’s one thing to volunteer or campaign for a cause. It’s another to dedicate yourself to bringing your solution to market.

Your commitment to a social ‘mission’ is clear – but do your customers have to share your vision in order for you to be successful?

Let’s explore what matters to B2B buyers who might need your Greentech solutions.

Does a client have to align with your values for you to achieve your ‘mission’?

To answer the title question simply - no.

Of course, you may find that like-minded prospects gravitate to you, and in a head-to-head between your product and a competitor with different values, they are more likely to choose you.

However, whether or not they buy a Greentech solution because it aligns with their values, the net result is the same: your solution is being used in place of a less sustainable alternative.

As Beks Yelland, Product Director at Arenko puts it: “Whatever motivates a business to use climate tech, if they’re using it, then that’s really all that matters for the ‘mission”.

So, if values are just one motivator – what are the others?

What do B2B buyers care about?

Just like ‘Greentech’, there’s no single thing that defines every B2B buyer.

However, one thing that often surprises those trying to appeal to this group is that buyers are far more emotionally driven than they might expect.

In fact, it has been suggested that as many as 95% of all purchase decisions are emotional. 

There’s a misunderstanding that because B2B buyers deal in data and outcomes, they will respond only to stripped-back, emotionless messaging. This isn’t true.

However, if they are emotionally driven, that’s not to say that they aren’t rational – nor will they be sold solely on the basis that they are ‘doing the right thing’.

It does mean that you need to be thoughtful about your messaging.

How do Greentech businesses reach B2B buyers?

One of the major barriers to Greentech firms is the so-called ‘Green Premium’ – side-by-side with an equivalent product, an eco-friendly, recycled or sustainable solution will (likely) be the more expensive of the two.

In a context of a ‘cost-of-doing-business’ crisis, time-poor and resource-stretched business owners may also be inclined to follow consumer patterns and cut spending on projects they don’t see as essential to their bottom line.

However, neither of these mean that they won’t see a Greentech solution as essential. In fact, there are certain ‘pull factors’ that only Greentech solutions can claim:

• Greentech has a significant impact in the value chain – use of Greentech products doesn’t just make a customer more sustainable: it can help to decarbonise their entire supply chain, which is critical in securing government contracts and investment from sustainable funds.
  
  
• High upfront costs pay back with positive ROI–investment in Green Technologies, such as solar panels and heat pumps have long-term payback – offsetting an initial cost with not just positive ROI, but also energy security and tax benefits.
• Sustainability matters more –even despite present economic difficulties, fewer consumers than before are willing to give up sustainable purchase habits.

What’s left for Greentech founders to do is to communicate their solution differently: as essential ‘futureproofing’ that unlocks opportunities that simply aren’t available with non-sustainable alternatives.

So, where does that leave your mission?

Does my mission have a place at all?

You don’t need us to tell you that your mission is the driving force of your business – and for that reason, it can be very difficult to trust someone else to take the reins.

However, if idealism doesn’t always resonate with customers, what will convince them is a purpose-driven vision and clear solutions to their most critical pain points.

If you know your Greentech solution can deliver that, but you don’t know how to communicate it, we have the experience to understand your vision and the essential part it can play in your customers’ success.

Talk to our founder, Jenny, who understands exactly what resonates with B2B buyers: www.nutcrackeragency.com/contact or call 020 3941 0305.