The Custom-Fit Workplace has these three components:

• Telework
• Performance based management
• Non-Linear career paths

The business case for telework is growing. Examples include:

• AT&T New Jersey achieving a $6 million ANNUAL real estate savings
• 1-800 Contacts gaining $40,000 in per person sales revenues after adopting teleworking
• Enhanced work associate retention rates achieved by large companies and even small businesses like Johnson Storage and Moving of Denver, Colorado.

Key best practices are emerging from these business case studies. For work associates a key success factor is the ability to duplicate a work environment in their home or other non-central-office work locations. That means having a quite place to work without interruptions plus a dedicated phone and computer. It also requires a discipline to focus upon performance and the commitment to achieve measurable goals.

There are also key best practices for management. The first step is to review the range of jobs to identify those that are truly suitable for telework. A performance based management style is a critical step. All managers say they have this but in reality many are influenced by their “face time” with their associates. A successful telework system must have a rewards system that financially and psychologically recognizes those who deliver on performance targets. Another key best practices is having operational protocols that reflect a geographically distributed workforce including fair and consistent HR guidelines. Finally, a recommended start-up path is to begin with a pilot program of volunteers that will capture best practices for associates and management.

Telework also generates impressive societal benefits. Blades cites studies that show massive reductions in our country’s unsustainable trade deficit from reduced oil imports if those who could work remotely actually did work remotely only during half of their work week. And the savings in green house gas emissions are estimated at an annual 50 million metric tons!

In the following exclusive video interview Joan Blades talks about how the investment in developing a custom-fit workplace can create near term business profits, improvements in associates’ work experiences and solutions for our economy and the environment:

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles best practices of businesses that are making money going green. Through the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundations’ Green Builds Business program funded by Walmart he is coaching hundreds of businesses across the United States on the design and implementation of projects that will make money and a difference within 120 days.

Market research continues to affirm that consumers want to buy smart, healthy and green solutions. They just don’t want to pay more. But at price parity 85% of consumers claim they would buy the more sustainable good or service rather than a less sustainable product offering.

I have reported on test drives of the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf where the cost of energy was a $1 per day! For example, I drove the Chevy Volt 35 miles one Saturday running errands. The cost to recharge the batteries was $1. I heard from a Volt owner reporting he had gone 3,900 miles on $60 of gasoline and a $1 per day of electricity.

It is cleantech examples like the drop solar prices and emerging electric car technologies that I am an optimist regarding America, the economy and our environment. The price of doing right measured in terms of Energy Independence, our economic growth and the environment is rapidly becoming price competitive with products like imported oil.

There is a path for accelerating this success. In fact, the best path can be executed by American consumers without any government action. We just need to begin buying high mileage American made hybrid and electric cars. Doing so will restore our economy by adding jobs (car manufacturing is the single largest job creator in American history). And it will cut our importation of oil that drains our growth potential with each jump in global oil prices. If oil were a country our imports would be second in size to what we buy from China!

I am always ask what one thing I would recommend to government to get us out this economic mess plus help restore our environment. My answer is a strong incentive in support of American made hybrid and electric cars. The price of these cars are now a barrier to accelerated purchases. What if there was a $20,000 immediate cash rebate given for every American made hybrid or electric car that got at least 50 miles per gallon? Or what if we added a 20% sales tax on all cars sold that were not an American made hybrid or electric cars with at least a 50 mpg rating? My projections is this type of public policy is the single best action that could be implemented for restoring jobs, our economy and environment.

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles case studies of best practices used by businesses making money going green. During 2011 he is implementing Green Builds Business coaching business owners in 11-cities on best practices for making money and a positive difference within 120 days that was created by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation with funding by Walmart.

Nell’s blue eyes sparkle as she notes the significant growth in consumers buying locally grown organic food since the early days of this consumer trend sparked in no small measure by the start up of her Newman’s Own Organics business. The Organic Trade Association reports that U.S. sales of organic food and beverages have grown from $1 billion in 1990 to $26.7 billion in 2010. Organic farmland now exceeds 5 million acres in 45 states.

Here are the six reasons consumers are buying local food:

Taste. Local food tastes better offering a richer and more complex experience. Intuitively, Nell Newman of Newman’s Own Organic has as her company’s motto “Great tasting food that happens to be organic.” Our bodies naturally crave the salts and sugars lacing processed foods but our palettes respond to variety and complexity. Imagine trying to eat one of those tomatoes on a fast food sandwich if the overall sandwich wasn’t loaded with artificial flavorings! Our tastes prefer heirloom tomatoes.

Cheaper! Why have the total number of farmer markets grown 400% percent? Consumers have discovered they can eat for less buying local! The slow food movement is challenging all of us (and the food industry) to budget $5 per meal by buying locally produced food.

Healthier. Super Size Me is a graphic video on what eating manufactured fast foods can do to your body. Emerging medical evidence is now documenting that eating processed foods is linked to our national diabetes epidemic. The Harvard School of Public Health has published a study that finds eating just two ounces of hotdogs per day increases the risk of diabetes by 50%! This study recommends

…that consumption of processed red meat—like hot dogs, bacon, sausage, and deli meats, which generally have high levels of sodium and nitrites—should be minimized and unprocessed red meat should be reduced. If possible, they add, red meat should be replaced with healthier choices, such as nuts, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, fish, or beans.

Job Growth. Buy Local creates local jobs. American consumers have $10 trillion of annual buying power, larger than China’s entire annual Domestic Gross Production. The American consumer, without any government policies or programs, has the ability to restore full employment through their purchases. For example, Americans will buy 13 million cars this year. If the American consumer bought 13 million American-made electric hybrid cars this act alone would reduce unemployment to 5% from today’s 9+%!

Greener. The average chemically grown and processed food travels 1500 miles to arrive on your plate. For example, one study in Iowa found that the milk, sugar, and strawberries that go into a carton of strawberry yogurt collectively journeyed 2,211 miles just to get to the processing plant. That is wasteful and unsustainable. Buy Local is lean in its manufacture and delivery. Buy Local is a key part of the solution for restoring our environment.

Profitable. What drew me to do a video interview with Nell Newman was her entrepreneurial leadership demonstrating that doing right by customers and the environment is a profitable business path. In this video Nell outlines the superior sale growth being achieved by organic food products even in the face of our current economy and the challenge (business opportunity!) of organic food supplies keeping pace with the growing demand by consumers for organic food. This is a must watch video for entrepreneurs as she outlines her business best practices including how she has linked her sales to charitable contributions that have propelled her brand, and others brands like Give Something Back, to industry-leading levels of consumer loyalty.

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017 a company that crafts unique workshops that enable businesses to connect with customers seeking smart, healthy and green solutions. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles the best practices of businesses and entrepreneurs for making money and a difference. In 2011 he is implementing an 11-city coaching program called Green Builds Business that was created by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation with funding from Walmart that is helping local businesses create jobs, profits and community benefits.

B2We. Business To “We.”

That is the inspiration of a newly posted TEDxSF video entitled WE-defining ME.

Two mega-trends are combining to create a green economic revolution.

One mega-trend is social media. It is WE in action. Much of what is happening at your cash-register is now being shaped by individuals posting video, blogs, tweets and pictures on Facebook.

The smartphone is accelerating this mega-trend by putting the WE influence in the hands of consumers standing at the cash register!

The second mega trend is the adoption of “a WE buying pattern” by the Millennial Generation and their moms, the Concerned Caregivers.

Is lowest price still important. Yes, that will never change.

BUT, what is changing very rapidly is the WE’s collective-expectation for both competitive prices and alignment with values.

The Millennial Generation views sustainability as their future. They face economic and environmental fears that their future is being diminished. What can they do about it? Change what they buy and who they buy from.

ZipCar’s rapid growth has been from a Millennial Generation seeing a path of aligning value (lower car expenses) with their values (lower carbon footprint).

Organic milk has seen explosive sales growth despite its higher costs. This is the Millennial Generation and moms combining to create a demand for a product they view to be so important to health that they will pay a premium.

What does all this mean to business leaders and entrepreneurs?

Align or decline!

B2We is the sales path to growth.

Your business success will be dependent upon its ability to connect with consumers seeking smart, healthy and green solutions. It is a $10 trillion annual revenue opportunity emerging around the world!

One creative example is the national outreach program called Green Builds Business. It is being sponsored by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation and is being funded by Walmart. This program is connecting with business owners and leaders on the best green practices of pioneering CEOs and entrepreneurs.

Here’s FIVE ways for your business to successfully implement a B2We sales growth strategy:

1. Authenticity. It begins here. You are naked! That is the reality of social media. If you have something to hide, forget it, “WE” will find it and report on it. If your marketing lacks authenticity then “WE” will report it as green washing.
2. Self-candor. If you are naked then get buff! You have to look at your business from a mirror that reflects what the WE sees.
3. Align. WE expects to see alignment. That means taking specific actions toward realizing their expectations for value and values. This is a two step process. First measure your value performance compared to the WE’s values. Then develop a product and operating strategy for realizing these WE values.
4. Shape Up. Aligning with WE is a process. They won’t trust you at first. They will want to see evidence of your commitment. That’s good. That’s an opportunity to win competitive advantage. Learn, Do, And Then Do More. The WE will notice and what is really “cool” is that they will begin posting videos, tweets, Facebook pictures about your efforts. You are almost there!
5. Join The WE! I saved this for last because you can’t join the WE unless you work through steps 1-4. But by implementing steps 1-4 your business will have changed. It will be part of the WE. Your revenues will be empowered by the WE opening connections for the sale of your products.

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017, a company helping businesses connect with customers seeking smart, healthy and green solutions. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles best practices of businesses making money going green.

Vampire power is the energy that we all waste everyday because our TVs, DVRs , computers or cell phones still consume electricity even when we are not using them.

The winners of the 2nd Annual Staples EcoEasy Global Challenge is a team from the University of Cincinnati that designed the coolest gizmo you ever have seen. It is shaped sort of like a 12 inch tall R2D2 with a glowing button on top. It plugs into the surge protector we all now use to protect our electrical devices from a damaging change in electrical voltage.

Here’s the cool part of their new product design. You push the glowing top button and all the electrical devices connected to that surge protector are disconnected from drawing electricity. Boom, the death of vampire power!

This was one of over 80 entries from college kids submitted from 5 different continents.

I served as one of the judges in this contest. I take great hope from this experience that we will figure out a world that is smart, healthy and sustainable.

Here’s my take away:

1. The world is focused upon connecting the dots between going green and making money. I hope our public policy leaders can align but even if they don’t there is a world of very bright young people who see dollar signs in the opportunity of making the world a better place to live.
2. It is all about design.Doing what we do but doing it better is part of the solution. But the real solution will come from the teams I saw during this judging that are figuring out how to make today’s tasks simpler. If cutting your electric bill, which also reduces emissions, is as easy as pushing a button then who wouldn’t do it? That is sustainability in action.

Kudos to Staples for getting out there on encouraging this type of innovations. And kudos to Staples for being pretty smart business people and coming up with a great idea for creating a pipeline of office-product design innovation.

And congratulation to all the teams that participated. As a judge I will tell you the process of selecting a winner was hard. The teams and their ideas were that good.

And the biggest winners will be us. We will save money when we buy and use these emerging design innovations. But most importantly, we will also be making a difference for our world and its future.

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017 that focuses upon the emerging smart, healthy and green economy. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles best practices of businesses making money going green.

However, the depth of effort seems to only apply to a limited number of associates and maybe one C-Level executive. 75% of executives say their company has only added responsibilities for adopting sustainability to a select group of individuals or one C-Level executive.

These are the findings from a survey of business executives conducted by Gibbs-Soell.

What is especially interesting is the preceived motivation for going green.

42% of those surveyed said aligning with their customers was the primary reason for their company going green!

Approximately 1/3 gave as their company’s reason for going green “the need to reduce or reverse global climate change.” The same number gave “meeting executive leadership/stockholder demands” as the chief reason for their company going green.

This is an interesting paradox.  Company executives appear to appreciate that two of their company’s key stakeholders, namely customers and stockholders, have adopted sustainability and going green as a priority. The paradox is then why are businesses not making this a core element of their business operations?

Here’s two reasons why. 70% of these executives saw going green as providing an “insufficient return on investment.” 66% thought that their customer’s unwillingness to pay more to go green was the other reason why their company was not adopting sustainability a core element of their business.

What are lessons learned from this study?

The first is business credibility. Not many business people or customers are being fooled by where companies truly stand in terms of going green. “Only 29% of executives and 17% of consumers believe that a majority of businesses are committed to sustainability.”

The second is a question of leadership. Some companies are going green and making money doing so. They are cutting costs from reducing their environmental footprint. Others are selling more because they are aligning with their customers by offering products that “cost less, mean more.” The difference appears that the companies financially succeeding at going green also have leaders strongly focused upon achieving this result.

CLICK HERE to see the stock valuation performance of the HIP 100 that consists of companies that score high on their “sustainability commitment”  compared the S&P 100. This is typical of the documentation emerging that shows the stock valuations of companies that are more sustainable are out performing the stock valuations of companies that are less sustainable.

Here are three best practices that are now emerging among companies that are achieving superior stock valuations from adopting sustainability into their core business operations:

Senior Leadership. Sustainability is a top priority for the CEO AND his direct reports.

Green Teams. These companies have engaged their associates to find ways of reducing both emissions and costs.

Aligning Value With Values. They are growing revenues by offering their customers price competitive green and wellness products.

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017 that focuses upon the emerging smart, healthy and green economy. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles best practices of businesses going green.

WHY DO CONSUMERS GO GREEN?

The answer is still to save money!

Deloitte has published a new consumer survey entitled reSources.

Here’s the key finding: 90% of consumers say they have become more resourceful.

What does that mean? It means 87% are looking at EVERY category of their lives to see how to save money.

Compare that to where 55% who say they are concerned about their personal carbon footprint.

Here’s two key observations.

Over half of Americans have a focus upon their personal environmental footprint.

But for the overwhelming majority of Americans the path to changing their consumption patterns is personal savings.

What does that mean to a business?

A tremendous opportunity.

68% of consumers said they took steps to lower their electric bill. And 95% do not intend to increase their electricity usage. The consumer’s focus upon the meter and gasoline pump opens the door to offering innovations tied to saving them money on energy. Is it home delivery of your products? Is it offering free shipping?

Do you have a way to reduce electricity and natural gas bills? Do you have a way of “greening” the consumer’s electricity purchase. Deloitte’s study says only 14% of consumers have been offered green electricity from their utility. Yet two-thirds say they would buy solar or wind electricity even if it cost a little more.

Market research points to consumers searching for Cost Less, Mean More products and services. They want “in me, on me and around me” solutions that enhance their wellness and their pocketbooks.

I like Deloitte’s identification of “resourcefulness” as a mega-trend among consumers. It captures how consumers are searching for more bang for their dollar defined through benefits to their wellness, their budget and the environment.

Are you looking to grow your revenues? Revisit your product offerings to see how they can be positioned as competitively priced green solutions. 85% of consumers are looking to buy competitively priced sustainable goods and services!

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017 that focuses upon the emerging smart, healthy and green economy. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles best practices of businesses making money going green.

Most consumers would say inflation has already arrive. Here’s some examples of what consumers are facing at the pump and cash register:

• Gasoline prices have risen from below $2.50 in 2009 to approaching $4 per gallon
• Ground beef prices are up 16%, butter is up almost 30% and coffee is up 13%.

Why are prices going up?

The answer is “Unsustainability.”

Unsustainability has two parts. One is that the world just can’t pump, mine and extract commodity resources like oil, copper, and water in large enough quantities to satisfy world demand. Demand is greater than supply so prices go up! Basic economics.

But the reason why this is unsustainable is that “drill baby drill” will never fill the supply/demand gap enough to lower long term prices. This “produce more” strategy may achieve 1-3-5 year price reductions or price stability when the occasional “elephant-size” billion-barrel oil field comes on line somewhere in the world. But the reality is that the world is awash in oil supply now. We are producing more oil than ever before in world history. It just will never be enough to satisfy world demand.

Which brings us to the other path on how “Unsustainability” is creating price inflation. The U.S. has engineered an unsustainable economy built upon commodity resources that face a “forever” upward price curve. Does anyone really think the price of oil will be less ten or twenty years from now? And even worse, China and India are duplicating the U.S. unsustainable model.

There are two solutions to Unsustainability. One is innovation. And the great news is that there are technology solutions to Unsustainability. For example, we have attractively priced hybrid cars and our car manufacturers are now introducing electric cars. The world knows how to produce ethanol as a car fuel (Brazil is Energy Independent based upon its use of ethanol) and the big oil and chemical companies are pumping billions of dollars in developing a next generation of bio-fuels.

Even more promising is the new wave of energy efficient cars, appliances and buildings. The best commodity dollar is the one that isn’t consumed.

And that is the second solution to Unsustainability. It is the U.S. consumer. Prices go up and the U.S. consumer responds. So hybrid and small car sales are booming with Prius sales increasing by 50%.

This is the opportunity for the green business. Their competitor’s prices are going up, real seriously! And as green technology and products continue to grow sales they are harvesting economies of scale cost savings that can be passed on to consumers through lower prices.

That is the economics of Earth 2017. Earth 2017 projects a future “inflection point” around 2017 where the price of Unsustainable goods and services are at least equal to, or potentially higher than, the price for Sustainable goods and services. Market research documents that 85% of consumers will buy the more Sustainable Product vs. the Less-Sustainable Product if their price are equal. Based upon this market research Earth 2017 projects a $10 trillion global economy in sustainable goods and services by 2017. This is a mega-trend business opportunity!

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017 that focuses upon the emerging smart, healthy and green economy. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles best practices of businesses making money going green.

Cone Green Gap Trend Tracker

57% of consumers mistrust green claims made by companies.

59% expect any green claim to be backed up with facts.

75% wish companies would do a better job helping them understand the environmental terms they use.

This lack of consumer trust and their thirsting for more information is creating a sea-changing marketing opportunity for companies that can break-through this consumer confusion by offering the facts and analysis consumers are seeking.

Number One, consumers want to see a third party documentation or certification of a green claim. This is the best practice I call PROVE IT, CONCLUSIVELY!

This strategy was actually pioneered by Clorox in their launch of Green Works, the first green consumer product to gain $100 million in annual revenues.

The strategy is to identify what third parties your customer respect and trust. And then win from these third parties their endorsement.

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017 that focuses upon the emerging smart, healthy and green economy. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles best practices of business making money going green.

Content marketing is engaging your existing and potential customers on topics of importance to them.

If a business is trying to attract fans a proven strategy is to offer a price discount coupon on Facebook.

The marketing question is “Now what?” You have fans but how do you keep them and engage them beyond offering more price discounting?

The answer is content marketing IF you have something of value to share. And that is the competitive advantage of businesses selling green and wellness solutions.

Consumers are on a massive search via Facebook, Twitter, Smartphone Apps, etc. trying to figure out what to buy and who to buy from.

Content marketing is a powerful path for a company selling health, safety and sustainability products and services to gain the consumer’s attention.

Roper Public Affairs did a survey on B2B marketing and found that 80% of business customers prefer a series of informative articles to advertising. Why? 70% felt that the content marketing made them feel closer to the sponsoring company and 60% said the content enabled them to make a better purchase decision!

BabyCenter is an example of a website that does a lot of things right. It offers price discount that will attract first attention. But it also is a best practices example on how to market using content.

Scrolling down their webpage is like search surfing. There are rows of content category for a mom to research.

And their site is socially engaging, providing links to what other moms are doing with their baby and providing moms a path for submitting their posts.

The best practices for a green business to build a content marketing strategy include:

1. Less hard selling, much more sharing. Rather than hard pitching your product, engage your customers on the issues and concerns for which they are seeking answers. Remember consultative selling? That is what content marketing is!
2. Become an hub of information. Your green business is an expert in your field. Share this expertise as a resource to enable your customers’ search and decision making process.
3. Write so it can be read in 15 seconds to 3 minutes. Give them the answer they are searching for immediately in as short as possible format. And then provide a path for them to learn more.
4. Publish, publish, publish. Content marketing is not a post and forget effort. It should be done daily, hourly is better. Your reward is that the search engines will find you and your loyal customers will refer you to their friends as a credible and valuable resource.
5. Dedicate talent to this task. Content marketing is only going to be as good as the writing source. And don’t make this an “island activity.” This is a team effort implemented by writers and/or video producers.
6. Do video. Why should be obvious. Keep it short and to the point. Make it engaging. A series of engaging 15-30 second videos are hugely powerful. A 5 minute video will probably not be watched unless it is as good as a Hollywood movie.

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017 that focuses upon the emerging smart, healthy and green economy. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles best practices of businesses making money going green.