Over the last 18 months, many companies have been in a growth crisis. Layoffs, reorganizations, cost-cutting… it’s a very familiar playbook that can shatter reputations, diminish employee and customer loyalty, and leave lots of lives by the wayside. But even in the midst of this roller coaster, many have started to realize that they have a secret growth weapon that you would never expect: impact, ESG, and sustainability.

It’s time to run a new play - for all the right reasons

Gartner once called Box.com's work with the nonprofit sector their "x factor" and one of their secret weapons in the marketplace.

Box.com’s work with nonprofits earned them revenue, brand differentiation, cultural value (internally) and societal value (externally). Helping nonprofits power their mission using Box technology wasn’t a cost center at Box; it was a value and growth lever guided by Box.org as a strategic business vertical in the GTM org. Many other top tech brands like Salesforce, Linkedin, Atlassian, Canva, DocuSign, Okta, Asana, Twilio, Microsoft and many others work hard to empower nonprofits.

Did you know that Salesforce, Linkedin and Box alone generate over a billion dollars a year in recurring (SaaS) revenue in these verticals alone?

Is your revenue growth playbook lagging, broken or uninspiring? Are you selling to the same targets, but with a slightly revised version of the same story - perhaps something to do with “AI”?  Here’s the punchline, it’s hard to sell a product that isn't humanized and doesn't magnetize minds AND hearts.

Every company, especially every tech company striving to grow efficiently needs to consider implementing an impact led growth playbook that has been proven by the brands referenced before and most of the other brands affiliated with a tech industry coalition called The ImpactCloud.

I've heard at least three big brands in SaaS and services tell me this spring that their nonprofit, education and government verticals, all sectors dedicated to contributing meaningfully to society, were their fastest growing verticals. Fastest. Growing. Verticals.

This article sheds light on a five-step Impact Led Growth playbook you can use to supercharge your pipeline and growth.

1.) Conceptualize how your product or service can support mission-driven organizations. Every product or service can be employed to support nonprofits, schools or governments in some way. Here are five quick examples:

• Salesforce is helping nonprofits and higher ed manage their data and critical business functions. They are threaded into the critical program delivery work of tens of thousands of orgs.

• Twilio is helping nonprofits build out communications solutions and contact centers (including crisis hotlines and crisis response centers).

• LinkedIn is helping nonprofits tell their story, appeal to their supporters, and recruit staff, volunteers and board members.

• Box is helping nonprofits, especially those focused on child welfare, crisis response and environmental protection, manage all their donor and program content in a safer and more efficient way.

• DocuSign is helping nonprofits, schools and governments around the word track, execute, and manage their agreements in a more intelligent, efficient and secure way.

2.) Connect with leading nonprofits and social enterprises and discuss how your product or service may help power their inspiring mission. Put your super-powers to work for them. You may already have nonprofit clients that you aren’t even aware of.

3.) Announce ways your team will address this problem as an organization. Be sure to put nonprofit missions and needs powered by your product or service at the center of the equation. It is your superpower after all. Will you donate or discount some version of your product? Amazing platforms like Percent can help you outsource this process and attach it to your website in a matter of hours/days.

4.) Operationalize the global nonprofit sector as one of your strategic growth verticals. Even if you don’t map sales development or fully dedicated new sales or product teams to the effort initially, this is a unique industry segment that mirrors the global economy. You can always start by including nonprofits in existing territories, and ramp up the amount of dedicated marketing and sales over time. Some organizations start with a nonprofit market overlay that supports sales teams. Many organizations dedicate a percentage of revenue or profit from nonprofit sales to start or scale partnerships and grant-making efforts. Tying grants and volunteering efforts to digital transformation where your products or services add value can be especially impactful.

5.) Share your nonprofit success stories far and wide, especially with customers and prospects who have stated commitments to your nonprofits partners. Weaving this into a broader impact, CSR and ESG narrative will help you open doors with Fortune 500 buyers and their procurement teams. Another bonus: Your current and future employees will be motivated and inspired by how your offerings power nonprofit missions.

Many companies that start to focus on the nonprofit or society-facing verticals like education or public sector can also open lots of doors in the corporate space. Pursuing this brand of Impact Led Growth will:

• Get you on the same values page with corporate prospects and clients who care about the nonprofits you donate/discount for and support

• Showcase how your offerings power your clients impact aspirations (being net zero, more employee volunteering, leaning in on data privacy or employee development, elevating your governance and compliance, etc)

• Meet enterprise customer procurement compliance requirements better. Brands like salesforce, Cisco, Microsoft, CostCo, etc expect their vendors to demonstrate commitment and progress in environmental, social and governance areas.

Don’t forget how critical it is to also support your nonprofit prospects and clients in other inspiring ways: Volunteering or board service; mission co-promotion; fundraising efforts with all your clients; etc).  Everyone involved wins if you pursue multi-dimensional relationships with your nonprofit client partners.

We all know that dreams, strategy and playbooks are worthless without rigorous and disciplined execution. So how can you get started on this important journey? It starts with a trusted partner like VITAL to guide you on your journey. Contact us now to get started on your journey toward Impact Led Growth!