An energy company is setting up a technically innovative project with the goal of using heat from cooling water from a chemical plant as a heat source for greenhouses. A great sustainable solution.
The maximum budget is 50 million euros for the technical infrastructure; pipes need to be laid in the ground and various connections made.
After some calculations, it turns out that 100 hectares of operational greenhouses need to run for 10 years to break even.
The business case is finalized, and the digging starts. When the 50 million is spent, it becomes clear that attracting greenhouse growers to settle in the area is not working well. The lower costs for heat turn out not to be the best motivation to convince growers. The investment is made, and the payback period was based on 10 years of full occupancy of 100 hectares of greenhouses.
The engineers don’t know the solution. Lowering the price of heat to persuade growers isn’t an option because that would extend the payback period even further. And the interest on the loans just keeps increasing.
There’s one thing the engineers didn’t account for: Greenhouse growers are also people with emotions and families.
But how do you, as an engineer, incorporate emotional arguments into a technical business case? That’s a huge blind spot that’s often ignored.
Entrepreneurs, despite their long working hours, also have a personal life, a family life, and an established livelihood. They’re not going to move to another area just for slightly lower energy costs.
How did I solve this together with the client?
To convince entrepreneurial families to participate in the sustainable project, we emphasized the positive impact of reusing heat. We focused on the entrepreneur and their family as a solution to the gas and CO2 problem.
Many entrepreneurs are willing to be part of a solution to the climate problem if it’s feasible for them. An entrepreneur moving with their family to another area to contribute to a better future for their children is a completely different story than saving a few euros on energy costs.
For the entrepreneurial family, moving to a location with fewer social amenities is a much higher price to pay. Convince them to participate by highlighting the impact of 'contributing to sustainability' and acknowledging that it is a 'sacrifice.'
How? Focus on the social aspects that are barriers for the entrepreneurial family. And try to remove those barriers.
Because then, perhaps 10 million euros and a lot of stress, unrest, and disrupted careers could have been saved.
Do you want to know how to remove those barriers? Book a More Profit Clients conversation. You can also download the free business cases to discover how to gain more profit clients and increase your CLTV by ±10%.