Why doing good is good for business

Mr Griffiths, who built a company that donates 50 per cent of its profits to help build toilets and improve sanitation in developing countries, spoke to The Adviser ahead of his keynote session at the Better Business Summit 2024 roadshow (beginning on 15 February).

He suggested that brokers could ‘do good’ by making a social impact, such as by donating profits to positive causes in order to build a more successful business.

“Doing good is good for business,” he told The Adviser.

“Profits and purpose can go hand in hand in a business in this new version of the world that we’re living in, which I would term a post-capitalist version of the world. People value goods and services very differently to how they did two to three decades ago.”

During his keynote address at the Better Business Summit, Mr Griffiths will share his story of co-founding Who Gives a Crap, the strategies implemented to grow the business, top 10 key lessons for building a business, and how to establish a business that has a positive impact on the world.

He will reveal how he built the Australian company to sell to 36 countries around the world and have a team based in seven countries.

To date, Who Gives a Crap has donated more than $10 million to help build toilets around the world and raised $41.5 million from investors in the recent past.

Mr Griffiths suggested that brokers could consider how to provide a seamless service while simultaneously giving back, including by donating some of their profits.

“Imagine if every business in the world had at least one product that had a give-back model embedded in it,” he said.

“The impact would be astronomical if that was the way people thought about building their business.”

Mr Griffiths underscored that Who Gives a Crap would not have grown to its current scale if it was not donating half its profits.

“That’s really exciting because it goes against what I’ve been taught about capitalism at university, which is you have to retain as much of the profits as you can to build a more successful business over time,” he said.

This model increases the value of the business in the eyes of the customer, which could lead to business growth and lead generation through word of mouth and referrals, Mr Griffiths said.

He highlighted that brokers could use every touchpoint with their clients as an indirect marketing tool to spur clients to spread the word about their business to their network and show them what the broker is doing.

“One of the ways we do that is by thinking about how to sprinkle moments of delight around what is otherwise a frictionless experience,” Mr Griffiths explained.

For example, when his company sends email receipts to its customers, it includes a “love poem” in the receipt to ensure the customer feels valued, which he said encourages them to spread the word or forward the receipt to someone else.

“A lot of companies just sent a receipt with the dollar amount and the ABN. But if you want to engage with your clients beyond the frictionless experience, think about creating these moments of delight that makes them want to share it with someone else,” Mr Griffiths said.

Connecting a product or service with raising awareness of a social issue and fundraising for that cause could enable brokers to tie profits with purpose.

Mr Griffiths said he used toilet paper as a vehicle to raise awareness about the issue of sanitation to build toilets for those in need.

He concluded: “We realised that not only do we have this beautiful product, brand, and cause lockup, we also had a potential marketing message, which was defensible and something that no one else could do.

“It was this beautiful marrying of brand name, product and cause, that brought it all together. It felt like a really amazing opportunity.”

To hear Simon Griffiths’ inspiring keynote address about how he built Who Gives a Crap and 10 lessons he learnt from running a purpose-led business, come to the Better Business Summit 2024.

Dates and locations

The Better Business Summit and Awards 2024 will be held in the following locations:

• Thursday, 15 February at The Star, Sydney.
• Thursday, 22 February at the Convention Centre, Adelaide.
• Thursday, 29 February at Hyatt Regency, Perth.
• Thursday, 7 March at Sofitel Brisbane.
• Thursday, 14 March at The Crown Melbourne.

Click here to book your tickets and don’t miss out!

Did you know The Adviser Premium members go for free? Become a Premium member here.

For more information, including agenda and speakers, click here.

[Related: Better Business Summit 2024 launches]