"When I received my conference bag and name badge, the first thing I noticed was the material. It was a different feel than the usual vinyl/plastic products we see. I didn't think much of it until our president Phil Soper was speaking at the opening session.  He asked us to take a glance at them, at which point the video ran, explaining the genesis of the bags, how and where they were made. It was very eye-opening to see the in-country production line and to learn what an impact Royal LePage made, just by sourcing a simple product from ZOË Alliance. I love their products and the concept of the alliance, and I hope to see more from them in the future!"

 

-Jerry Aulenbach

REALTOR, Royal LePage 

Edmonton, AB

 

Social Sourcing is about people.  The idea is to leverage our day-to-day business transactions in a way that powerfully connects people and helps to make the world a little better at the same time.

 

Recently, Christine Nattrass - Events Director at Royal LePage, decided to leverage their large bi-annual conference in just such a way and the outcomes were as powerful for the 1,000 delegates in Vancouver as they were for 15 women and their 75 family members in rural Dharmapuri, India. 

 

We have worked together before for the benefit of village communities, however this year because it was a large national conference we decided to take the idea one step further.  Christine, Sharon Promm and our team at ZOË all felt it was really important to ensure that the delegates would be able to truly grasp the impact they had achieved by making the decision to source their conference bags, badge holders and pens socially.  So we decided to put into action an idea that our ZOË team had been working on for their conference, we decided to put together a brief video that would invite everyone into the village to see their items in production and see the team in action. 

 

Christine described the moment this way.  "At registration we talked about how the items were sourced when we handed out the badge holders and bags.  We were able to say please read the slip inserted, let them know they had made a difference and thank each delegate.  People were intrigued by this and would read the slip which lead to a lot of interaction.  By the time we did the opening session, our president played the video and asked everyone to look at the items and encouraged everyone to feel great about the contribution they had made.   You could have heard a pin drop and you could see people really engaged in the video, watching the bags all stacked up in the village and looking at them in their own hands brought it full circle.  The video was really essential in connecting delegates with the product and the impact and the whole concept fell within our corporate mindset and contributed to our brand, culture and identity at the conference."

 

David Scarr  

Royal LePage Westside

 

She went on to share a few extra benefits that Royal LePage and her team realized from the experience this year.  The first was that sourcing the bags this way actually made it easier for her to secure a bag sponsor for the conference.  Linda Lynch, Principal of Your Commission Today, the bag sponsor, was even more engaged in the idea of sponsorship because of the social impact, and shared: "The sponsorship of the Royal LePage Conference Bags at the 2012 National Sales Conference provided our company with the perfect opportunity to promote our brand in a tried and true avenue while simultaneously providing the tremendous opportunity to truly make a difference in the lives of these folks. As I watched our conference bags bobbing our logo among the crowds, I thought beyond the successful promotion of our brand to images of women and children traditionally deprived of balanced nutrition with full plates and the positive energy that flooded through me was priceless!"

 

Christine is a busy Events Director who plans hundreds of events each year.  She highlighted that another truly significant benefit for her were the time savings she realized.  "This decision was also about time and efficiency, meeting planners don't have enough time.  ZOË makes it so easy, quickly getting back and following up, so I don't feel like I need to be following up.  I never underestimate how important this is in a supplier partner and with ZOË it is always easy, a better product, competitively priced, and helping someone.  "It's a no brainer." 

 

Lastly she shared was how it enhanced her teams' ability to support the corporate culture and identity. "In discussing the idea with our president, he initially wasn't familiar with companies like ZOË and wasn't aware that this could be done.  He was really surprised and pleased that we had found something that met our philosophy and values so tightly and actually asked why weren't we doing this earlier and when are we going to do this again?"

 

People ... Christine, Sharon, Linda, Phil, Jerry, 1000 Royal LePage delegates, Mercy, Darshini, our little ZOË team, the women and their family members in Dharmapuri ...all these people were connected in a powerful way through one simple decision and we are all are better for it!