How sustainable is your business? Facing up to this question, you may have felt a cold sweat running down your back, a black hole has opened in your mind, you start to get entangled with different explanations and in the end, you realize that you have not convinced your interlocutor. Maybe, you’d have preferred a question regarding the annual benefits; this fact is clear to you!
It is good that for the next time, you will have an answer already, as trends show that consumers are becoming more aware than employers and are better prepared on sustainability issues. They know how to ask awkward questions, and some won’t be happy just by showing them the distinction of a certification.
What can really help you to answer this question, is having clear the goals bringing you to business sustainability in order to measure actions that create positive impacts. For this reason, it is important to have a sustainability plan that will also be useful to put your processes in order and to understand the value chain. Always keeping in mind the three legs of sustainability: economic, social and environmental.
An easy way to start marking this plan to be more sustainable is thinking about who your stakeholders are. For example, if you are an accommodation owner, you have customers, suppliers, employees… and probably you can think about some more. Once detected, think about how they can help you to create positive impacts and be more sustainable. One of the easiest ways is looking for suppliers who can offer local products. What kind of actions could you do with your employees to improve sustainability? I leave this challenge to you. 😉
According to this, you will be able to turn all the actions into measurable goals. A good example would be measuring if in 1 year a 90% of the products you offer for breakfast will come from local producers. Afterwards, you must break down this goal into concrete actions and then, know how to communicate it.
So, when a customer asks you “how sustainable is your accommodation?”, you can already tell him or her that you are working to offer an organic breakfast and the next morning, he or she will be able to taste an organic jam produced by “Pere and Carme”, who own fruit trees close by.
In short, charting a sustainable plan for your business brings you the following benefits:
- Connect with your customers through careful communication and build loyalty.
- Improve the relationship with your suppliers and employees.
- Reduce related environmental risks and become a more resilient company.
- Offer a higher quality service or product.
- Improve the company’s reputation.
- Create positive impacts improving your environment.
If you are willing to start this sustainability plan, from the COAMB, we can help you carry it out.