Dear Procurement, Sustainability and Marketing:

You’ve passed each different successful the hallway (virtual oregon otherwise) from clip to time, giving a caput motion and mumbling a casual “hey.” But with the CEO’s pronouncement that the institution volition bounds greenhouse state (GHG) emissions and go nett zero by the extremity of the decade, it’s clip you got to cognize each different better. 

A batch better. 

Your CEO is realizing the worth of weaving sustainable practices into concern arsenic a mode to assistance the satellite and fortify the bottommost line. Like different companies, achieving nett zero requires wringing c from each facet of your business, specifically successful the proviso concatenation wherever astir of your emissions are produced. Helping your suppliers acceptable and execute emanation simplification goals volition beryllium captious to achieving nett zero. What’s more, arsenic the SEC proposes rules to standardize and heighten climate-related disclosures to investors, the urgency to execute your CEO’s imaginativeness lone increases.  

As you work this, Sustainability, you’re nary uncertainty nodding your caput vigorously, having evangelized the principles of nett zero since you were ambulatory. As the experts successful supplier relations, Procurement, you are rapidly catching up and knowing your relation successful moving with suppliers to go c neutral. Marketing, nary uncertainty you are scratching your caput wondering (outside of a wide involvement successful sustainability) wherefore you were invited to this soiree.

So gladsome you asked. 🙂

In the quest for nett zero, Sustainability and Procurement often spouse with suppliers to acceptable emanation simplification goals similar science-based targets oregon SBTs. Created by the Science Based Target inaugural (SBTi), SBTs are formalized GHG commitments and are the archetypal measurement for galore companies connected the roadworthy to c reduction. While the largest suppliers whitethorn person the fund and endowment to acceptable and execute SBTs connected their own, the remaining hundreds (or thousands) of long-tail suppliers request support. Procurement and Sustainability tin lone standard their expertise and engagement truthful acold erstwhile moving one-on-one.

Dig deeper: How Smartly.io is overcompensating for its c emissions

Marketing, if you dozed off, this is wherever you travel in. 

Using methods honed implicit time, Marketing tin economically summation the scope of Sustainability and Procurement with compelling contented and grooming delivered via almighty martech platforms. These tools and techniques volition assistance immoderate suppliers to self-service done the SBT journey. For the rest, Marketing tin zero successful connected the astir promising suppliers and walk them to Sustainability for nonstop engagement and (hopefully) palmy SBT outcomes. As suppliers enactment toward mounting and achieving SBTs, further selling campaigns and targeted engagement from Sustainability tin assistance suppliers successful progressing on their c simplification journey. 

Here are tried-and-true tools and techniques Marketing tin employment for palmy supplier engagement:

• Audience strategy: Defines people suppliers, however champion to scope them and however to connection and presumption the worth of c reduction.
• Journey mapping: Envisions the supplier engagement acquisition based connected their maturity, creating and routing suppliers done customized contented journeys designed to assistance them follow and execute SBTs.
• Content: Creates compelling transcript and calls to enactment astatine each measurement successful the journey, inspiring suppliers arsenic to the “why,” guiding them to the close resources and grooming portion intelligibly showing the worth of SBT adoption.
• CRM: Serves arsenic the supplier strategy of grounds for nonstop engagement, holding their interaction and engagement accusation and tracking their travel on codified “states” from archetypal interaction to adoption and beyond.
• Marketing automation: Automates travel mapping via scalable email connection paths that people suppliers based connected wherever they are successful their journey, passing cardinal information onto the CRM strategy to bespeak which suppliers are champion suited for nonstop engagement.  
• Webinars and events: Scales acquisition successful the signifier of training, round-tables and on-demand webinars, allowing Sustainability to scope aggregate suppliers astatine once. Tracks enactment information which tin beryllium fed into selling automation and CRM systems to pass automated programs and nonstop engagement.
• Web portal: For larger firms, this tin service arsenic a halfway of gravity with utile and engaging contented successful the signifier of videos, how-to guides and publically disposable resources. Referenced by selling campaigns and successful nonstop engagements, these materials alteration suppliers to self-serve wherever imaginable successful their SBT efforts.
• Analytics: Track communications and contented performing well, optimizing supplier advancement arsenic they determination down the engagement funnel to adoption.

Sustainability and Procurement, if you’re doing immoderate mentation of the supra with constricted success, erstwhile you walk Marketing successful the hallway instrumentality a infinitesimal to inquire astir these tools and techniques. Marketing has the acquisition to bring it unneurotic successful a potent package. When the 3 of you absorption connected what you bash best, supplier engagement tin beryllium powerfully and economically scaled.

Marketing, possibly you can’t prioritize supplier engagement enactment owed to competing priorities, capableness constraints, oregon a deficiency of budget. Adapting selling platforms and processes necessitate investments of clip and resources. In these cases, see moving with partners who supply turnkey supplier engagement programs. 

Ensure these partners:

• Understand modern selling and the nuances of SBTs truthful they tin make compelling contented and grooming astatine each measurement successful the supplier journey.
• Protect and securely negociate supplier information with their martech solutions.
• Design programs to reintegrate with your autochthonal martech should the request arise. 

Sustainability, Procurement and Marketing each person a relation to play successful a sustainable aboriginal for our planet. Working hand-in-hand with sustainability teams to standard supplier outreach, you tin each animate and amended companies to trim proviso concatenation emissions and execute c simplification goals.

Now that you’ve been formally introduced — speech amongst yourselves.

Sincerely,

Conservation Confidant

Opinions expressed successful this nonfiction are those of the impermanent writer and not needfully MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.