The Weakest Link: Why Your Partners Define Your Reputation

In tourism, you are rarely a one-person show. Your success depends on a supply chain of drivers, guides, lunchbox providers and many more. In this episode, Samantha Smits explains why you are judged by your weakest partner and how their lack of systems or sustainability values costs you time and energy. Learn how to stop apologising for your partners' mistakes and how to take your suppliers on a journey toward the new default of sustainable operations.

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Transcript

(0:00) Hello, hello and welcome back. Today, and a little bit of a poor comparison of sustainability, (0:08) we are going to talk about oil in your system, meaning the system of being your business. (0:16) I think in the last episodes we talked about how agents are getting more careful about selecting (0:22) their partners, about all the legislation going on in the European Union, but here also for you, (0:29) or actually we are flipping the script, we are going to look at your supply chain and discuss (0:35) why your partners are either helping you to be successful, to glide or to cause you to grind (0:42) to a halt. So to be good or to have issues.

(0:45) Here being that you are judged by your weakest partner that might sound harsh, but if you, especially in tourism, there is always so much power in your (0:58) supply chain. Usually, rarely, it is you doing the fully end product or you have to be a one-person (1:07) guide business or a very small accommodation, but even then, honestly, your food still comes (1:13) from the market or you have to grow food out of your garden. The point is, there is usually always (1:21) a supply chain involved, and if your transport partner has a vehicle that breaks down, (1:28) the guests will blame you because it is your booking, they do not even know the name of the (1:32) transport partner, or you basically are paying for their lack of systems or their lack of care.

(1:40) One very typical situation where this happens, if we compare this with the safari, is agents that (1:47) have visited the destination a long time ago or not even, they promise you can see an animal like (1:54) a cheetah so close you can nearly pet it, and then once you are actual in the Serengeti and you are in (2:02) the car with the guide and the car is staying, the guide is sticking to the company values when (2:07) they see a cheetah in some distance and explaining "we do not off-road, it is bad for the road, (2:14) it will crush some of the smaller animals and it will stress out the cheetah, causing it to retreat (2:19) even further," and then the clients get upset, will try to bribe him with some tips, and the guide is (2:28) in this very difficult situation where if they go against company policy, they will probably get (2:34) blacklisted or not work with the company anymore, but if they stick to the company policy, they will (2:41) not get a tip and the clients will be angry at the guide and angry at the company and the company (2:47) will get a bad review, even though they did not do anything wrong, it is in this case on the agent (2:53) side.

(2:55) So there is always this gap with supply chain where you have to be sure that everyone has the (3:00) same messaging and that everyone is aligned, and thus it is such a powerful thing to more critically (3:07) look at your supply chain. Understandably, when you start your business, you are just happy you have (3:12) people that care to do business with you, but as you grow and as there are many solutions available, (3:19) you can absolutely be more critical, because again, even with that lunchbox, if your lunchboxes are (3:28) full of plastic and your clients absolutely hate the amount of plastic, they will leave a review (3:35) that it was your company that chooses too much plastic, even though the plastic is supplied by (3:41) your lunchbox provider. So you can see how this trickles down, right? I mean, we know that clients (3:47) usually do not know what goes on behind the scenes and they do not know the structures involved. (3:52) They just know your company, they booked with you and in your name.

(3:55) Hence, so powerful, look at who your partners are, because when such expectation management or when a mistake is made, it costs (4:05) you a lot of time and energy, because you are the one talking to both the partner, tracking down (4:12) what happened, why it happened, and trying to come with a better solution, but also with the client (4:17) apologising on your behalf, because you're the one representing, explaining how it happened, coming (4:24) with a solution, and you are actually apologising on a mess that your partner made, but at the same (4:31) time, it was your choice to work with them or to choose them as your partner.

(4:35) So you really have to review here that your partners have the same values and the same operational logic as you do, (4:44) and as explained in that earlier episode, if you especially align on sustainability and help each (4:49) other with evidence needed or with claims, it will make both of you happier and both of you only (4:55) succeed even more, and that is what I mentioned at the start of this episode, the oil in your system (5:02) that keeps everything run smoothly. So again, to protect your business, you have to be a leader (5:09) who sets the standards for everyone you work with.

(5:13) So when you begin and you've just chosen the partners that want to work with you, as you grow, you can, as I said, get more critical, you (5:22) can create policies and send those out, quite some certificates have templates for those, you should (5:28) meet with them regularly and possibly visit them if they are not too far, and I believe at least most (5:36) of the sustainability consultants I know and the certificates I know, they would usually not resort (5:44) to motivating you to cut off your partners and find new ones, because it can be harmful to everyone (5:50) involved. It is much better to take your current partners on a journey with you to go into this (5:58) whole sustainability thing together, and everyone makes mistakes and you can take steps by steps and (6:04) context is super important, some things are possible in specific places, some things are not, (6:10) creative solutions are available with small businesses, NGO, there is so much possible if you (6:17) just look at it in a problem-solving way, how can you keep working together in a way that is (6:21) beneficial for the both of you and good for both of your reputation and working with all these (6:27) regulations coming up, following the new default of sustainably operating your business.

(6:33) So here it is so important to look into procurement specifically, so where do the products come (6:42) from, so where do they buy the food to supply from you, or where do the vehicles get from, (6:46) the maintenance, you just have to know how they operate these things, and I see it a lot in many (6:52) destinations, which is wonderful that a lot of people still have trust, and nowadays that's a (6:59) lot of collaborations are built on trust, which is amazing and actually some are also a healthy way (7:05) to have such a relationship, but the way these regulations are developing and especially the (7:12) needs to prove sustainability, you can still have this trust in each other and therefore also have (7:16) to trust we are going to continue to work together and go into this journey together, but still get (7:21) down to the work and know more standardised how decisions are made, where products get from, (7:27) rather than just winging it, that's the whole point with making things more predictable and to (7:33) sustain itself, the whole point of sustainability, that you ensure that your suppliers meet the same (7:41) strategy that you do in being efficient with the resources, safety standards, hygiene, (7:48) exploitation management, that you all communicate the same messages, that you do not (7:53) get this reputational issue.

(7:55) And this is very simple when you start this journey to first communicate to your partners on your sustainability policy that you crafted, for example (8:03) most of the certificates ask you to communicate this to your partners or to your staff members, (8:09) and that you tell them you want to keep working with them and that these are your new company (8:15) policy, that you could even share if you created your own template or you are using a certification (8:20) template, you could even share it with your suppliers, just kind warm invitations for them (8:28) to go along this with you, and it kind of ensures some kind of consistency in the whole guest (8:36) experience, if you look at it from a traveller point of view, because it is also this whole (8:42) thing about expectation management, the example I gave with safari, but also if you talk about the (8:49) food again, that they booked with you and you communicate all your values and they have this (8:55) expectation of what that means or how they think that should look like, and then once they are (9:01) finally there and they see what they get served or what experience they have, they feel this big (9:08) mismatch, like "hey I feel a little bit betrayed, this is not what I thought I was getting into."

(9:13) And again on surface value it looks like it is just, it also is a way of sharing the fun by (9:23) helping them to also start tracking their fuel use or the water or these kind of things, (9:29) they will also get these hidden profits that we talked about before, so kind of you are sharing the (9:34) fun, you are sharing the luck and you just become more successful together, that is the most healthy (9:39) way to look at this and still keep that mindset of "oh we just trust each other," that is how we (9:44) started this whole collaboration at all, but again especially in tourism you are only (9:51) as successful and as strong as the weakest link in your supply chain.

(9:55) So as I've discussed this, has already something popped up in your mind like "oh I really need to give this one a call," (10:04) "I really have to call this provider" or "oh I feel like here there is some work to be done," (10:09) good good, I mean everything starts with conversation and it does not have to be (10:13) in a very attacking way, you can just start the conversation like "hey it has been on my mind, (10:20) I remember there is some, there is this amount of plastic that you're using and providing the lunch (10:25) and I understand it is the most hygienic way and it is some kind of standard that sometimes is (10:30) provided and for one specific market it might look cleaner than for the others, but we are (10:36) actually phasing out plastic and we've had an amazing business relationship so far and we want (10:43) to definitely continue doing that, could we explore what to do about it or any alternatives," just open (10:49) the conversation, keep it positive and go into this journey together, try to figure it out together (10:55) and as you go this you are going to protect your energy and eventually your profits from (11:02) disappointments and expectation management towards your clients and reputation.

(11:06) So the goal is that when your partners follow the same logic as you do, everything becomes more aligned, everything (11:14) makes more sense, especially for the client who does not see the whole system behind closed doors (11:19) and things will just work out much easier for you, since you will have to stop these surprises of (11:27) "huh, how can this happen, we never do this, they know we do not work like this," (11:33) but it still pops up, you can make that much more predictable and more sustainable, so (11:39) specifically a profitable high season is only won by working with the right people that indeed (11:45) deliver predictable results, because you have agreed on policies, what you are looking for and (11:51) what aligns with your values and your clients know that they will get the same experience the entire (11:56) time, which just for them is under your name. You work with the right people who respect your (12:01) systems and happily grow with you, those are the best kind of people.

(12:05) So if this talk has triggered some thoughts in you, some concerns or anything else, I highly invite you to check the show notes, (12:18) to book a call with me or to find me on LinkedIn and send me a DM and share what is bothering you, (12:23) what your thoughts are or what you would love to add, I would love to start this discussion with (12:28) you or if you think something is absolutely impossible, do challenge me, please come and (12:34) challenge me and I would love to still find a way to make it work, because I know there is, (12:40) I know there is always a constructive way to start this conversation with your partners and to continue, (12:47) therefore go to the show notes, do book a call with me, do reach out and I see you next time!