The Obvious Choice: Using Sustainability to Escape the Sea of Sameness

If you are tired of defending your prices and competing with every other tourism business down the street, this episode is for you. Samantha Smits explores why your promised reliability is just the bare minimum and how to find your unique sustainability edge. Learn why the most powerful thing you can do for your brand is to say no to certain practices, and how to attract high-value clients by adding character to your business logic.

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The Sustainability Edge is hosted by Samantha Smits, your guide to turning sustainability into a competitive edge.

Transcript

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Accommodation who just refuses to host any clients who are attending to going to that specific petting zoo. So as soon as they get any sniff of it, they'll be cleared as and it will be best for you to be accommodated elsewhere. It sets them very clearly apart. Hi, I'm Samantha Smith, and welcome back to the Sustainability Edge, the tourism podcast. No Yargon, no fluff. We're breaking down sustainability and especially how to turn sustainability in a practical tool that gives you more profit, more time, stuff that's staying in a business you can be proud of. Let's get started. Hello, hello, and welcome back to the podcast. And thank you so much for tuning in again. Today I'm going to talk about basically how to make your business sticky in a good way and how to use this whole sustainability thing that I keep talking about to diversify yourselves and why you would have to care about being different and being unique and why you would have to diversify yourself. Because if you feel like you're all the time defending your prices or that you're drowning in the sea of sameness, as said at ITB, this is going to be for you. So there is this issue, and it was beautifully put at ITB by Alcadence. I've talked about it in a previous episode, where even on destination level, people are having a competition and being the ultimate perfect tourism product, and in the rush competition to do so, they're all drawing and offering the same thing. But it's the same with you as an accommodation or as a tour operator. There's so many people offering the same thing. Then why are you different than someone else who offers the exact same thing that you do? And even with accommodations, all of you owe you offer a bath, a bath to sleep in, and sometimes also food. So why would your experience be better or different from anyone else who's doing the same thing down the street? That is in any business really so key to be clear on what makes you different. It's about branding, it's about marketing, identity really. How are you different from the rest? Because when you are doing the same thing like everyone else, you would only compete based on price. And if you're a small company, maybe based on personality, but in general, it would just be what they see on the surface. And what I see all the time when I get to know a new tourism company, and I will ask them about a company, or hey, I will even ask them just directly what makes you different from your competitors, and very often, especially from two operators, they tell me, Oh, but we have the best prices, and we're very reliable, we offer transfers and so forth. And I'm like, Well, I hope you are reliable. That is the bare minimum, or we have nice vehicles, uh, we have the best guides. Ah, yeah, I hope you do, but why? So a lot of the statements made are very empty, and all the companies say the same thing: safe accommodations with comfortable beds. Well, I hope you do, otherwise, people wouldn't stay. But again, what what sets you apart? Because if you're really in this price war and a competitor just would drop the price, then people that are price motivated would just go to them. And if there's no other reason to choose you except price, then people will look at that. So you have to be more unique, more well-rounded and have multiple reasons to choose for you, not only price. Even better, price will not just be a concern if you are simply the best or the most interesting or the most unique. That's why uh such brands usually even charge higher and still have no problem to sell themselves. But at the moment you might be struggling to sell your tours or to fill your bats because you're doing the same as everyone else, and you have no authority in why you would be better than them or why you're unique and why you are the better experience. So, clients, agents, anyone, they're looking for a reliable partner. Stop trying to be cheaper and start to look how you can be better managed and find this unique edge of yours. And I'm talking about sustainability all the time because I believe sustainability can bring you that edge, but it's not just about oh, we are sustainable and they are not. It is not as simple as that. I mean, sustainability is such a big topic and it comes with a lot of elements. I've discussed before, I would simplify it as people, place, prosperity, or you have people, planets, property. There's so many models to kind of break down what it's all about. But the point is you're going to have your strengths within sustainability. Not only your strengths, you're also gonna have your passions. Just like in life, everyone has different interests that they pursue or different hobbies, so you just pick one that is most unique and most resembling to your company, and that can be the one that makes you a better partner than your competitor. You then don't become another company that is offering the same damn thing, you have something else, you have something unique that the rest doesn't because you are highly specialized in something or you care more about something, which just gives you if someone has three different options or three taps open to choose which option they want to pursue, and they're all doing the same thing, and they have to netpick it down to the detail to choose who they want to go with. If you give them this extra reason, it'll be a no-brainer, it'll be so much easier to choose you because you have more character and you're more unique, you care a lot about a community, or you do specific work in the park, or you have specific kind of staff employed. The point is you will have you actually give them a reason that all the others don't, because the other people's reason is hey, we are based in the destination, you want to come, you need us more. But if you come with story and come with character, the experience will be much more memorable and people will be more excited to book with you. You become a professional choice that makes clients also look good, the agents look good, and people will like I said, it's more memorable. So even if the clients have already come, you get more word of mouth, they will share more about the story, they will post about it more often because it's beyond the expected. They you will offer an experience more unique than the mainstream and the masterism that is being provided by all your competitors, and thus you are much more memorable and you'll be more talked about. So, kind of if you give them a reason to book of you, you are reliable, and through such sustainability standards and the specific one where your passion lies, you can become sticky in a good way, and that is how you achieve that you are officially diversified from your competitors that all do the same damn thing. Another argument why it's so important to set yourself apart and how you can use sustainability in this is also something I discussed in an I to B episode about being more critical about what clients you're looking to attract. Because all those people that are drowning in the sea of sameness and that are all chasing the same mass tourism client, they're all fighting for the same person. But if you are actually looking for someone else, someone more specific, someone who really cares about different values or different activities or a different experience, you'll be become the much more obvious uh choice to go to. So it can be really rewarding to get much more specific on who do you want to host, who do you not want to host. With that strategy, you actually switch from hoping that people go to you, that you choose who comes to you, which is a much more interesting strategy. Does this whole idea create a brand for you that makes you so much more distinct from your competition and it's whole it's fully about making you the obvious choice for what you have to provide, but how can you be the obvious choice if you do the same thing as everyone else and just claim to be the best? But how? You have to add character and sustainability is perfect for that when it's genuine and when you have the data, of course, for it, but that we have discussed. And one way that this also works, I mean, I've been saying F1 offers the same damn thing, and I keep also very often hearing this argument about, for example, specific petting zoo that I'm familiar with, that two operators would say, Yeah, we don't promote this petting zoo, but if clients ask us to go there, it's their demand, so we'll help it arrange for them. But then on the other hand, I also know another accommodation who just refuses to host any clients who are attending to going to that specific petting zoo. So as soon as they get any sniff of it, they'll be clear that it's against your company values and it will be best for you to be accommodated elsewhere. That would be a very strong stance, but it sets them very clearly apart and makes the customer wonder, oh wow, what is wrong with this experience? And it actually starts a conversation so it you can also set yourself apart and with sustainability by being active, what you say no to and not following the mass. So it's not just about offering different experiences, but also about what you explicitly do not offer and what you refuse to go along with. Being open about that and sharing awareness about you, why you do not want to engage these experiences, why you do not want to host anyone that's interested in those, also creates some sense of exclusivity, authority, makes you more interesting, and of course is the right thing to do, to say no to certain negative experiences. So there's so many tools that this gives you by simply doing the right thing and makes you different from all the mass. And I could talk about this for hours, but at the same time it's also super contact sensitive. It depends on where you're operating, what you're selling, the size of your company. And that's also why I would love to invite you to hop on the call with me or to send me a DM on LinkedIn or anywhere, and that I actually get to know your company because I'm sure there must be something you're already doing right that you are not talking about, that you're not communicating, that makes you so different from your competition, and that can set you apart easily, and it'll be even be something small that we can argue a sustainable practice. I'm 1000% sure of it, and just challenge me to let it to find it out. Go to the show notes. In the show notes, you will find a way to hop on my calendar, you'll find my website, you'll find my LinkedIn and all of that. I'm going to look at how you're currently positioning yourself. And no, I'm not a branding expert. If we go that technical, I have a good referral for you. But anything sustainability, I'll find out, and I'm just happy to discuss the mindset part with you. So we have to make you the obvious choice that you stand out from these mass operators and these mass accommodations that lack any character and are not unique at all because you are different than that. Alright, that is something for you to take home and to start wondering about. And I see you next time. Thank you for listening, and congratulations on investing your time today to think strategically about your future, to make sure you never miss a step to understand sustainability better, how to grow your competitive edge. Follow the podcast right now, and if this was helpful, please leave a five star rating. It will help other people like you to find these tools. I'm Samantha Smith, and I'll see you in the next episode.