In the right hands, a little knowledge is a valuable thing

How much do you spend on Christmas decorations? I used to spend around £40 million. And about £250 million on paint, £350 million on kitchens and £800 million on gardening equipment. A year.

How come? Before sustainability became a full-time gig, I worked as a buyer in one of Europe’s biggest retail groups. The sums involved really are, well, telephone numbers.

I’m not raising this for reasons of self-aggrandisement. They are only numbers and, to be honest, there are weeks in sustainability consultancy when £5,000 feels more significant than £5,000,000 ever did in corporate life. It’s all relative.

I raise it because the people with the real power to make a difference on sustainability are those who control the biggest budgets. And those tend to be the people in big businesses buying and selling stuff to each other. The decisions they make on how they specify, source and select products genuinely change the world we live in.

A colleague of mine, Ben, decided to change the way the 25 million bedding plants he bought were packaged—from bulky, non-recyclable polystyrene to thin-walled, recyclable PET. It cut pack size by 40%. So, 40% fewer trucks. 40% less fuel. 40% less CO₂. I make it sound easy. It wasn’t. Huge systems had to change. But ten years on, where he led, the industry followed.

One smart, informed decision by someone with buying power adds up to a lot of impact reduction. So why doesn’t everyone do it? It’s not because buyers and sellers don’t care or are actively trying to damage the planet. Every commercial person I speak to wants to do things the right way, but says the same thing: I don’t know enough. I’m not confident. I need a hand.

We’ve been delighted by the number of businesses asking us to train their commercial teams on sustainability. I’m delighted because it lets me hang out with commercial folk - my old tribe - and help them unleash their power to make a difference.

So, if you want to train up your commercial teams on sustainability, here are our top five tips.

1. Make a credible business case
2. Make it relevant and relatable
3. Speak like a business person
4. Keep them engaged and involved
5. Leave them with tools to use

Let’s take a closer look at each of these:

1. Make a credible business case

These are smart people who spend their lives fighting for every cent of value. Try telling them that 90% of consumers will pay more for the planet or base their choice of biscuit on its carbon footprint and they will call it for the oversimplified bullshit that it is.

There is a strong business case for sustainability - but stick to things that are credible for an expert audience and that they will believe:

• Climate change is affecting yields and ingredients. A climate-resilient supply chain matters to your brand’s future.
• Consumers do want more ethical products, but most won’t pay more. If you can deliver on price, performance and planet, you have a better proposition.
• Retailers have major sustainability targets. If you can help cut their Scope 3, EPR bills or human rights risk, you are a better partner.

The business case is real but don’t oversimplify it.

2. Make it relevant and relatable

Commercial teams are genuinely interested in the ‘science bit’ about the environment and the social challenges that their brands may entail BUT you have to make it relevant and relatable to their products and sector.

• Telling people ‘the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions generated by production of food consumed by a medium sized family dog across its full lifespan is 4,000KG’ doesn’t really get the conversation started on Scope 3 emissions.
• ‘Did you know that this 10KG Beagle’s delicious daily bowlful of DoggoChunks means it has a carbon footprint the same weight as an Indian Elephant’ does.

Always make the topic relatable to their world and relevant to their products.

3. Speak like a business person

Sustainability people often don’t. Sorry, but it’s true. When I moved across from commercial, I couldn’t believe the amount of arcane jargon. Things like:

“We must focus on systemic transformation that dismantles extractive economic models and reimagines regenerative futures rooted in equity, agency and planetary boundaries.”

Okay, I got AI to make that up. But you hear this sort of thing a lot. And it leaves people baffled, irritated, or quietly laughing.

So we always:

• Use clear, businesslike language
• Learn how our clients talk internally
• Cut word count hard to get to the point

It’s not about dumbing down the content, that isn’t needed, it’s just about using language that feels familiar, sensible and actionable.

4. Keep them engaged and involved

Don’t just download information for an hour and then ask if anyone has questions – guaranteed tumbleweed. Instead…

• Get everyone talking early with a simple, meaningful icebreaker
• Do quizzes and polls - people love them and they quickly start conversations
• Use online chat - ask people to drop in comments and turn them into dialogue
• Get small groups working on stuff – you won’t be able to stop them talking
• If you’re training face to face then get them up and moving about the room

Basically, make the show about them, not you!

5. Leave them with tools to use

Enthusiasm fades quickly if people don’t know what to do next. We always leave teams with practical tools, such as:

• Customer-ready presentations they can use in meetings
• Train-the-trainer packs they can deliver to their teams
• Handy playbooks to summarise the key facts they need
• Regular newsletters to bring them fresh news and views
• Links to external resources that they can read up on

So that learning turns into action.

I am biased, I am an ex-buyer after all, but I genuinely believe that the choices made every day by commercial teams are one of the biggest determinants of what our collective future looks like. Giving them a little knowledge will have an unbelievably valuable, impact.

If you want to learn more about how we at Futerra Academy can help – then email me at matt@wearefuterra.com.