Why we’re not the right consultancy for you.
- epenticost
- May 6
- 3 min read
We don’t take on all work. Part of the joy of working for a boutique consultancy is the ability to pick and choose the projects that we want to work on. After over six years of doing this we’ve come to closely understand which projects bring us the most joy and which add the most value to our clients. This is the sweet spot we focus on. If you meet one or more of the criteria below, that probably isn’t you. That doesn’t mean we don’t deviate from this from time-to-time but it is the rare exception not the norm.
Your organisation is already a pioneering ESG leader.
We add most value to companies in the earlier stages of their ESG journey, either without an ESG strategy in place or looking to review and update their first strategy. As companies progress further along their ESG journey the quick-wins have gone, steady progress has been made and then it starts to get hard. Inevitably companies focus on progressing fewer ESG issues to a more advanced level but to do this they now need more specialist support – in-depth knowledge experts on focussed ESG micro-topics such as the circular economy of plastic packaging in food, or how to attract and retain neurodiverse talent into the business, etc. We are generalists with a good depth of knowledge to get you through the first 1-5 years of an ESG approach but we are not the right company to help you beyond this.
You’re not ready to invest in ESG.
ESG adds value to your business – it helps you win work/attract customers, appeal to investors and build an engaged workforce. You can’t add this type of value to your business without investment. Of course the level of investment needed depends on where you are, and where you want to get to. To cover off just the ESG basics (compliance, policies and data, including carbon footprint measurement), will likely cost £10-£20k but for a full ESG strategy founded on a robust business case (materiality exercise) and with well-considered, ambitious yet deliverable goals, supported by a multi-year delivery action plan, you need to be willing to invest £30-£70k.
You just want an ESG badge.
We help many of our clients to achieve ESG awards and certifications such as B Corp, UN Global Compact, Living Wage, ISO 14064, SBTi verification, EcoVadis and CDP, but we only do this if we think the accolade is relevant to their business, and many aren’t. Each submission takes time and energy that takes away from doing things that really add value to your business. There’ll be some value in the process of doing each accolade, but there will also be some admin and unnecessary tasks as they typically take a ‘one-size fits all’ approach. We’ll only support you to achieve an accolade if there is a clear business case and we can support you to do the necessary ground work to ensure that you achieve the outcome you want.
You just need us to write the sustainability/ESG section for an important bid.
We are not bid writers, but we are bid enablers. We can put in place quick-wins to bolster your bids (think some basic policies, data collection processes and carbon targets) and we can translate the tender document’s technical ESG-speak so you understand what the client is asking, and what they’re looking for in an answer, but we can’t write the response for you. It’s not that we don’t want to, it’s that we don’t know what you can commit to. For example, we can tell you that a client asking how you will deliver social value wants to understand your holistic approach to topics such as diversity, employment, training, wellbeing alongside environmental factors and we can guide you on what that might look like for that particular client, but we can’t tell you how many apprentices to commit to hiring, that needs to come from you.
Where we do excel, however, is responding to technical RFP questions – those questions which ask what ESG policies you have or what method you used for carbon reporting, for example. This, we can do.
You’re a large company in the fast-fashion industry.
We love working across a broad range of sectors as it keeps us learning and allows us to transfer our knowledge. One of the best ESG strategies we’ve developed was for a food manufacturer that took inspiration from a construction company.
There are not many industries we won’t work with, but where a company is very large and operates in a complex or fragmented sector (think long supply chains) with large product ranges and the sector has a high volume of complex ESG issues, we will only work with you if we have the right in-house skill set. For construction companies, that’s usually yes, for fast-fashion, that’s no (for now at least!). If we don’t feel we can work in your industry, we’ll tell you up-front and recommend someone else who can help.
If you fall into the above categories, you might not be the right fit for us. However, if you’re looking for a partner who will rapidly advance your ESG approach to support achievement of your ultimate goals (attract customers/investors/employees), then get in touch. We’d be delighted to work with you!
Authored by Caroline Johnstone.
