Specialty Services
Level up - Make your responsible sourcing practices official and authenticate your sustainability claims and transparency with help from us.
Professionalize Your Responsible Sourcing
Maybe you've worked through the Essentials Consulting Package with us or maybe you've laid the groundwork for your sustainable jewelry practices on your own - either way we can help enhance them by building the professional materials that help you keep improving your responsible sourcing practices.
Keep improving your responsible sourcing plan with these services
You want to build up your responsible sourcing know-how and pull these skills through your entire business, and sometimes you need specific advice or a custom document, and that’s what these Specialty Services do.
They help you deliver on your promises.
Sourcing Policy
A good policy makes decisions easier. Speak to suppliers and customers with confidence about what you will and won't accept from your sourcing.
Guiding Principles Statement
What you believe and why is hard to put into words. We ask a lot of questions and then listen closely to you to produce a statement you can share publicly.
Supplier Interview Call
Knowing how and what to ask to get the information you need is not something you were taught how to do. We've got the easy and hard questions ready for you and we’ll be your support team in the conversation.
Communications Audit
It can be challenging to find the right words to convey the business practices that set you apart. We can be the friendly but discerning eye to review your marketing language and make sure you are communicating concisely, accurately, and still from the heart.
Looking to level-up the way you communicate transparently about your responsible sourcing and sustainability plan?
Our professionalization services do just that!
All the products we offer are based on a methodology we’ve been guiding jewelers through since 2015. These are the four primary documents and activities that are requested by our clients and that are accomplished more easily with professional support.
Take a closer look:
Sourcing Policy
A Sourcing Policy is a “Cornerstone” product. It is foundational, allowing you to make purchasing decisions with clarity and guide future communications about your jewelry materials. Who sees the policy is up to you. While it is intended for internal guidance for you and your team and for communicating your expectations to suppliers and vendors, it can be made publicly available for transparency purposes. This document is not intended to provide sales and marketing copy.
Investment: starting at $2,205
Product:
Sourcing Policy
Details:
CMC will draft a Sourcing Policy (up to 3 pages) for your business. Investment includes 2 rounds of customer edits.
The Process:
- One meeting to get started.
- CMC works on first draft.
- Meeting with client - Walk through the draft and leave with client for comments.
- Client returns with questions/comments/feedback
CMC makes edits (within 1 week) + emails back final version to client.
What does a Sourcing Policy do?
It documents the course of actions you take on responsible sourcing, guides internal decision making and communicates these practices to external audiences (retailers, customers, press).
How does it help my sourcing practices?
It sets clear guidelines for your purchasing decisions and rules you hold yourself to, from general (human rights, environmental protection, fair labor, etc. - standard business must haves) to specific (material by material). A sourcing policy makes it easier to adhere to your core values and clarify under what circumstances you will or won’t take a specific action.
What does it do for my business?
It will professionalize your practices, help you talk more confidently about them, help simplify your sourcing decisions by making clear what you're willing to accept and what you’re not willing to accept. Make your life easier by having a policy to refer people to. You can even send it to suppliers in advance to see if there's alignment. It is also a document increasingly expected from retailers and even discerning customers.
What can I use it for?
It's a statement of intent about your sourcing efforts that can be shared with your customers. It helps you share the details of what “responsible sourcing” means for you specifically, as this can be different for different people.
Guiding Principles Statement
Expressing your values and how they guide your business decisions can be challenging. Perhaps you have more to say than what your audience wants to read. The Guiding Principles Statement faces your customers, articulates who you are, what you believe and how you integrate this throughout your business.
Investment: starting at $1,080
Product: 500-word statement.
Details:
Investment includes 2 rounds of customer edits.
What is a Guiding Principles Statement?
A public-facing statement setting out the fundamental principles that guide your decisions and actions. It can also reflect your general reasoning and values for your business.
How can it be helpful for my team and customers?
It turns your convictions and ideas into concrete actionable values or principles that inform how you source your materials and relate to suppliers and vendors.
Why will my business benefit?
Good for small businesses and brands to pull ideas together into a coherent whole, give traction to your responsible sourcing and sustainability and guide your actions.
How does it work?
CMC plays an editorial role, we help you define what’s most important for you and then a professional copywriter works their magic so it resonates with customers.
Supplier Interview Call
You’ve told us that supplier calls make you nervous!
With some coaching from us and live support during one call, you’ll gain the confidence to have many conversations. The support we provide is in three main parts:
- Provide background research on one (1) supplier of choice.
- Join you in a call with your supplier - it’s up to you how much you’d like for us to lead in this call! We want you to feel confident and be able to use this experience as an example to follow for future supplier conversations.
- Post-call debrief and recommendation for follow-up questions
Investment: starting at $1,400 per call
Product: Transcript or audio of the call (if interviewee allows), with notes and suggestions.
Details:
Live supplier vetting call (max. 1-hour long) and script.
The Process:
- Prep call to decide which vendor do they want to interview & which material(s).
- Interview scheduling.
- 1-hour Interview.
- Immediate post call debrief (address feelings/immediate reactions/concerns).
- Client meeting - review in detail what was learned, what wasn't, recommendations for next level questions.
- PLUS: Link to LR with Cheri Torres & Basic Questionnaire.
How does a Supplier Interview Call help me?
We help you organize the information you have about the prioritized supplier, list the claims they make that you'd like to have more information on, identify basic questions that will get you closer to answering your questions, pinpoint any red flags, and learn nuances to watch out for.
What happens during the call?
Two (2) consultants from the CMC team are on the conference call with you. We can lead the call or we can remain in the background ready to assist. The call can be up to 1 hour long.
How can this help me with other suppliers and vendors?
The supported supplier interview helps you gain confidence. Jewelers like you are often intimidated by supplier calls, but these conversations can be meaningful and constructive. You can learn a lot about yourself, what you really care about, and gain insights around what is possible to know now.
Communications Audit
It is good to be on alert about greenwashing, but sometimes it is hard to know what qualifies and what doesn’t. During a communications audit, we look at the words you are using to catch risky language as well as identify opportunities where you could say even more to convey your sustainability practices clearly.
Investment: starting at $1,080
Product: Document with analysis, feedback and recommendations.
Details:
Assessment of current language and claims on up to three (3) webpages and past 30 days in one (1) social media channel, analysis of language and assertions. It provides an example to follow for future copywriting needs.
The Process:
- 1-hour client meeting (Client completes vision and values worksheet).
- Proof-reading and feedback.
- 1-hour client meeting to walk through, discuss any questions, make annotations of edits to make.
- Edit based on final conversation.
What is a Communications Audit?
It is an analysis of the language you use and claims you make about your sourcing practices on public-facing platforms, mainly your website and a social channel.
Why is it necessary?
Taking stock of the claims you make about your materials and practices and assessing the language you use is necessary to make sure you avoid 'greenwashing' and any upsetting push-back.
How can this help my business?
The communications audit will show you where there might be gaps between your values, sourcing practices, and the way you speak about them. It will help you avoid greenwashing and increase consumer trust.
How will my customers benefit?
It will help you educate the public and be comprehensive and thoughtful in your communications.
All The Tools You Need To Build A Sustainable Business
Eventually you'll want it all, but here's an opportunity to take things one step at a time.
These “a la carte” services offer you a route to professionalize your practices and formalize your sustainability goals. These services are designed to complement the Essentials Consulting Package and can be developed during the Package or at a later date.
You pick, we get you on track.
