Trust & cred

I spotted a van on the road today for a company called Eco Traffic Solutions and of course looked them up.

The website is light on details but mentioned they source either recycled, sustainable, carbon neutral or carbon negative materials wherever they can.

Love this – one thing I’d suggest to them (and you, if this is also your path) is to provide some insight into where you source those materials, and any details you can obtain from your suppliers, eg:

• Are the materials 100% recycled or mixed?
• Are you suppliers based in Australia or abroad?
• What “sustainable” materials are used, and how do they qualify as sustainable?
• How do the other materials achieve a carbon neutral/negative rating?

The more you can provide the more trust it creates – even if the answer isn’t ideal.

A mistake many companies make is to only talk about the good they’re doing without addressing the areas they’re still working on for fear of looking incomplete, imperfect, or inferior.

But this is a trust building opportunity.

If the recycled material is only 70% recycled, saying that is much stronger than being called out for it later – plus, you can address it directly, eg:

“While our materials are currently only 70% recycled, our goal is to use 100% recycled materials within the next 2 years”.

Transparency like this creates trust, builds credibility, gives your customers a reason to support you, and offers you accountability – especially if you make it public.