Such a small word for an important quality.
Trust is one of the cornerstones of a successful business. Trust in people, your colleagues and suppliers, and trust in your processes.
And speaking of trusting processes, recently I had hand surgery and my consultant decided to do the procedure under a local anaesthetic.
In reality, this meant numbing the whole of my right arm, from the shoulder down.
The process for this was complicated and precise. They used an ultrasound machine to make sure the injections were in exactly the right place.
It took nearly an hour from start to finish and not one, not two but THREE doctors!
My trust was well placed. I gradually lost the feeling in my arm as the anaesthetic took hold – to the point that I didn’t know where my arm was! (Apparently, this was a sign they got it right).
Sure, the processes in your business may not be so life-affecting but making sure they are correct is vital to your success. And, making sure your marketing and advertising processes are legal and working for you is critical to ensuring new and existing customers get the best impression of your brand.
For example, a clothes retailer got into trouble with the ASA again recently when one of their influencers promoted one of their dresses on social media without making it clear they were acting on behalf of the brand.
So as well as appearing on the ASA website with an upheld complaint, things like this can make people wary of shopping with them because some people will see this behaviour as untrustworthy.
Even with the best of intentions, it is easy to fall into one of these traps. And being ignorant of the rules won’t change the way the ASA deal with any complaints against you.
So the only course of action is to make sure there is nothing to complain about and if they do (because people will always complain about something) then you will have nothing to fear as you have done nothing wrong.