As the basic principles that govern behavior, ethics are not laws. Laws are
enforced by governmental statues. Ethics go beyond laws (and rules and
regulations) to the heart of a situation. At the center of everything you do is
whether your actions are right or wrong according to your moral standards
(your ethics)
Salespeople are on the company’s “front lines” and often create the first
impression people receive of the business. The first impression is important
to the company’s leaders and stakeholders because it affects profitability.
Customers often use this first impression to decide whether or not (or how
much) to purchase from the company.
When salespeople cross the moral “line”, negative events can follow. The
business can experience legal issues, which can be costly and can promote a
negative image of the company. Customers who learn the legal issues (and see
the negative public image) can begin to distrust the company.
- Misrepresenting the truth
- Saying something unfair or untrue about another business
- Saying something unfair or untrue about another company’s product
- Participating in bribery
- Neglecting to provide accurate information to customers
- Unfairly competing within the marketplace
When dealing with customers, salespeople must be cautious with: gift-giving,
entertaining, answering questions, communicating product information, and
maintaining confidences.
Gift-giving is one of the most widely disputed ethical issues in sales. It’s
illegal to offer or accept a bribe.
In certain industries, it’s generally accepted that salespeople will entertain
clients as part of the relationship-building process. In other industries,
especially where contracts are awarded, entertaining can be viewed as
favoritism or bribery.
Another issues is answering questions without really knowing the answers.
When this occurs, salespeople are actually guessing, not relaying facts.
Salespeople who try to appear knowledgeable when they’re actually uncertain
risk crossing into the legal issues of misrepresentation and negligence.
Because building relationships and communicating go together, it’s important
for salespeople to carefully guard what customers tell them in confidence.
Spreading information that is not intended for others’ knowledge can tear
down a relationship and hamper communication in the long run. It’s generally
expected that salespeople will ask a customer’s permission before sharing
his/her confidential information. It’s also expected that salespeople will not
share company secrets to make a sale.
Employer-employee relationships operate in two directions – from the
employer to the employee and from the employee to the employer.
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- Putting unreasonable pressure on salespeople
Neglecting to assign/pay the commission due when a territory is split and
distributed among salespeople
- Being a poor role model for ethical sales behavior
- Looking the other way when staff members behave unethically
Taking a good look in the ethical “mirror” can be very revealing. Just as it’s
important to check your physical appearance before you start your day, isn’t
important to examine your personal ethics before you begin a career in sales.
Keep in mind that you are the one who can make a difference in your firm.
Every ethical sales department is made up of ethical salespeople.