The Importance of Ethics in the Sales Industry
The world has become an increasingly complex place to live and operate with values and morals being quickly degraded. Every day people fall victim of unscrupulous individuals who seek to take advantage of them while purporting to offer them particular goods or services. This has put into question the credibility and application of ethics in the sales industry causing people to be extra cautious and suspicious of salespersons (Alessandri, 2015).
The Role of Sales Ethics
Although there exists a body of ethics that guides the operation of sales teams, their ethics plays a significant role determining their practices. The philosophy they subscribe to decides if they are going to adopt the methods provided in the sales ethics and seek to build trust with their customers or they are merely going to do all it takes to seal the deal and cut their losses as they go.
The Impact of Personal Ethics and Organizational Values
A salesperson whose own personal ethics demands honesty and credibility are likely to practice great sales ethics with their client building strong business relations in the community for their organizations and doing great business (Alessandri, 2015). This is because they inspire confidence in their clients in whatever mode or form that their clients require and are therefore able to benefit from a long-lasting business relationship. They are also able to gain more clientele through the referral from contented clients who have their trust in them and believe that they can deliver when needed. This behavior of salespeople is also propagated by the value system of the organization they work for. Organizations that are client oriented and value this business relationship and not only getting an order will instill in their representatives this value system for them to represent the company efficiently (Roman, 2011).
The Negative Impact of Unethical Sales Practices
On the other hand, sales representative whose primary objectives is to close a business deal and get the sale are prone to unscrupulous practices to get this done. Their ethics are out of whack and are skewed towards their benefits disregarding the needs of the clients and what is good for them. They present products deceptively to their prospective client without giving them a full breakdown of the pros and cons involved (Roman, 2011). For example, a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company driven by their objective can present a new drug to a physician deceptively without giving them a full breakdown of the side effects it poses. They are likely to coerce the client into stocking the product when they know so well it has specific issues which they don't endeavor to inform the client.
Negative Personal Experience
I have personally been a victim an unscrupulous traveling sales person who was promoting a new product and claiming that it was a very productive cleaning agent and would change my cleaning experience. He bragged on the product indicating that it was the best in the market and I was lucky getting it at a promotional discount compared to its selling price in the local retail. He even urged me to buy two as I could not get such a deal elsewhere. I only bought one but my utter disappointment it wasn't that good, and in my rounds, at the local retail I discovered I did not even get any discount, but his price was possibly exaggerated.
The Effects of Unethical Sales Practices
Such behavior by sales representative has adverse effects on the community, business, and nations because they erode trust and instill mistrust towards anybody who claims to offer certain goods and services. Even though there are some genuine people out there, they are all treated with the same apprehension since you never know who to trust. Business fails to maximize their potential regarding networks and performances because of the policies they employ when seeking to sell or provide services coupled with personal interest and craftiness of their representatives. A change towards adapting good sales ethics and trust building with potential customers will go a long way in enhancing their performance of businesses.
References
Alessandri, A., " Aleo, A. (2015). Sales ethics: how to sell effectively while doing the right thing.
New York, NY: BEP, Business Expert Press.
Román, S. (2011). Ethics in personal selling and sales management. Sales Management, 147-170.
doi:10.1007/978-1-137-28574-4_7
Marketing- and Sales-Management Best Practices. (2015). Corporate Management, Governance,
and Ethics Best Practices, 165-185. doi:10.1002/9781119196662.ch6
