Ethics in Sales & Sales Management
Common Ethical Issues for Salespeople
- A customer asks for information about one of its competitors, who happens to be one of the salesperson's customers. Salespeople are obligated to keep any information they may have about their customers private.
- How much to spend on holiday gifts for customers? Issue is that an extravagant gift may appear like a bribe directed at a decision maker for a company. Some companies don't allow their employees to receive even promotional items like coffee mugs or pens from salespeople.
- A buyer asks for something special, something the salesperson isn't supposed to provide but could easily do so. Issue is that salesperson may be violated company policy and may provide an unfair advantage to one customer.
- No one knows if a salesperson is actually at work or not and it is a nice day to play golf. Even though it is a beautiful day for golf, a salesperson who takes time away from the job is stealing time from the company and losing sales opportunities as well. Take a customer to play may be a different story; such a game may be a time to strengthen a relationship as along as the customer doesn't feel manipulated or obligated.
- Manipulation that may include misrepresentation or claiming a product does something that it doesn't, withholding important information, using hard-sell tactics and other unfair sales tactics.
