Once recruiting, the firm looks for certain personal qualities in the candidate. No matter how good is the candidate, there is always a lot he must be trained for, which is more any business must promote and follow the highest ethical standards and values (Johnston & Marshall, 2013, Ch.10). Statement of Ethics, declared by the American Marketing Association (n.d.) lists the main ethical norms and values to be followed by every salesperson. Among the six values listed, I would emphasize on the following three to be mandatory for the effectiveness of my sales force: responsibility, respect and transparency.
Responsibility refers not only to the obligation to do the job well, but it also refers to the recognition of the liability for the actions in front of customers, it requires to acknowledge social responsibility and to consider the commitment for the company’s actions and policies (American Marketing Association, n.d.). This can be trained through regular weekly meetings, where the main company’s policies and standards will be reminded and discussed. Working in small teams will also be helpful, as marketers will learn from each other how to follow the standards and bare the responsibility.
Respect is the way to show the acknowledgement of the human dignity of each and every customer, coworker and employer. This can be trained through mentoring and coaching, where more experienced employee will cooperate with a newly recruited. So that higher management could show respect to its subordinates. However, this value is mostly dependent on the personal qualities of the person.
Transparency is necessary to build a clear communication stakeholders, to accept any feedback and thus to be able to prevent risks once they only appear, as no one will hide or distort the information or facts (American Marketing Association, n.d.). This can be trained by an example by the higher management or more experienced peers. Thus, official meetings, where the most important information about the company’s goals and results achieved will be discussed is one of the options to show a marketer the value of openness. Working in teams is also helpful to train a transparency value as it helps to build closer relations between peers.
References
American Marketing Association (n.d.) Statement of Ethics. Available at: https://www.ama.org/AboutAMA/Pages/Statement-of-Ethics.aspx
Johnston, M., & Marshall, G. (2013). Sales force management. (11th ed.). New York: Routledge. ISBN-13: 978-0-415-53462-8
Response to Amanda Butler:
Salespeople’s work is all about cooperating with people. There is no option to build strong and long lasting partnerships without accepting a responsibility. AMA defines as an ability to acknowledge the obligations to all the stakeholders (American Marketing Association, n.d.). Almost all companies store personal information about their clients. Thus, it is a great point to emphasize on the privacy as a part of a responsibility value, which must be granted to each and everyone. As it is done by the Apple, Inc. (Apple, Inc., 2016). I believe, salesmen can be trained to respect the privacy through role-playing and case studies, where each salesperson can be in a position of a customer.
References
American Marketing Association (n.d.) Statement of Ethics. Available at: https://www.ama.org/AboutAMA/Pages/Statement-of-Ethics.aspx
Apple, Inc. (2016). Apple values. Apple, Inc. Available at: http://www.apple.com/privacy/
Response to Julie Miner
It is great to point out that every single marketer acts on behalf of the company, thus representing it through his actions. Which is why, three values chosen: honesty, respect, and citizenship, are paramount for the salespeople of the company. Especially, I would emphasize on the citizenship one, as being only a professional in the business is not enough for creating a truly valuable image. AMA includes several areas, where a citizenship responsibilities can be fulfilled, namely: economic, legal, philanthropic, environmental and social (American Marketing Association, n.d.). Every company spends millions of dollars on trainings for its employees (Johnston & Marshall, 2013, Ch.10). However, I believe, that citizenship value can be teached via real examples showed by the company, like an organized charity event or regular sponsorship.
References
American Marketing Association (n.d.) Statement of Ethics. Available at: https://www.ama.org/AboutAMA/Pages/Statement-of-Ethics.aspx
Johnston, M., & Marshall, G. (2013). Sales force management. (11th ed.). New York: Routledge. ISBN-13: 978-0-415-53462-8
