The case study is dedicated to the topic of ethics in sales. Two different situations are considered. In one situation a salesperson applies particular efforts, aiming at making customer buy particular thing, being aware about the fact that the efforts he/she applies leads to objectionable influence on customer’s decision-making process. In another situation (which seems to be opposite) insurance agent lets customer know about harmful effects, connected with the purchase, which can potentially appear in the future.
The main issue to be considered with respect to the first situation is about the extent to which it is ethical for a salesperson to influence customer’s decision regarding the purchase. Special considerations refer to using psychological approaches, which are believed to be useful for persuading a customer to make the purchase (e.g. creating the effect of urgency; converting customer’s wants to customer’s needs etc.).
The second situation focuses on ethical dimension of salesperson’s obligation to inform a customer about what he is buying. It is clear that a salesperson should inform a customer about existing danger, which may be associated with using the thing he sales. On the other hand, it is questionable whether salesperson should let a customer know about threats, which are only potential and refer not to a purchase itself, but combination of different factors, which appear regardless of salesperson’s will. The second situation raises crucial question of salesperson’s attitude towards customers. In case a salesperson adheres to the point of view, expressed by Mr.Morarem, case study 2 protagonist, and treats clients with regard to their interests (Carson, 1998), a salesperson is obliged to express any concern, which he/she considers relevant to potential purchase and explain it to the client. On the other hand, an obligation to reveal particular concerns, which are not directly connected with what is sold, can be considered to be totally dependent on the approach to customers (clients), adopted by the salesperson.
While addressing issues, mentioned above, it is worth remembering that each business as a whole and any business deal in particular starts with ethos, and reputation of the brand is conditioned far more on what the representatives of the brand do, than declared values (Arnold, 2007).
Ethical position of the company
As we have already mentioned, every business start up starts with ethos. Liveliness of discussions on ethics is called forth by the fact that ethical positions, inherent for different stakeholders, may be totally different. Such a situation stems from the fact that as opposed to unified systems of law, which regulates different spheres of social relationships including business conduct, no single system of ethics exists either at the level of state or at universal level. In other words, ethical position of the company is what the company believes in and stays faithful to. It is really important to develop such an ethical position of the company, which will be, first of all, realistic and, secondly, aligned with main goal of each enterprise, which lies in getting richer.
The main task of company’s brand management policy is to create such an ethical position of the company, which will not be in conflict with company’s (and its representatives) actual business conduct. The main threat, associated with such a conflict, is to create bad brand reputation. Brands look like people, so saying and doing different things are the true way to not being believed and respected in the environment you operate within.
Moreover, it is necessary to stress the new role business has in 21th century. While in 20th century business was directly connected to just making money in terms of regulatory framework, introduced by the state, nowadays representatives of business play key role in law-making and decision-making processes at different levels, and business itself becomes more consumer-oriented and, therefore, ready to bear more social responsibility, especially with respect to reducing people’s negative influence on environment and combating such humankind global problems as lack of natural energy sources, greenhouse effect and insufficiency of sweet water.
Ethical position of sales personnel
How the ethical code of the company and salesperson conflict
As it was already briefly mentioned in previous subsection of case study analysis, conflicts can appear on the basis of differences between ethical positions of company itself and particular salesperson. Such a difference is a consequence of combination of facts. Firstly, no universal ethical system exists. So, it is evident that founders of enterprise and particular salesperson, who have different family, cultural and social background and experiences, are likely to have different ethical values and considerations. Secondly, non-adherence to ethical rules can seldom result in particular punishment. Thus salespeople may consider adherence to ethical code of the company not a mandatory requirement for their everyday activities. Thirdly, a salesperson can believe that he/she contributes to company’s wellbeing by committing a breach of ethical code of the company, and consider making such a contribution more important as adhering to the ethical code, being unable to fully understand the situation from the point of view of customer relations and take into account relevant long-term effects. The most appropriate solution in case a conflict stems from above-mentioned issues is to introduce comprehensive training for salesperson, which may help all staff members align their own perceptions about sales with the view, adopted by the company.
In terms of this subsection it is necessary to mention that the above-mentioned conflict can also stem from contradictions in different policies of the company. Let us consider the following example. On the one hand, the company can introduce an ethical code, based on customer orientation, the principle of providing customer with the full and comprehensive information about the product he/she is going to purchase, non-usage of any psychological methods and techniques, which can be potentially harmful for the customer etc. On the other hand, management can oblige salespeople to ensure particular number of sales to be made, making them break ethical rules to meet such a requirement. In this regard necessary maintaining necessary balance should be specially addressed.
The positive and negative consequences of the ethical decisions of the company and salesperson
Any ethical decision, made either by company, or particular person, may have both positive and negative consequences. Most important positive consequences are to be associated with such long-term trends as increase in sales, increase in brand loyalty and development of the image of the company, which is capable of practical implementation of the principle of customer orientation. Negative consequences can manifest themselves in the forms of decrease in sales, decrease in brand loyalty and reputation-related issues. So, it may be stated that any ethical decision, even made by particular salesperson, is likely to exert crucial effect on customer relations of the enterprise.
References
Arnold, C. (2009). Ethical marketing and the new consumer. Chichester: John Wiley&Sons Ltd
Carson, T. L. (1998). Ethical issues in sales: Two case studies. Journal of Business Ethics, 17(7), 725.
