Transcript Sales Ethics: It’s Not An Oxymoron

Sales Ethics: It’s Not An
Oxymoron
THE NEW SCHOOL
Corporations Today
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Corporations, by charter, are immortal
Corporations have multiple relationships
that they are unlikely to keep secret very
long
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www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
Magnified for media companies, because
revenue depends on:
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Advertisers
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Size of the audience
Subscribers
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Advertising
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Large advertisers such as Verizon, P&G, GM,
and Coca-Cola will be around for decades.
It’s not smart business to bite the hands that
will feed your company for the next several
decades.
Don’t lie to them or cheat them.
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Customers don’t buy from people or companies
they don’t trust.
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Current Headlines
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The press loves stories about corporate
dishonesty
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Enron scandal
WorldCom
Ogilvy & Mather over-billing the
government’s Office of National Drug Control
Bear Stearns hedge fund managers lying to
investors
Goldman Sachs cheating customers
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What’s Going On?
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Greed
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Wrong incentives
People go along with unethical behavior
because:
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“No one will know”
“If I don’t take their money someone else
will”
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Rationalization
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Criminals and other sociopaths typically
rationalize their behavior with the last one
(“if I don’t take their money, someone
else will”)
A salesperson for a major media company
forged a client’s name on a contract so
revenue would be recognized, but got
caught when the client got a bill and said,
“We didn’t sign anything!”
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“I won’t get caught.”
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Three Reasons
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There are many reasons for unethical
behavior, but three common ones are:
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Strong tendency to bow to authority and
follow orders: “just following orders.”
Strong tendency to do what peer group
does—social pressure and conformity:
“everyone does it.”
An absence of clearly defined and
communicated standards: “nobody told me.”
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Bow to authority
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Give up their individual free will and autonomy and
turn their conscience over to someone else
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Cave in to peer pressure in order to
conform
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Negate their free will and autonomy and hand over
individuality to the crowd
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Won’t work – Nazi’s at Nuremburg trials
Won’t work – you have a conscience, the crowd doesn’t
Absence of standards
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Organizations must create and communicate ethical
standards to trump the “nobody told me” copout
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Copout won’t work – we all know what we’re supposed to
do
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Why?
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Sociopath, narcissist, excessive greed, or
other personality defects?
Perhaps due to extreme pressure from
management.
Perhaps because of an absence of clearly
defined and communicated standards or a
code of ethics.
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Ethics Vs. Morals
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Ethics are clearly defined standards of
right and wrong set out by written codes
or standards set by an organization or
profession.
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Morals are individual standards of right
and wrong based on:
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Deep-seated personal values
Accepted beliefs and modes of conduct by
groups in which people choose to work and
play
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Morals are related to personal character
and belief as to what is right and wrong
(internal).
Ethics are the proper behavior regarding
the social system where morals are
applied (external).
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Ethics
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With heightened press coverage of
business scandals…
The public has become increasingly
concerned about ethical behavior…
Now, more than ever is the time to follow
Peter Drucker’s sage advice…
“It is more important to do the right thing
than to do things right.”
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Salesperson’s Five Areas of Ethical
Responsibility
1.
To consumers
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Customers buy a product or service.
Consumers use a product
In some businesses (retail, utilities,
transportation, e.g.) the customer and the
consumer are the same
In other businesses (CPG, media, e.g.) they
are different
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Audience/readers/subscribers = consumers
Advertisers = customers
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Salesperson’s Five Areas of Ethical
Responsibility
1.
To consumers (audience/subscribers)
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Put consumers first.
Don’t lie to them.
Don’t sell them shoddy products.
Don’t sell unsafe products.
Don’t accept advertising for products you
wouldn’t recommend to a relative.
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2.
To your conscience
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Doing what’s right according to one’s own
moral standards
“There is no pillow as soft as a clear
conscience.”
Doing the right thing increases self-esteem,
self-image and self-confidence.
Greed is a cancer that will kill a person’s and
a company’s reputation and eventually kill the
organism.
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Some people are unethical because they
believe they won’t get caught.
But they are playing an ethical lottery with
the odds of losing extremely high.
Doing the right thing every business day is
the only sure way of not getting caught and
of maintaining a reputation and the selfesteem that goes along with an excellent
reputation.
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3.
To customers
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Customers (advertisers) don’t buy from
people and companies they don’t trust.
“Under-promise and over-deliver.”
Don’t sell customers:
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Something they don’t need
Something they can’t afford
Something that doesn’t work
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Don’t accept advertising:
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That is in bad taste.
That hurts a customer’s image.
That is misleading.
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Native advertising?
Salespeople shouldn’t:
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Give kickbacks.
Use bait-and-switch tactics
Let customers feel like they lost a negotiation.
Reveal information before a campaign runs or reveal
competitive information.
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Salespeople shouldn’t:
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Promise what advertising itself cannot deliver.
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The media can deliver potential exposure to an
audience.
Can’t promise results--too many uncontrollable factors.
Promise something they can’t realistically deliver:
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Promotions
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Merchandising
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Tickets
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Position
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Placements
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Completion of schedules
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4.
To the community
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The global community
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The world community, society
“Do no harm.”
“Suppose everybody in the world did this?”
The business community
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To maintain faith in the free-market system
Investors, regulators, general public
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“Suppose everybody in business did this?”
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The industry community
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The advertising-supported media
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Americans get their news and often their values, beliefs,
and attitudes from the media.
The media can alter people’s view of the world and their
prejudices.
Salespeople have a responsibility to keep the media free
by fueling it with advertising.
Protecting democracy
The local community
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Don’t foul your nest or cheat your neighbor.
Broadcasters get licenses to serve the community.
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5.
To your company
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Salespeople represent their company to
customers.
Especially with intangible products, a
salesperson is the surrogate for the product.
The salesperson is the company in the eyes
of a customer.
Therefore, a company’s credibility depends on
the salesperson’s credibility.
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Rewards to salespeople often unwittingly
reinforce doing the wrong thing:
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Compensation systems often reward getting
orders regardless of what is best for
customers.
Contests often reward non-customer-centric
behavior.
Bonuses for making budgets regardless of
what is reasonable can cause unethical sales
practices.
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CFOs or top management sometimes
recommend accounting practices that
“preserve a company’s assets.”
Too often they have the wrong assets in
mind.
A company’s and a salesperson’s most
precious asset is an excellent reputation.
Protect this reputation by always doing the
right thing.
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The Ethical Hierarchy
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The Five Cs
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Consumers
Conscience
Community
Customers
Company
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Ethics Check
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Is it legal?
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Is it fair?
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Laws
Regulations
Company policy
To both sides
To all stakeholders
What does my conscience say?
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Ethics
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The New Golden Rule
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Do unto customers as they would have others
do unto them (not you).
Kant’s Categorical Imperative
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Act on the premise that the choices you make
will become universal law – for all people for
all time.
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