Ethical decisions in sales situations demand a better standard than heads or tails

Most Ethical Situations in Sales Skirt the Law

This weekend a friend described an ethical situation at work. In Mike’s (not his real name) case, his employer is actually breaking the law. It requires courage to act in such an environment. Unfortunately, most ethical situations, in my experience, manage to skirt the law thereby making the judgment call even harder. This is particularly true in sales and marketing where people who are driven solely by the numbers, i.e. money, care only about getting the contract signed. The methods used to get the signature are unimportant to these types of business people.

Once Signed a Contract Is a Legal Document

I’ve always considered it ironic that people who will lie to get a contract signed, will then use the law to enforce that contract gotten by dishonesty. Oops, to be politically correct I probably wasn’t supposed to say anyone would lie. They’re only people who “stretch the truth.” Of course, if I get burned by their fraud, I’m going to be looking for justice regardless of how they spin what they did.

Avoid the Head-Trip — Stick with the Heart-Centered Golden Rule

Actually, salespeople who want to use heart-centered, soft sell sales techniques will be coming from a place of integrity and from an attitude that their relationships with their customers or clients are more important than the immediate sales. Nevertheless, how do you know what the right thing to do is in any given sales situation? While philosophers have all sorts of answers to that question; my preference is to go back to the Golden Rule: do onto others as you would have them do unto you. Or you could take Richard Bach’s advice in Illusions: do unto others as they would have you do unto them. The point is, go with your gut or, better yet, go with your heart.

“The Object of Life Is To Do Good”

When I decided to write on the topic of ethics today, I did some brief research. I found a quote on the International Business Ethics Institute’s website I really like. Under “Notable Quotes on Business and Ethics,” http://www.business-ethics.org/quotes.html they cited Peter Cooper, 1874: “I have always recognized that the object of business is to make money in an honorable manner. I have endeavored to remember that the object of life is to do good.” So 135 years ago, Peter Cooper stated the essence of heart-centered, soft sell sales and marketing.

Doing What’s Right Pays Long Term Dividends

Doing what’s right in sales situations is not always easy mainly because we have conflicting drives within us. That’s part of being human. But when you commit yourself to doing good, then your marketing copy and your sales presentations will come from a place of doing what’s best for your customers. And the easiest way to do this is to adopt a mindset that puts you in their shoes then make your decisions from theirviewpoint. This approach leads to customers coming to know, like and trust you. That leads to finding selling fun, fulfilling, and mutually rewarding.

Please Join My Heart-Centered, Soft Sell Sales & Marketing Community

I invite you to opt-in to my community to continue learning about heart-centered, soft sell sales and marketing. In return, I will send you as a free bonus my eCourse, a $47.00 value, “9 Steps to Finding Prospects Who Want What You Provide” as well as my periodic ezine, “Selling for Fun, Fulfillment and Mutual Rewards.”

Broken Piggy Bank

The interesting thing is that it’s easy to point fingers at the people in the news to complain about how they committed theft and ignore our own ethical shortcuts. This past week I got some insight into how difficult it is to set our own ethical limit.

I had the great good fortune this past week to participate in training with a major small business consulting firm. I was excited about being there because the trainers said the things I wanted to hear about doing what’s best for both the client and their company. Everybody wins. I love it!

Even though I tend to be idealistic in how I approach caring for a client, I too have failed at times to live 100% according to my values. Sometimes personal survival temporarily overrode what I felt was right because I “needed” to keep my job. So this past week was good because I got to see other viewpoints that softened my rigid standards a bit.

But in the end, one executive’s story showing how he cared about what was in the client’s best interest, back when he was a field consultant, really stuck with me — because it showed me how far apart we could be in our viewpoints while both of us sincerely say the same words.
(For the rest of this article, go here).

NOTE: To read the rest of this article,you will need Adobe Reader.