The Nature of Sales Ethics - Essay Example

Running Head: Sales Management Are Sales Ethics Oxymoron? s Introduction Every aspect of human life and every field of business is surrounded by certain issues and controversies related with the ethical concerns1. When it comes to sales, the ethical values are usually discussed in more details and with varied perspectives. The fields of sales and marketing have the tendency to act as the powerhouse for the entire economy due to which these business activities are generally more inspected from the standpoint of ethical issues2. The ethical concerns surrounding the field of sales have also evolved a debate around the topic that the sales ethics are supposed to be oxymoron or they are literally been practiced in the field. There is a growing body of evidences that argue about the nature of sales ethics and claims in to be oxymoron; however, another school of thought believe that sales ethics are practically followed within the business world and opposes the impression that these are only formal expressions of the company values to built its better image3. The following essay aims to discuss the general conception about the sales ethics that deem them as oxymoron. In this regard, the essay also explores different situations where the sales personnel have to decide whether to practically follow the described ethical values and principles of their company or prefer the interest of company in terms of increasing sales volume. The essay basically opposes the notion that sales ethics are oxymoron and provides the arguments to support this standpoint. The essay strives to explain how sales ethics can act beyond the formal descriptions to support the products and companies’ image. Sales Ethics are Not Oxymoron At present there are large inspections about the companies’ business that puts pressure upon them to fulfil the ethical requirements and follow the basic ethical principles. These principles ought to be straight forward, reasonable and clear so that the companies could deliver the same values to the customers. The companies are expected to respect these values because it is generally accepted notion that the societies giving due attention and value to these principles can prosper and develop significantly. Hence, the issue of the fulfilment of the ethical values becomes very important in this scenario and the companies have to draw a clear line between the theory and practice of the ethical values4. The customers of today’s technology driven world have more choices in front of them as compared with the consumers of the past. The international availability of products options have made them more demanding and concerned towards the product quality and service. In this changes scenario, the approach of influencing the consumer behaviour through false impressions cannot work for the salesmen and they have to promote their products based on true features and service qualities. It is important to realize that only the provision of high quality products and service could change the consumer products choice5. The false claims about any product can be easily traced by the consumers and ultimately the company can lose its credibility and goodwill that it not easy to regain quickly. Thus, the salesmen should be more stick towards the sales ethics so that they can grab the consumer attention by proving them fair dealers. In this rapidly changing marketplace, the decisions of the consumer also change instantly on the basis of the judgments that can make in just few seconds. The importance of an honest and fair salesman could not be rebuffed and at the same time, the job of the salesman has become more challenging and tough. They have to build the trust of the consumers upon their products and companies after admitting the fact that the consumers have wide range of choices of same or even better quality of products. The salesman can take help from the ethical principles here and they can successfully gain the favourable response of the consumers through creating their image as a fair, honest and truthful salesman associate with a company that has respect for the ethical values and principles6. The practical implications of the ethical values and principles in the field of sales could vary from different aspects and the sales personnel sometimes have to take some critical decisions to choose between the ethical value and their business gain. The image of a company hugely depends upon the fact that how much it respects the ethical values within its business operations. This image ultimately works to built its goodwill among the consumers and influence their decision making process regarding the selection of the product7. The decision of the consumers about the choice of a product is affected from the image of the company. The Business Horizon magazine reports a study conducted by Indian University, discovering that the consumers buying choice heavily depends upon their perception about a company from the ethical standpoint. If the consumers believe a company is more ethical, they tend to prefer its products over the products of the other companies. It implies that the ethical values can significantly affect the companies’ business and they are not supposed to be just formal policy expressions of the values8. It does not seem a wise approach to undermine the importance of sales ethics and regard them oxymoron because they have the potential to change the market scene in favour of the companies giving them more value and attention. From an ethical point of view, the founding of trust between the salesman and customer prevent any form of dishonesty, even those ostensibly harmless white lies used to evade painful or awkward situations. The more precious plus point of the sales professionals is their reputation in the market place9. One can earn this reputation by focusing upon his consumers, keeping the ethics of trade in his mind, and making a relationship with client for being trustworthy, honest, integrity, and a commitment to service. Unfortunately the general impression regarding the sales profession is oxymoron and people commonly believe that the salesmen always use to over state the attributes of their products to influence the consumer behaviour. This conception is based on the experiences of the people and in many cases, people are right to hold such belief. However, despite this stereotypical image of the sales profession, one can’t deny the importance of the role that ethical values play in the sales field. In fact, the somewhat negative and lying image of the salesmen compels the consumer to give more importance to the ethical values and they tend to prefer the companies that use to show respect for the ethical values10. The pressure upon the salesmen to achieve high sales target often compels them to violate the sales ethics. It is commonly observed that when salesmen are supposed to show more sales volume as compared with what they have actually sold, they look towards some tactical ways of increasing the sales of their products. For instance, they use to encourage the customers to shove on the products during any promotion offer or scheme giving less attention towards the products attributes. This is a type of ethical violation that also affects the people in certain unpleasant ways and also damages the reliability and credibility of the company in long terms. It also shows that following the sales ethics supports the company image and the use of unethical tactics to increase sales badly affect the company image. This inverse relationship between the violation of ethical principles and company good will also exhibits the practical value of sales ethics and disapprove the statement about the oxymoron nature of the sales ethics11. Experts also suggest giving importance to the ethics in sales because whenever the salesmen suggest the best thing to the consumer, the companies also gets the best things in terms of company good will credibility, and sales volume etc. It is widely accepted that the consumers give considerable importance to the ethical image of the company and based on this fact, it can be said that the ethics could play significant role for increasing the sales of a company. Thus, the sales ethics are not oxymoron but they have great practical value and the success of a company also depends upon the fact that how much a company practically follows the generally set ethical standards12. The entire discussion could be sum up with the conclusion that despite the fact that the sales profession is widely viewed as oxymoron, but one should not always regard the sales ethics as oxymoron as they have quite important practical implications in the field. It is due to the growing importance of ethics in sales that the companies are now days focusing more towards the promotion of different social messages and working on the campaigns of social goods rather directly promoting their products. This is because they have realized that people greatly value the ethical norms and they have to adopt such norms to grab soft portion in the heart of the people and in turn these soft feelings can also influence the consumer choice in their favour. Hence, the sales ethics are not oxymoron but they have broader practical implications in the field as they possess the potential to build better image of a company and product as well as to influence the consumer behaviour. References Bucaro, Frank. (1998). Sales Ethics: Oxymoron or Opportunity, Face to face communication Newsletter, Impact Communications Inc. Online at: http://www.impactcommunicationsinc.com/pdf/nwsltr_2006/ICINwsltrff0604.pdf. Geoffrey G. Zoeckler (1992), The relationship between sales ethics and performance-contingent compensation, United States International University, School of Business and Management, San Diego Campus, 1992 Hunter, Ian (2003), what can we do when most citizens prefer to live in fantasyland? Report in Newsmagazine (National Edition); 1/20/2003, Vol. 30 Issue 2, p43 KS Madhavan (2002), Business & Ethics - An Oxymoron? Karur Madhavan, Shingo Institute of Japanese Management Lee M. Ozley and Achilles A. Armenakis (2002), Ethical consulting” does not have to be an oxymoron, Organizational Dynamics, Volume 28, Issue 4, Spring 2000, Pages 38-5 Michael I. Roth (2004), "Moral combat: stemming the decline of sales ethics". Chief Executive Publishing, Gale Group Seligman, D. (2002), Oxymoron 101, Forbes; 10/28/2002, Vol. 170 Issue 9, p160-164 Scott Ekholm (2004), Sales ethics problems and solutions, College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, Minnesota, 2004 Townley, Preston (1992), Business ethics...An oxymoron? 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