Training employees in your company`s unique sales process is another point to check off your sales training checklist. If they already have sales experience, they`ll likely use various techniques they already have, and your online training can help them expand their skills and better equip them with how your business operates. An example of this is Pfizer and its product Bextra. The unethical problem was illegal marketing. Pfizer has already advertised Bextra as a morphine-sparing analgesia after knee surgery. The FDA has not approved its use. When we talk about absolutely essential sales skills, we usually mean the ability to identify leads, write cold emails, write a report, prepare a quote, close a deal, stay in touch with customers after closing a deal, etc. Several laws apply to sales, which also apply to other areas of marketing, but are more pronounced in sales. For example, the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) determines when a sale is a sale. Generally, a sale is a sale when the product is delivered and accepted by the buyer. In most cases, the customer can cancel the order without penalty unless it is accepted. Sales managers need to be aware of these laws to avoid creating policies that may be illegal. When it comes to sales and marketing ethics, the first thing that comes to mind is often fraud or, more accurately, its avoidance, but ethical behavior in business is more.
Codes of ethics or ethical guidelines can be very detailed. Shell`s ethics policy, for example, is a book of more than twenty pages! These deal not only with how salespeople (and other company representatives) should interact with customers, but also how employees should interact with each other and how the company`s suppliers should be treated. (For an example of a brief code of ethics for sales representatives, see Sales and Marketing Executives International, www.smei.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=16.) Ethical issues in sales and marketing have become a hot topic in recent years. Through the power and influence of social media, dissatisfied customers have found platforms to voice their grievances. An example of this is Prospect Mortgage. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused the company of making illegal payments to real estate agents in exchange for brokers referring clients to Prospect. The CFPB fined Prospect Mortgage $3.5 million in 2017. While fake advertising can effectively attract customers in the early stages of a sales funnel, it ultimately hurts consumer trust. It influences the long-term negative perception of the brand when it disappoints and deceives customers. This article is a guide for sellers who want to stand up for their values, integrity, and honesty while succeeding in this field. Many salespeople defend themselves by saying that « personal relationships are one thing, but professional relationships are another. » They believe that they must divide their personality in order to silence their conscience. A good second step is to train all salespeople and sales managers on the policy.
One of the reasons for such training is to ensure greater support and enforcement of the policy, but another reason is that the company is protected if a seller engages in unethical or illegal activity. First developed in 1987 and updated in 2007, the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (FDG) define what happens to companies when employees violate ethics. Companies that have strong policies, readily available documentation of policies and procedures, and training for all employees on those policies can legitimately claim, under the FSG, that any unethical employee acted against company policies and on their own initiative if someone files a complaint against the company. Sound policies and employee training can then be used as a defense against such accusations, and the company would not be held liable. The answers may depend on terms and conditions, circumstances and moral positions. What one person deems unethical may be considered common practice by another. Hiking price. This term refers to the business practice of artificially inflating your prices at a time when demand is exceptionally high, as many buyers have no choice but to pay a premium. Your sales training program will be incomplete without aligning your goals with those of the company. Whatever you do in business, whether it`s a marketing strategy or an educational program, you should always keep the end goal in mind. Don`t force your employees to sign up for a series of training sessions if they`re not directly related to their career goals or your business goals.
Salespeople often work in the field and are therefore not under constant surveillance. Even office workers can get away with less than ethical behavior, as no supervisor can see or hear everything. So how do companies manage ethical practices? While most sales training focuses on business, consider a fun social activity or outing from time to time. For example, if your company is running a sales contest, are you postponing orders or trying to convince customers to order more than they need to increase your chances of winning? While it`s a great day for golf, a salesperson who takes time off work steals time from the company and also loses sales opportunities. Taking a customer to play can be another story. Such a game can be a time to strengthen a relationship, as long as the customer does not feel manipulated or obliged. By assessing your employees` skills and knowledge gaps in advance, as well as your business goals, you can choose training programs that can add value to your business. In addition, employees are more motivated to expand their skills and knowledge when they see how it affects their performance. There are no professional relationships; All relationships are personal and, despite our best efforts, our « ethical » concerns will not go away. If you want to be ethical, listen seriously to your customers. After listening to your customers, you`ll find that maximizing value for yourself often coincides with maximizing value for your customers.
Ethical concerns affect everyone. While most companies have a legitimate code of conduct, ethical issues always pose challenges. If the goal of sellers is to maximize profits and the goal of customers is to maximize purchasing power, there is a conflict of interest. At least that`s what it seems. However, in a business world where « Eskimos can sell ice cream » is used to determine a good salesperson, selling has a bad reputation. This new understanding will free you from seeing each sale as a fight against the other person and yourself. You resolve the conflict of interest when you know you`re getting your clients` money`s worth. However, other challenges may arise. For example, salespeople must be in front of customers when they are available.
Previously, we discussed how the number of calls made can affect a seller`s success. So, should a sales manager schedule all weekend trainings when buyers are at home and are not available for sales calls? Does the answer to this question change when the salesperson receives a salary or commission? Let us look at each of the questions. In the first edition, a customer has the information about their company. The seller may store this information, for example: How many cases of the product he buys or who his customers are, but this seller does not have the right to share this information with the customer`s competitor. In many cases, a buyer may ask the seller to sign a non-disclosure agreement because the seller has access to important private information about that buyer to serve the buyer. But even if there is no non-disclosure agreement, the courts will likely agree with the buyer that the seller has an obligation to protect the buyer`s information. Selling with integrity is much better for a company`s long-term stability. It also means sales reps can rest assured that they`ve done the right thing for their business, their customers, and most importantly, themselves.