Answer to Question #293487 in Marketing for Teresa Harvey

Question

Trust reflects the extent of the Buyer’s confidence that it can rely on the Salesperson’s integrity. One of the keys to a long-term relationship with any client is to create a basis of trust between the Sales Representative and the client organization, which results in increased long-term revenues and profits.” Address the following issues:

(a) Why is it important that a Field Salesperson understand the importance of ‘Sales Ethics’? and Why is ethics considered to be the foundation of a long-

term successful sales career?

Answer 1

Sales ethics refers to a set of behaviors that ensure that every lead, prospect and customer is treated with respect, fairness, honesty and integrity. It means that, sales people or marketers, put the people they sell to first. They respect their choices and opinions instead of forcing their agendas on them. Ethical sales behavior, in its purest form, is making a daily, task-by-task decision to put the customer first and serve them from a heart of honesty and servant-hood. Below are some reasons why it’s important that a Field Salesperson understands the importance of ‘Sales Ethics’.

• Ethical salespeople don’t see their potential customers as a list of potential transactions, but as a group of people whom they might have the opportunity to listen to, understand, and guide to a solution that helps them with whatever problems their product or service can solve.
• Being a consistent, reliable, and always-helpful presence is how truly fruitful sales relationships are cultivated and maintained for years, turning satisfied customers into devoted advocates for the product or service.
• Being knowledgeable and honest about what the product or service can and cannot do is the key to securing loyal, satisfied customers who trust the company and want to recommend it to others.
• Accepting responsibility for when things go wrong, providing a truthful explanation of what went wrong, and putting in motion a plan of action to correct the mistake speaks volumes to the customers about credibility and trustworthiness.
• Sales team provides fair comparisons between the company they are working for and its competitors. Salesperson’s honesty, product knowledge, reliability, and true understanding of the customer’s needs and expectations are what form the foundations of sales success.

Why is ethics considered to be the foundation of a long-term successful sales career?

It’s important for customers to know they can trust a salesperson to be honest, to give them a fair deal, to listen to their concerns and deal equitably with them, they will stay throughout the ups and downs. They will become the loyal customers every salesperson seeks. Selling ethically means serving the best-fit prospects, which will help a salesperson close better deals and do so faster. In the long run, an ethical approach strengthens salesperson's marketing because he/she can turn his/her best customers into his/her marketing engine.