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Sales Ethics Essay example

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Sales Ethics
What are they and how can they be better Followed?

To fully understand the nature of the question posed one must know the meaning of ethics. Webster’s dictionary defines ethics as the philosophical study of the moral value of human conduct and of the rules and principles that ought to govern it; moral philosophy, the moral fitness of a decision, course of action, etc. Basically, I believe ethics is how one makes a decision according to the social norm that surrounds him. The social norm includes not only the culture but the laws and standard procedures of the environment. These laws and norms must be fully understood before one can understand the ethical significance of one’s decision. …show more content…

If a frog is thrown into a pot of boiling water, the frog will kick, struggle, and fight to get out of the water. If a frog is put in a pot of room-temperature water and the heat is slowly turned up, you end up with frog soup. The frog will not even know what hit him. Workplace ethics are as invisible in submersion in organizational culture as the frog in gradually boiled water. When the corrosion finally grows to the avalanche that Enron saw, it often grabs everyone by surprise-just like the frog that finds he's boiled. (Ross, William; Robertson, Diana, 2003)
Why does this happen? Why don’t salesmen just record what they have actually done instead of doctoring books or changing orders? For one a lot of pressure is put on salesmen. Foremost among the firm's agents who manage the economic and ethical boundaries with the firm's customers are its salespeople. Most firms selling to organizational customers and many firms selling "big ticket" consumer products rely on their sales force to connect to the customer and the market. In such cases, the salesperson represents the firm to most, if not all, of its downstream stakeholders: customers, channel members, and even competitors. As the primary boundary spanner between the firm and its customers, the salesperson faces a constant barrage of decision-making about ethical issues. (Meyer, Charlene, 2003) A lot of pressure is put on sales people. They have

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