TABLE OF CONTENTS

ANALYZING THE SITUATION STATUS QUO.............................................................................2 VISION.............................................................................................................................................2 WHAT A COMPANY COULD DO PROPOSALS..........................................................................2 Develop strong policies, train salespeople and create audit control.....................................2 WHAT SHOULD BE DONE.............................................................................................................3 WHAT TRY TO AVOID....................................................................................................................3 CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................3

ANALYZING THE SITUATION STATUS QUO Working in the new formed quality management department of a company that imports stationery products from Japan, and from European countries and in turn sales and distribute these products all over Greece, I have the opportunity to frequently deal with unethical sales techniques. Generally, salespeople earn a commission based on the sales they make, and this gives them a great incentive to employ unethical techniques in order to convince the other parties to finalize a purchase. There are lots of ethical dilemmas and issues that salespeople face in their everyday working process. We can separate these dilemmas into two different categories: Customers demands from salespeople Unethical sales techniques such as bait and switch, or the practice of high pressure to the customer to commit on a purchase.

On the first category we find customers who ask information about their rivals and competitors, or demand better prices, offers or payment agreements that are not part of companys policy. In the second category we can see salesmen that mislead customers by promise them a great deal that cannot be realized or situations where urgency is employed in order to exercise pressure to them in order to finalize a purchase. VISION Most companies set rules and create systems though which they can measure their efficiency and effectiveness building simultaneously relationships with its clients, involving them in a greater engagement wishing better financial results. In the company that I work, unfavorable, past experience force us to implement a quality management system through which we can measure, control and enhance the services that we provide to customers, ensuring simultaneously strong relationships with the clientele, based on mutual trust and credibility, in order to come against the status quo. WHAT A COMPANY COULD DO PROPOSALS Salespeople often work outside the premises of the company, without being under supervision revealing unethical behavior since no one can watch or hear anything of their actions. As a company, we must ensure that our salespeople, will objectively inform the customer on all issues involved, and will not trick them in order to make a deal that will be proved in the long run as immoral. Ensuring the integrity of the services that we provide, we simultaneously secure companys revenues and we provide working opportunities together financial development of the society. Develop strong policies, train salespeople and create audit control. It is of great importance for the existence of a company to have mission and values, which describe ethical policies, inappropriate behaviors and acceptable principles. Code of ethics development, were detailed policies are described and ethical dilemmas are listed, cover how companys representatives should interact with both customers and the company. Additionally
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reasoning behind the policies is very important in order to develop the desired ethical behavior through which salespeople must react. Train of salespeople to the code of ethics that a company has is very important. By training them you ensure that your representatives understand, follow and apply the underlying rules. Additionally, you secure your company from possible unethical and illegal activities in which a salesperson might be engaged. Moreover a company could create compensation and reward systems, thought which policy and code of ethics will be enforced as much as possible. Unethical activity reporting and internal auditing procedures to ensure misconduct detection are also very important tools when dealing with unethical techniques. Anonymous message boxes, distribution of questionnaires measuring customer satisfaction, and constantly supervision could be established in order to ensure companys credibility and reliability existence. WHAT SHOULD BE DONE All the above described methods could be employed depending on which stage a company is and the size of the problem that has to be solved. In our case, where erosion problems start to appear a couple of months ago, the initial action should be (and were actually) the creation of a system through which you describe, explain and share the values of the company. Even though people are generally unwilling to follow new directives, policy and ethical values creation context is important, in order to increase companys reputation achieving integrity. As we move on though, we have to employ and use all remaining methods which will create a system with strong bonds difficult to defeat and overpass it. WHAT TRY TO AVOID In any case you have to start from the beginning. You cannot train someone with something that you do not have established and you dot have the right to complain if you do not have solid and concrete rules of what your salespeople should do. .. CONCLUSION Salespeople are generally ethical professionals and because of the nature of their job face unique unethical challenges throughout their everyday activities. In order to be great ethical professionals must learn how to handle ethical dilemmas and requests from clients, ensuring that they follow companys code of ethics when dealing with them, avoiding simultaneously Eichmanns obstacles.