Ethics and Salesmanship

During a typical sales process, a salesperson relays loads of information to a prospective client. Benefits, solutions, and all the great things your product or service can do for the client are brought to the table in an attempt to guide your prospect to a closed transaction. But what about the role of ethics in your sales process? Where does that fit in?

For any sales process to be effective, there has to be an element of personal ethics in place so that the salesperson can overcome objections with confidence and certainty. Every salesperson has been in a situation before where they had to decide which route they are going to take. An example outside of a sales situation would be something as simple as sneaking cookies out of the cookie jar when you were a kid. Your mother told you not to have any cookies before dinner but your desire to have them now was stronger than your mother’s warnings. Then, in your gluttonous stupor, you realize that the cookies don’t taste as good when you are untruthful and unethical.

This same scenario is eliminated in the six step Malone Suggested Retail Process because in the “Deliver” step, the salesperson is always required to ask his or her customer two key questions at delivery of the product or service exchanged;

#1) Why did you buy from me?

#2) Would you be able to refer others to me?

These two questions force a salesperson to enforce ethics on themselves because they know that these questions are forthcoming and there is no possible way to avoid them. The only way to avoid them is to not ask them. And if you cannot ask your customer these two questions there is a reason for that which is often due to the fact the earlier in the sales process you were not 100% truthful regarding something in your communication with your prospect.

This heightened level of self-accountability is a miracle-working component due to the fact that you know these questions are something you must ask your sold customer. Your entire sales process becomes one centered around honesty and integrity which will yield the same feeling as having cookies after dinner instead of before. Yes, they are the same cookies, but the ones gained by being honest and ethical taste so much better.