The Highest Ethical Standards Approach for Success
In a business era flooded daily with negative news of ever-widening “widespread corporate fraud”, the discovery of new Ponzi schemes, and seemingly endless consumer scams, today’s consumers are becoming increasingly cynical toward anyone selling anything— and can we blame them?
The short answer is “no”. From the consumer’s perspective, to blindly trust today’s salesperson is risky business. After all, it is hard to argue against the fact that a large portion of the financial mess we’re dealing with today can be traced directly back to one recurrent moment— the point at which someone sold something to someone.
Now, admittedly, it does sound a bit extreme to imply that “salespeople" are somehow responsible for triggering the recent economic collapse, and that is certainly not my intent. However, it is reasonable to suggest that consumers are fairly upset about the rampant lack of personal and professional ethics in today’s business environment, and that they place some of the responsibility for the current financial mess on salespeople in general.
Whether the consumer’s anger is sustained in the direction of failed corporations like Enron, for promoting and “selling” $90 stock shares a day before they plunged into worthlessness, or redirected toward someone like Mr. Madoff, the former Chairman of NASDAQ turned “salesperson”, who swindled his investors out of billions, or currently focused on the countless mortgage "salespeople”, whom overzealously promoted sub-prime lending practices that ultimately hurt millions of homeowners, one thing is certain:
It is going to be much more difficult to earn the trust of the consumer in the future!
Unfortunately, none of these events has served to enhance the ethical image of today’s professional salesperson. In order to repair the damage and earn back the consumer’s trust, the successful sales professional of the future will need to apply nothing short of the highest ethical standards approach for success.
The next several posts will be part of a series called Selling Through Personal Integrity, which will detail the specific steps you can take to build a strong foundation of trust with your customers and ensure your continued success as a sales professional.
Stay tuned for success!
In a business era flooded daily with negative news of ever-widening “widespread corporate fraud”, the discovery of new Ponzi schemes, and seemingly endless consumer scams, today’s consumers are becoming increasingly cynical toward anyone selling anything— and can we blame them?
The short answer is “no”. From the consumer’s perspective, to blindly trust today’s salesperson is risky business. After all, it is hard to argue against the fact that a large portion of the financial mess we’re dealing with today can be traced directly back to one recurrent moment— the point at which someone sold something to someone.
Now, admittedly, it does sound a bit extreme to imply that “salespeople" are somehow responsible for triggering the recent economic collapse, and that is certainly not my intent. However, it is reasonable to suggest that consumers are fairly upset about the rampant lack of personal and professional ethics in today’s business environment, and that they place some of the responsibility for the current financial mess on salespeople in general.
Whether the consumer’s anger is sustained in the direction of failed corporations like Enron, for promoting and “selling” $90 stock shares a day before they plunged into worthlessness, or redirected toward someone like Mr. Madoff, the former Chairman of NASDAQ turned “salesperson”, who swindled his investors out of billions, or currently focused on the countless mortgage "salespeople”, whom overzealously promoted sub-prime lending practices that ultimately hurt millions of homeowners, one thing is certain:
It is going to be much more difficult to earn the trust of the consumer in the future!
Unfortunately, none of these events has served to enhance the ethical image of today’s professional salesperson. In order to repair the damage and earn back the consumer’s trust, the successful sales professional of the future will need to apply nothing short of the highest ethical standards approach for success.
The next several posts will be part of a series called Selling Through Personal Integrity, which will detail the specific steps you can take to build a strong foundation of trust with your customers and ensure your continued success as a sales professional.
Stay tuned for success!
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