He was brilliant. Polished. An asset for the company he represented. In less than an hour, he worked up the crowd to fever pitch. Hundreds of people lined up to sign up for the next step—which involved a no-cost, eight-hour financial investment training day.

He was also an author. He told his story of how he met a man who invited him to several investment meetings. And those meetings changed his life forever.

He became wealthy from practicing those investment strategies. He turned from amateur to pro. He had finally arrived. And now he wanted to teach those same strategies to investors.

He made the audience laugh, repeat “yes” for the umpteenth time, and put everyone at ease with his low-pressure persuasion techniques. He was even crawling on the floor to illustrate a point. There’s no doubt he graduated Sales Mastery with honors.

But the crowning moment was when he invited four investment newbies to take the stage. He showed them how easy it was to make money whether the market was going up or down. He had them bobbing their heads the entire time. This provided the social proof people needed to participate in the next step.

But many knew better…

I spoke with Ashley, a graphic designer who signed up because Carmen, her realtor mom, wanted to check out the training. Ashley was suspicious of the sales pitch and she wanted to protect her mom from these cleverly disguised sales wolves. I hope Ashley doesn’t lower her guard either.

Because once they get you into their training room, they will hit you with a variety of persuasion techniques to scramble your radar. They will make you feel like you have an IQ of a slug for not investing in their program. Don’t forget to take prescription strength “stubborn” pills with you on that day.

And my colleague, Dana, didn’t approve of the fact that she was being sold. She was skeptical from the start of the presentation. She never cracked a smile during the entire talk. She may have been half-fuming. (Or half-envious.)

But let’s be real…

Salespeople have to make a living. Selling is their job. The economy becomes stagnant when nothing gets sold. I hope you agree that selling is a good thing.

Yet people don’t like to be sold. They like to buy, but not be sold. Buying puts us in control. We own that power. We lose that power position when we’re being sold.

So the speaker did a great job. He racked up hundreds of people into the next phase. He’ll receive a nice bonus for his persuasive presentation.

Yet the question remains: If you could—should you?

If you could bottle fountain water to sell to unsuspecting supermarkets: should you?

If you could pay off the FDA to market your medicine: should you?

If you could pressure people with their last dollar to invest into your program: should you?

If you could sell company secrets to competitors: should you?

If your boss commanded you to lie to consumers: should you?

If you answered “yes” and can sleep well at night, then you are lower than the slime on the bottom of my shoe. You may dress in business attire on the outside, but the inner person is polluted with soot. Despite the media coverage that white collar criminals get incarcerated to Club Fed: You should hold yourself to a higher standard.

Besides it’s hard to become stealth with unethical conduct. Your inner circle of friends and closest allies notice what you do. Especially in a hi-tech society where everything is traceable.

But if you decide to burn people anyway—the Universe always has a way of settling these accounts. Eastern philosophers call it karma. Western ministers label it “reaping what you sow.” And enlightened people name it the Law of Cause and Effect.

So why would anyone corrupt themselves for a buck?

Avoid the scandals, fines and embarrassment. Do the right thing always. And leave a legacy of integrity, accountability and upstanding character for generations to admire and model.

Tommy Yan helps business owners and entrepreneurs make more money through direct response marketing. He publishes Tommy’s Tease weekly e-zine to inspire people to succeed in business and personal growth. Get your free subscription today at here.

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Tags: ethical, salesperson, product, career, company

Tell most people that you are in sales and watch their reaction. Their experiences with high pressure, poor service and poor quality have conditioned them to believe the worst when they hear this word – salesman.

This visceral reaction might be why many involved in sales now call themselves business development representatives. Yet, after talking to them, you know that what is, is. They are in sales.

So why this extreme negative reaction? If we look to the past, we may remember the used car salesman or the high-pressure salesperson that we encountered during our work experience. Our negative reaction has more to do with their ethics and values than their selling skills.

What most of these salespeople have in common is a lack of ethics. Without clearly communicated ethics and core values, theses salespersons will do almost anything to secure the order. Their beliefs and attitudes were once the sales were made, go on to the next sale or sucker.

Today’s marketplace is different. Buyers are far more intelligent and have easier access to researching potential products and services. To differentiate yourself demands that you construct your own values statement or business ethics statement. These values or ethics are non-negotiable behaviors that you will consistently demonstrate in all interactions.

Maybe, it is time to use a core values statements to disqualify potential clients so that you can secure clients who will truly benefit from your products or services. When we as sales people take any order just to make a sale, we may be compromising our own core values and ultimately end up with a dissatisfied client. Remember, that dissatisfied clients share their unhappiness with more people than satisfied clients do.

If you are a salesperson and do not have a written values statement for yourself, take the time right now to construct one right now. For you and more importantly your demonstrated ethics are the change in the world.

Do you want to increase your sales? Then, you might be interested “Simply Speaking, Increase Sales by…” a truly quality e-book combination workbook that focuses on helping you within the 3 key areas of Marketing, Selling and Planning. Learn more at here.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. is a speaker and national business coach who has written hundreds of articles with a focus on leveraging human capital for transformational change by developing results driven leadership in people, teams and organizations.

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Tags: ethical, salesperson, product, career, company