Ethics in Sales
Walmart recently announced that it would raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco products at its stores across the United States, effective July 1. Walmart recently announced that it would raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco products at its stores across the United States, effective July 1. The ethics of sales involves many different issues, including what you sell, who you sell it to, the price you sell it at, and the information you provide in the process. But this Walmart story highlights another key aspect of the topic known casually as ‘the ethics of sales.’ And that’s the fact that the ethics of sales isn’t just about the behavior of sales professionals. Of course, the behavior of sales professionals — from the helpful 19-year-old on the floor at Best Buy, to the person who sold you that shiny new SUV, to the big pharma sales rep visiting physicians’ offices to promote the latest antidepressant — is crucially import...