50 Activities for Promoting Ethics within the Organization

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27. Ethical Salesmanship

Inside Scoops

Approximately 30 minutes

OVERVIEW

The negative fallout from keeping customers “out of the loop” has created

glaringly critical outcries from the public. Witness the recent scandals involving

cars and tires that were sold despite the companies’ knowledge of dangerous

deficiencies or medical offices that fail to tell patients their doctors have been

convicted of malpractice in other states. Participants in this exercise are asked to

consider what customers want to/need to/deserve to/should/shouldn’t know about

the product or service participants provide.

PURPOSE

To stimulate thinking about the kind of information that can be/should be shared

with customers without jeopardizing organizational policies.

GROUP SIZE

Any size group, divided into subgroups of four or five.

ROOM ARRANGEMENT

Seating flexible enough to accommodate groups of different sizes.

MATERIALS

•

Handout 27.1, “Information: Inside/Out”

•

Small scraps of paper

METHOD

1.

Elicit examples of organizations that make their customers feel included

and/or important by sharing “insider” information—delivery companies, for

example, that allow the customer access to tracking information so that they

can learn the transit-status of their packages.

2.

Ask participants to write a number from 1 to 5 on a scrap of paper. The

number indicates the degree to which their own organizations share

information with customers: “1” indicates very little “insider” information is

shared; “5” indicates the company is exemplary in sharing information with

customers.

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3.

Form groups on the basis of the numbers—all the “1”s will sit together; all the

“2”s will sit together, et cetera. Have them briefly discuss why they assigned

the numbers they did.

4.

Distribute Handout 27.1 and allow 10 to 15 minutes for completion. (Note: If

participants are not all from the same organization, have the subgroups select

one representative organization to use in their handout-matrix.)

5.

Conclude the exercise by having one group sit in a “fishbowl” with the other

participants seated around the inner circle. Have the fishbowl-group explain

their decisions while the others assume the role of customers.

6.

Wrap up by having the “customers” provide feedback on the report they heard

from the fishbowl-group.

VARIATION

Consider using a focus group to learn how customers feel/would feel about certain

information-sharing changes your sales team may be considering.

1.

Assemble a group of six or seven representative customers.

2.

Advise them that you’d like to tape record or videotape their meeting.

3.

Create a relaxed atmosphere within a structured (agenda-driven) framework

and with a moderator who can refrain from becoming involved in the

responses to the questions he or she poses.

4.

Have the sales team in the background, taking notes on their observations but

not participating in any way in the discussion.

5.

The sales team should meet as soon as possible following the focus group

meeting, with the original problem-solvers/decision-makers. They should

evaluate their impressions and compare them to the actual tape recording.

Focus-group input is one valuable means of determining what customers

would like to know and what they feel they need to know.

DISCUSSION

•

What information is “closely held” in your own organization?

•

Does your organization have its secrets?

•

Does the withholding of this information from consumers cross any ethical

barriers?

•

What information not now provided to customers do you feel they would

appreciate having?