When Your Company Asks You to do Unethical Sales

by Dave Kahle

I was in the third year in a very fulfilling and lucrative sales position.  I was good at it, was well-respected in the market and inside the company, and was enjoying an excellent income.

           The company I worked for, however, had a reputation for being short-term focused and occasionally taking short cuts.  They came out with a new product and gave every salesperson a quota for selling it.  The quota was prefaced by the announcement that the company had invested greatly in the development of this new product and needed to get its investment back. Therefore, the quota wasn’t optional.  It wasn’t a “Here’s what we’d like to see you sell” approach. Instead, it was “If you don’t sell this, your job is in jeopardy.”

           After a few sales, it became clear that the product did not work as advertised.  If I continued to sell it, I’d actually damage my customers and create a black-spot on my reputation as well as the company’s.  Further, as a Christian, I saw that continuing to sell it was promoting a lie. 

           I was faced with a major ethical conflict:  Follow the company’s direction, or follow my conscience?

           I suspect that many other Christian professionals have been, or will be, faced with a similar conflict.  How do you handle a situation where your employer wants you to do something which violates your conscience?

           I’ve gained experience with this over the years.  Here are five thoughts to consider.

First

If you are a Christian,  you start every one of these matters with a great deal of prayer.  Bring the issue to God as clearly and specifically as you can and do so on several occasions.  You should have the sense that God is involved in this sititron because you invited him in.  

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Second

Make sure it really is unethical.  It could be that your perspective is a bit off.  Maybe you interpreted something incorrectly or your views are skewered in ways that distort reality.  So, first, make sure the thing your employer is asking you do to is really unethical. 

           Find a couple of experienced Christian men and women, who are older, more experienced, and wiser, and run it by them.  Try to be as objective as possible when you tell them your story, so that it isn’t tainted by your viewpoint.

           If they agree that the action you’re being expected to take is unethical, then move onto the next step.  If not, if it’s you and not the company that is the issue, then you don’t have a conflict.  Instead, you need to educate your conscience a bit.

Third

Create an alternative action.  In other words, instead of doing the unethical thing the company wants you to do, offer an alternative plan.  Is there some other way to achieve the company’s objectives, other than act unethically? 

           Offer that plan to your supervisor.  So, the situation is not seen, from your  employer’s point of view,  as a refusal to do what you... CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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