People living in free countries are lucky enough to live under specific rules. Some of those rules are called laws, while others are called ethics. Although not all rules, laws, or even ethics, are not entirely fair, it’s a lot better living with them rather than without them.
Imagine a world without laws. There would be no real progress, humans would fight each other, and the ones with the most weapons would dominate. Being in sales and business is like having a miniature model of how the world works.
For progress to happen, businesses must adhere to some rules. This is where the Ethics Triad comes in, a model consisting of three components. These components are laws, morality, and ethics.
THE ETHICS TRIAD
The United Professional Sales Association (UPSA) has established the Ethics Triad as a model of reference that salespeople can use each time they interact with a prospect to keep things fair.
LAWS
A salesperson must be truthful to their country’s and state’s laws and perform their duties in a way that does not contradict them. In other words, don’t do anything illegal.
MORALS
Being moral means that you are aware of equality and fairness. You are confident that your solution will benefit the buyer, and you are not trying to sell them something useless that will only waste their money.
ETHICS
In this context, ethics mainly refers to how you get your results—being ethical means not lying to your prospects or exaggerating about your product or service. Instead, you are being honest with them.
THE TRIAD WORKS IN SYNC
The Ethics Triad is a model that works in totality. For example, being unethical is against the selling rules, even though you are not necessarily doing anything illegal. Furthermore, the Ethics Triad also expands to your relationship with your competition or your attitude towards them.
In the business world, it is ethical and legal to “steal” your competition’s customers and make them your customers, even if your product is inferior to theirs. But, of course, that stands if you morally use your professional skills.
On the other hand, it is unethical, immoral, and illegal to steal your competition’s customers by blackmailing their customers or your competition.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF
If you want to make it easier to abide by the Ethics Triad’s principles, you can ask clarifying questions when you are in doubt.
- How would I feel if a salesperson did to my parents what I’m about to do?
- Is my solution helping the buyer or hurting them?
- Is this transaction fair to everybody?
- Would this transaction affect my professional reputation for the worse?
Staying true to the Ethics Triad will build trust between you and your customers. That will benefit not only your buyers in the short term but also in the long term because buyers will know what values govern your business.