ModernSims

Step 2 of 5 · Business Ethics: The Sales Dilemma

The dilemma

A B2B salesperson’s competing duties

Two old rotary telephones — one coral, one sage — on a worn walnut desk, splitting the dilemma between them.
Stage 2 · The case

The dilemma

Read the scenario carefully. You will be limited to ONLY the two options described -- you cannot invent a third path.

You are the main salesperson in your company. You are a B2B salesperson with several long-term clients who have been with you so long, you would call some of them friends. You endorse consultative selling, or the idea that a salesperson is there to do more than just sell. You help your customers figure out ways to improve their business by looking for inefficiencies and opportunities to improve. Sometimes this means selling more to these customers, sometimes it does not. You do such a good job that these customers have come to trust you and your word. They typically listen to your suggestions about what and how much to purchase from you without question, knowing you have their best interest in mind and given your record of providing value and helping your customers improve their bottom line. However, you have been having a hard time meeting your numbers this past quarter and the company's owner has been giving you a hard time about potentially missing your quota. This is critical because you know that if you continue to miss the quota, several employees in the company may have to be laid off. To make matters worse, you have a child in need of critical orthodontic care. Although your dental insurance does cover some, a lot of this is considered elective and thus, must come from your own pocket. This represents a significant financial burden to you and your family since your significant other hasn't been able to find comparable employment since being laid off at the beginning of COVID. Basically, you seem to have a lot of people depending on you to make your numbers, including family and coworkers. You know that some of your customers would buy more from you this quarter simply from you suggesting it. You figure you can get them to buy more this quarter and then tell them they don't need as much the following quarter, when things have gotten better for you personally, and they would never know you sold them more for your own interests and not theirs. They trust you that much, that one quarter's worth of surplus would not raise an eyebrow provided you admit to 'overcalculating' and then reducing their purchase the following quarter, when you are better able to shoulder that financial burden. Still, even though you are 100% confident in this solution's ability to solve all your immediate problems, you recognize it is built on deceit and really don't feel good about lying to your customers. You ONLY have these two options: Either not meet your quota and have your family and coworkers deal with the consequences or get your customers to temporarily buy products they don't need based on their trust in you, provided you will reduce their purchases in the following quarter and they won't be harmed long term.
Option option_a

Option A

Do not deceive: miss the quota and accept the consequences for family and coworkers.

You refuse to manipulate your customers' trust. You miss the quota. Your family absorbs the orthodontic cost some other way. Layoffs at the company become more likely. You preserve the integrity of your customer relationships and your own self-respect.

Option option_b

Option B

Deceive temporarily: persuade trusting customers to over-buy this quarter, then under-sell them next quarter to balance.

You leverage your customers' trust to recommend purchases they do not actually need this quarter. You plan to compensate by recommending lower purchases next quarter. The customers do not know they are being manipulated. The quota is met. The company avoids layoffs. Your family avoids the financial squeeze. The deception, in your judgment, leaves the customers no worse off long-term -- so long as it is never discovered.

Your task

Read the scenario at least twice. Most students who score poorly do so because they argue about a third option that is not on the table. The whole point of the assignment is to examine what each framework says when neither option is comfortable.