The manner in which salespeople establish, build, and maintain relationships is a major key to success in personal selling. Emotional intelligence, defined as the capacity for monitoring our own feelings and those of others, for both motivating ourselves and managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships, is critical to the development of a successful selling relationship strategy.

A selling career, more than most other careers, is frequently subjected to situations that provide short-term gain, resulting in the long-term erosion of integrity and destruction of relationships. Various stakeholders to a sale make requests and offers that are unethical and, in a number of situations, illegal. Salespeople are repeatedly challenged to make ethical decisions. Ethics, therefore, forms the foundation for partnering relationships upon which relationships, product, customer, and presentation strategies exist.

In the field of personal selling, the temptation to maximize short-term gains by some type of unethical conduct is always present and occurs more often than in most other careers. Salespeople are especially vulnerable to unethical decision making, because they are subject to many temptations. These temptations are often motivated by offers from clients, competitors, company personnel and suppliers, and may involve personal gain on the part of the salesperson. While attractive to one or more of the stakeholders associated with the sale in the short run, they serve as the basis for the destruction of long-term, trusted, partnering relationship strategies, as well as product, customer, and presentation strategies.

At the international level, ethical and legal issues can be very complex. The global marketplace reflects a great number of cultures, each with its unique qualities. Coping with illegal activities throughout the world is also very challenging. Illegal demands for bribes, kickbacks, or special fees can serve as a barrier to business transactions.

Salespeople can benefit from the stabilizing influence of good role models. Although top management personnel are usually far removed from day-to-day selling activities, they can have a major impact on salespeople’s conduct. Dishonesty at the top of an organization can cause an erosion of ethical standards at the lower echelons. Sales managers provide another important role model. They interpret company policies and help establish guidelines for acceptable and unacceptable selling practices.

Character and integrity strongly influence relationships in personal selling. Unethical sales practices will ultimately destroy relationships with customers. These practices undermine trust, which is at the very core of all meaningful relationships.

Many colleges and universities are playing a more active role in character development. Character education is often integrated into courses that focus on ethics. Character is composed of personal standards of behavior, so all of us can do things that build character. Keeping our commitments to others provides just one example of how character is built.

Salespeople must establish their own standards of personal conduct. They must decide how best to serve their company and build strong partnerships with their customers. The pressure to compromise one’s ethical standards surfaces almost daily. The primary deterrent is a strong sense of right and wrong. Three general guidelines can serve as a foundation for a personal code of ethics:

1. Relationship comes first; task, second.

2. Be honest with yourself and with others.

3. Personal selling must be viewed as an exchange of value.