Monday 13 February 2012

Guest Speaker on the topic of Ethical and Legal Issues in Personal Selling

5 Important Points highlighted: 




1. Mis-selling

This would be an attempt by a salesperson to convince a customer to purchase a good or service that is not appropriate for the client or not best suited for the client’s needs.

2. Misrepresentation

Under contract law, a misrepresentation is defined as a false statement of a material fact made by one party to another which had included the other party to enter into a contract.

3 types of misrepresentation which commonly occurs:

·         Fraudulent misrepresentation
If the individual knows that the statement made was false, did not believe in the truth of the statement or was recklessly careless whether the statement was true or false.

·         Negligent Misrepresentation
Statement made without reasonable grounds for its belief.

·         Innocent Misrepresentation
There was reasonable ground to believe that the statement was true.

3. Unlicensed Selling
Not authorized to sell and not having any official government approval to sell.


4. High Pressure Selling
High pressure selling is applying psychological pressure (by appealing to someone’s fears, greed or vanity) to persuade the prospect to make a quick purchase decision. The sales person’s behavior is usually aggressive.



5. Cheating
This is an immoral way of achieving a goal.  It is generally used when someone is trying to gain advantage in a competitive situation.

One example would be a 32 year old Direct Sales Agent from Touch & Tech (a telemarketing company), Hazel  Vicente, found guilty of forgery. Standard Chartered engaged Touch & Tech to reach out to prospective companies for unsecured credit facilities.  In order to meet her monthly sales target Hazel forged her applicants’ pay slip, inflating their salaries so that their annual pay would appear to meet the minimum income requirement laid down by the bank. She will be imprisoned for 2 years and 3 months.