Ethics in sales and the Automotive Industry

Several years ago, I attended a seminar titled “Legal vs. Ethical aspects of the Automotive Industry.” To this day I owe a debt of gratitude to Ken Petty. He gave me the courage to be right.

It is interesting to discuss this with anyone. Car Salesman argue about it, outside of the industry most think you cannot use the two in the same sentence.

I have been thinking about this class a lot in the past couple of months. Recently I read about a study conducted concerning relational ethics vs. situational ethics. It was not about the automotive industry. It should have been. In our business, it applies.

What is the difference? We have two ethical standards. One for our personal relationships and one for business. I travel the west extensively visiting dealerships. I witness this double standard everywhere.

Many dealerships are successful with it and justify their actions with the facts they sold a record amount of cars in a month, weekend or year. I think the famous Cookie Jar close is an excellent example of this. (this entails adding money to the price of a car to give back to the customer.) The idea is for them put it in a cookie jar and take cash out each month to cover the payment. I suppose, in a small amount, it is justifiable to some. I often ask, would you do this to your daughter? If not, why is it justified with someone you do not know. It is situational ethics. If we have no real relationship, our ethics change.

During the seminar, Ken asked, “You are selling a car to someone, at first they agree on the price, later changing to a lease. You can raise the price by $3000 and keep the payment where they have agreed. The customer will not know. Do you do it?” Sadly, in a room full of salespeople, two of us were the only ones who voted no.

Before you start judging the Automotive industry, this is prevalent everywhere. It is the reason ecclesiastical leaders use to justify taking advantage of people, especially in Utah.

Many think it is ok to ethically separate personal relationships and business.  One ethical standard for each.

At the risk of being ostracized, I disagree. In life, we are what we are when no one we care about is looking.

Many will disagree with me. I sleep well at night; I am taking care of my family, they are adults free to choose and many more reasons. As long as it works, we all need to beware.

Success at any cost is not success.

Remember, you are always in the right place at the right time, if you have the right attitude.