Topic 1. Ethics of business relations: essence, principles, functions

As has been noted more than once, trade is the basis of almost any business. Products and services must be sold, otherwise the whole point of creating them is lost. But the client buys the product only when the manager is able to convince him that this is a truly worthy person offering a worthwhile deal. It is in this case that the client gains confidence in the seller.

Today in the field of sales, enormous attention is paid to the personality of the manager, the personality of the client and their relationship. Knowledge of psychology contributes to constructive communication. Any professional salesperson must understand the types of human temperaments, their characteristics, methods of resolving conflict situations, and much more.

In this lesson, which concludes this course, we will talk about business communication and professional etiquette. Below we will tell you about the psychology of communication, the effects of perception, the ability to bargain and ask the right questions, conflicts in sales and the art of saying “No.” All this knowledge will be useful to you in your work, because... will help you better understand the intricacies of sales and the nuances of communication between seller and buyer. And we’ll start with a short story about what a manager’s image depends on.

What affects the image of a manager

A person can have a real impact on the people around him, and this depends not only on how strong or smart he is, but also on how attractive he is and what impression he makes. And here it is worth talking mainly about image.

The concept of “image” means image, and creating a positive image is of great importance in achieving success. This includes a thoughtful appearance, skills, knowledge, and the “inner content” of the individual.

Appearance is extremely important for a manager, because this is the first thing a client encounters when meeting him, and the folk wisdom “one is greeted by his clothes” is just right here. A person’s appearance is similar to the packaging of a product, and therefore one must take care of one’s appearance. Basically, it can be called a backhanded compliment to other people. It has been scientifically proven that when people see others working hard for them and trying to impress, it is taken as a compliment. As a result, positive emotions are transferred to the person who caused them, making him more attractive.

A sales manager striving for success must be dressed in clean and ironed clothes and shoes, he must have a haircut, shaven, etc. It is equally important to follow fashion and, if possible, try to comply with it, but excessive extravagance is not welcome.

Here's what can play against a manager in his appearance:

Old-fashioned clothes (conservative image)
Loud colors in clothing (can be distracting and annoying)
Tasteless jewelry, massive bracelets and buckles (this also includes an abundance of jewelry)
Unsuccessful combination of stripes and checks in clothes (the image of a clown)
Black tie and black jacket combination (funeral look)
Glasses with smoked lenses (they hide the eyes and interfere with communication)

But an impression on a person can be made both by appearance and by speech. The use of terminology incomprehensible to the interlocutor in business conversations is most often perceived by him as a way for the seller to “get smart” and show his psychological advantage. Such manifestations of superiority, as a rule, cause rejection, resistance and a feeling of internal protest. And respect is often aroused by people who are able to talk about even the most complex things in simple language.

From all this we can conclude that business etiquette presupposes two main things at the initial stage: a presentable, neat and well-groomed appearance and clear and intelligible speech, not replete with specific concepts and other manifestations of deep knowledge in some area.

In addition to this, special psychological effects play an important role in the formation of a manager’s image. You can get acquainted with the most common ones at this link, and we will tell you only about the most relevant ones for the sales field.

What is work ethic?

Let's start with a definition. To simplify as much as possible, discarding all the additional meanings that are put into this concept, then professional ethics is a set of moral principles that the employer considers important for performing work.

Another connotation of the term is the belief in the moral superiority and importance of work itself and the inner ability to manifest strong character.

In other words, work ethic is:

how do you feel about your work and career in general;
how you perform your job and the responsibilities associated with it;
how respectful you are towards your colleagues and management.

From this definition, it follows that an ethical worker possesses key personal characteristics such as honesty, integrity, humility and the ability to be accountable. These traits will determine your reaction to certain situations that will arise in the workplace.

Obviously, professional ethics becomes part of your identity, and other people will draw conclusions about you based on the decisions you make in your professional field.

Why is it so important to be an ethical employee? At the very least, it will demonstrate your strong character and show you off as a generally positive person. This is undoubtedly an advantage in the workplace. If both the team and management treat you well, this at least increases your chances of moving up the career ladder.

Psychological effects

Ignorance of the psychological effects of perception presented below can cause many mistakes and failures, but knowledge, on the contrary, allows you to achieve success and avoid a lot of professional mistakes.

So, take note of the following psychological effects:

Projection effect. People tend to attribute advantages to pleasant interlocutors, and disadvantages to unpleasant ones. If you are pleasant in communication, then in everything else you will be presented as positive. The same thing happens with shortcomings, only in reverse.
Halo effect. People who have achieved significant success in one area will be considered very capable in other areas. But it has been scientifically proven that this opinion is often wrong. It's all because of individual impressions created by short-term results - they form the so-called halo. This halo may work in the short term, but it does not affect everyone and does not always affect everyone in the same way.
Order effect. This effect comes in two types. According to the first, when conflicting information is received that is difficult to verify, people are more likely to trust the one they learned first. And according to the second, when consistent information arrives, people will trust the information that came last, and it will be perceived as clarifying.
The loser effect. People tend to consider a person who fails in one area to be capable of less in other areas. Here the depressing effect of defeat, projected on all qualities of a person, comes into force.

These and other effects have proven themselves in business more than once. We recommend that you be very careful about what you tell others about yourself. It’s not for nothing that business people willingly share their successes with others and keep silent about their failures. You should always keep this in mind both when communicating with clients and when communicating with senior management.

Despite the fact that you have already learned about the factors influencing the image of a manager and the psychological effects affecting his perception by clients, it is very useful to gain at least a basic knowledge of non-verbal means of communication, and in particular about the language of postures and gestures. Facial expressions, intonations, postures and gestures are an integral part of any communication, including business. Nonverbal components of communication are very important in the first minutes of meeting new people, and if you learn, firstly, to catch these signals, and secondly, to consciously give them yourself, your results both professionally and personally will increase significantly.

In general, don’t be lazy and take a little time to study our material on the topic of non-verbal means of communication (it is located here), and we will continue the lesson by talking about working with conflicts in sales.

Ethics of business communication

One of the important components of success is clear regulation of professional communication. In the process of building relationships with potential business partners, it is necessary to adhere to generally accepted ethical standards, which are a system of certain rules that take into account cultural and national traditions. The outcome of negotiations and, consequently, the commercial success of the enterprise largely depends on how competently the code of business ethics is observed.

Universal norms allow not only to correctly place important emphasis, but also to analyze and even model the behavior of other participants in the process. Ethics in business communication makes it possible to build your own line of behavior that helps normalize complex relationships with partners. Indeed, in the professional sphere it is very important not to allow yourself to be drawn into any conflict situations.

Resolution of professional conflicts

An ordinary sales manager, a head of a sales department, and in general any person who strives for constructive communication with other people should be able to work with conflicts. You can learn all the details about conflict resolution from our course on conflictology, so we will not go into all the details, but will point out the main points of this topic that need to be taken into account.

Conflict is the interaction of two or more people who have incompatible goals or ways of achieving them. Conflicts can arise between managers and clients for several reasons:

Personal reasons. These include mainly the attribution by the manager to the client of a position directed against his own personality.
Production reasons. This refers to such things as long customer service times, a small range of services, inconvenient operating hours of retail outlets, lack of spare parts, components and other materials, etc.

Note that conflicts can be one-sided (on the part of one person) and two-sided (on both sides), as well as true (occur when the interests of the parties are mutually infringed) and false (occur due to misunderstandings and mutual mistakes).

The development of conflicts can occur in two scenarios:

Relatively slow pace. The parties to the conflict seem to be making alternate moves - one in response to the other.
Fast pace. The parties to the conflict act straightforwardly and promptly. The confrontation is quickly gaining momentum. People often forget the root cause and become uncontrollable; may proceed to mutual insults.

Conflicts can have several options for ending:

The conflict ends completely (one of the parties wins).
The conflict is partially resolved (the parties reach a compromise).
The conflict returns to its original state (for some reason the parties take a “pause”, but at the first opportunity the conflict resumes).

Business etiquette presupposes the mandatory resolution of all conflicts that arise, and it is best to stop them at the initial stage. To do this, it is necessary to eliminate psychological barriers with clients in order to achieve mutual understanding. When resolving a conflict situation, the manager must be flexible in behavior and take into account the current psychological state of the buyer.

Almost always, a person is emotionally excited during a conflict, which is why he perceives the situation one-sidedly. Even people who are restrained in behavior in this state can allow themselves unworthy actions, aggressive attacks, etc. People stop noticing anything positive, for example, in the service, because... confident that they are right and that they are being treated unfairly.

In a conversation with an emotionally excited client, the manager must show restraint and tact, otherwise the situation may worsen. Competent behavior is expressed in the absence of arrogance and retaliatory attacks. Telling the client that he doesn’t understand something or doesn’t know, that he’s wrong, etc. completely unacceptable. It is best to use words and phrases that do not humiliate the dignity of others or demonstrate your own superiority.

The choice of conflict resolution method is determined by the professionalism of the manager and his demands on himself. The seller is obliged to stop the growth of a destructive situation and extinguish it at the initial stage. It is not allowed to get into an argument with a client. If the manager does not have strong arguments, this should be compensated by confidence in his voice and tone. Words should always be soft, but facts and arguments should be firm and as comprehensive as possible.

To resolve the conflict, the sales manager or head of the sales department can use special methods. Let's look at a few of them.

Prompt suppression of the conflict

The client has every right to express dissatisfaction, but only until his behavior begins to contradict social norms and rules of public order, until he begins to disrupt the stable work of the staff. If it comes to this, the conflict should be stopped quickly, but to use this method, employees must be extremely organized and have self-control.

In practice, most attempts to call the client to order by voice or to shout down him only further escalate the situation and increase tension. You need to act calmly, but decisively and firmly. A manager must be able to justify his actions precisely through established instructions and regulations, but not with his own considerations.

If even a fully reasoned influence does not calm the indignant client, you must try to attract eyewitnesses to your side or contact law enforcement representatives.

Using a neutralizing phrase

Every sales manager who interacts with clients should keep at least one neutralizing phrase in his arsenal of techniques. Such a phrase should indicate that there are no reasons for conflict at all. It allows you to prevent a conflict from flaring up, in which it will be difficult to come up with something and find the right words. Conflict situations fetter a person’s thinking and bring him out of a state of peace. A neutralizing phrase will simply prevent this from happening. Examples of such phrases: “There is absolutely no problem here,” “Listen, all this can be easily solved,” “Let’s figure it out,” etc.

Letting go of the situation

By letting go of the situation, the manager contributes to the free development of the conflict. The client speaks out completely, and the seller calmly listens to any comments, even the most unfair ones.

You should not interrupt the buyer, no matter what: the essence of the complaint is clear, there is little time, a bad mood, etc. The most effective thing is to listen to the client for several minutes without saying anything.

The client, having noticed such an attentive, calm and interested attitude towards his person, will most likely smoothly return to normal. Then it’s time to make contact and build relationships. If, on the contrary, you try your best to prove your position to the brawler, you will only cause more negativity in the buyer, which will aggravate the situation.

A conversation with an angry client using this method may well be like driving on a one-way road. The manager or head of the sales department is simply a listener who from time to time asks the client clarifying questions. By the way, such questions are needed to switch the client’s attention to particulars and reduce his emotional stress.

It should also be remembered that no outsider should interfere in the process of such interaction, because This is dangerous due to further complications.

Composure and calm

Business ethics is based on self-control, and using self-control and calm to resolve conflicts can successfully neutralize a quarrel, no matter whether the conflict is one-sided or two-sided. A manager can, for example, say something kindly like: “I will try to do everything in my power to make you happy.” If the client is annoyed, be kind to him; if he is tired, be patient; if he is intrusive, be tactful; if he is rude, be restrained and cool-headed.

Separating the sides

This method is relevant in situations where it is necessary to resolve a conflict between buyers, but its use requires the participation of several managers. Each specialist “takes over” a client and begins a conversation aimed at calming him down and serving him as quickly as possible. You need to try to make one of the customers leave the store as soon as possible.

If, nevertheless, a conflict occurs between the manager and the buyer, the manager can be replaced by another. But the new employee must first observe the conflict in order to understand how to behave with the client. You also need to choose a convenient moment for replacement.

Third party mediation

When parties to a conflict cannot find common ground, the addition of a third party can help resolve friction. The third party can be, for example, the head of the sales department. The success of the mediator's participation depends on whether he can earn the buyer's trust (this allows him to control the conflict process).

If the mediator acts incorrectly, the client will immediately begin to perceive him as a fellow participant in the dispute, as a result of which the conflict will escalate even more. Thus, a third party should not stand up for the manager, even if the latter says everything to the point.

It is very important to emphasize one more nuance: after successfully resolving a conflict, the manager should not solemnly “celebrate” his victory. It is more advisable to continue the conversation in a friendly tone. And after each conflict, the seller should mentally review the situation again in order to develop other options for possible behavior in the future when similar incidents occur. Over time, the sales manager will be prepared for almost any unexpected situation at work.

But business ethics, again, is not limited to the issues already covered. It represents a set of special requirements and moral standards that can be implemented when the manager performs many other equally important duties. We'll talk about them further.

Business culture

17.1. The essence and significance of business culture

An important role in the company’s activities is played by business culture, which not only provides the company’s image, but also helps to increase operational efficiency, improve the quality of products and services, and, consequently, increase income.

There are different interpretations of the concept of “business culture”. The most complete and detailed definition is given by V.D. Kozlov, noting that business culture “is a system of formal and informal rules and norms of activity, customs, traditions, individual and group interests, characteristics of employee behavior, leadership style...”. [Arustamov E.A. Entrepreneurial activity. M.: KNORUS, 2011.]

The essence of the culture of each company is expressed in regulations, accepted rituals and ceremonies, as well as in patterns of informal behavior. The culture of a business involves organizing its production and commercial activities in such a way that business success is combined with the creation of conditions under which the company's employees are maximally satisfied with their work and wages.

Depending on the nature of the business, the following types of culture are distinguished: trading culture, profitable deal culture, investment culture and administrative culture. Let's take a closer look at each type.

Trade culture

characterized by fast feedback and relatively low risk. Trade employees are often young, active people who boldly experiment. These people are friendly by nature, without great spiritual needs, and outwardly attractive. They skillfully use eloquence, addressing customers with a certain amount of humor. Willing communication with each other and exchange of opinions make the sphere of trade culture communicative, filled with a sense of belonging, a spirit of collectivism and camaraderie. The effect of a trading culture is that thanks to it a lot can be set in motion very quickly.

At the same time, there are some shortcomings in the trading culture:

quantity prevails over quality (a strong desire to sell leads to insufficient attention being paid to subsequent problems after the sale);
the mindset of short-term success dominates (thinking that short-term success may mean the loss of the market or the gradual decline of the enterprise does not last long);
employees feel connected primarily with the team, and not with the enterprise. If crises or difficult times for production come, they often do not have enough endurance, patience, and strength to withstand these problems;
In the retail industry, employees do not “age.” High staff turnover means that the average age of employees is relatively low, but the company thereby loses people who could develop a trading culture.

Bargain culture (speculative culture)

characterized by rapid feedback from successful (or unsuccessful) enterprises with medium to high financial risk. This type of culture is found where profitable transactions are made with securities, means of payment, raw materials, etc. Elements of such a culture are found in the fields of fashion, cosmetics, professional sports, advertising and the financing of risky enterprises.

The main strategy of the bargain industry is to quickly take advantage of opportunities. The employees here are often young or spiritually young people.

The sphere of speculative culture creates fertile soil for the subculture of a business person: he develops fighting and aggressive character traits and firmness in decisions. Communication is characterized by taciturnity, speed, and the language of short remarks and gestures. In this area, superstitions are accepted and aggressiveness is rewarded. They try not to talk about failures and their reasons, as if they never happened.

Investment culture

manifests itself mainly in industry, mainly in the fuel industries and in the production of capital goods, as well as in construction, banking, etc.

This type of culture is characterized by having a clear orientation towards the future. Large capital investments are made in high-risk environments. At the same time, investors remain in the dark about the results of their decisions for a long time.

In this area, employees work prudently, carefully, patiently and persistently. They are forced to overcome a relatively long period of uncertainty with minimal feedback. Where decisions are made, there is respect for authority and professionalism. Here, as a rule, the provisions and agreements once adopted are adhered to.

Employees communicate frequently and discuss all aspects, down to the details. At joint meetings they behave politely and courteously, because everyone is clear about their interdependence on each other. It should be noted that decisions made under conditions of uncertainty bring people together.

Administrative culture

manifests itself in public services, in enterprises, in large administrative firms, as well as in banks and insurance companies.

Strategically, these organizations are focused on service and service. Employees, as a rule, are neat and thorough people, while being careful, pedantic, picky and at the same time able to adapt. Decisions are made thoughtfully and protected from all sides. They spend quite a lot of time accepting them. Communication in the spheres of administrative culture is characterized by thoroughness and emphasized hierarchy.

During work, employees have virtually no feedback from clients. They are contacted only in cases where something goes wrong. The focus is on how

to do, not what
to
do. Therefore, the form comes first, and the result, as a rule, comes second. There is no clear connection between results and rewards. After reaching a certain age, almost everyone gets promoted.

Administrative culture is widely dissatisfying. It is, and not without reason, associated with bureaucracy, inefficiency, inability to do the most necessary things, and often with corruption and bribery.

Before you begin to shape a company's culture, you need to have a firm grasp of its core values. For example, values lie in three concepts: people, goods, profit. Beliefs that allow us to draw a conclusion about how an enterprise should function and how success is achieved are as follows: quality comes first, continuous improvement has a significant impact on success, traders and suppliers are partners, employee participation in the business and in profits is the work style .

However, one should not think that business culture can be easily manipulated. It has been developing over the years, is dynamic, and is constantly being improved.

Business culture can develop naturally when firms, based on the study of past and present experience, support those cultural traditions that are most effective in achieving their goals, or it can be purposefully formed through the forceful introduction of certain sets of behavior.

To improve culture, it is necessary to study how individual elements interact, what is the relationship between them, and how they influence each other. At the same time, it is necessary to analyze whether ideas about the values that brought success to the company are outdated and whether they should be updated. Business culture changes in accordance with new ideas about values.

Practice shows that previously generally accepted values such as obedience, discipline, centralization, hierarchy, career, and power are losing their significance. At the same time, the importance of such values as teamwork, focus on needs, self-determination, creativity, self-expression, the ability to compromise, decentralization, predictability of behavior, reliability, stability, and professionalism increases.

Research conducted in the United States has concluded that prosperous and fast-growing firms have a strong culture and distinctive style that contribute to achieving and maintaining leading positions in the global market. Such firms are characterized by the following: employees have clear ideas about values and the means to achieve goals; there are partnerships at all levels; professionalism, competence and dedication to the job, the desire for high quality work are highly valued; promotion depends on the results of work and the ability to take responsibility; Pride in one's own achievements and the successes of the company, the desire to expand and strengthen the position of the company, and the desire to make it dominant in the market are encouraged. There is a system of values accepted and approved by all employees.

It should be noted that for business culture, the main thing is what happens at the level of behavior. If the levels of values and behavior do not coincide, the result is negative. This is possible, for example, when partnerships are promoted, but in practice those employees who have connections are promoted.

A company's culture can be called weak in the following cases:

if there are no clear ideas about values and how success can be achieved; goals are set mainly short-term;
there is a general understanding of goals and beliefs, but there is no agreement on what is right and important at the moment, resulting in contradictions;
individual structures of the company cannot come to an agreement, there are different points of view;
leaders do nothing to develop a shared understanding of values, shared beliefs.

17.2. Company culture

The culture of a company is made up of the culture of its employees, the level of business ethics and the culture of business relations.

It is determined by a number of external

and
internal factors
:

clear and high-quality customer service, good relationships with consumers;
dedication to the interests of the company and awareness of each employee about his share in achieving the intermediate and final goals of the company;
preference for group forms of decision making;
subordination to pre-drawn action plans.

Important elements of culture

The company's activities are:

compliance with applicable laws, regulations, standards, regulations and general ethical standards;
flawless fulfillment of duties and accepted obligations, violation of which causes irreparable property and moral harm to partners, suppliers and consumers, and employees of the company;
honest business conduct in relation to clients, partners and, finally, to the state.

Foreign business practice has identified a number of principles and rules for managing highly cultural and exemplary companies:

The company's management should periodically make visits to its main clients. The purpose of such actions is direct acquaintance with the needs of consumers, their problems, and determination of their satisfaction with mutual cooperation;
business papers should be concise. The volume of important internal memos should not exceed one page, internal reporting should be reduced to a minimum;
the manager of a company or its division is obliged to maintain personal contact with each of his subordinates;
informal communication between company employees is stimulated;
Discriminatory actions against company employees are minimized (unmotivated dismissals, infringement of the rights of older people, deprivation of bonuses, etc.).

Of interest are the criteria for determining the level of cultural activity of the most attractive foreign companies and firms: innovative activity and activity, quality of management, the significance of the company as an object of long-term investment, social and environmental responsibility, the company’s ability to develop and support the creativity of its personnel, the quality of products and services, the financial significance of the company and etc.

The ability to say “No”

Any seller must not only be able to competently serve the client so that he remains satisfied, but also be able, if necessary, to refuse any request. And this must be done in such a way that the buyer is not offended, outraged or dissatisfied.

To correctly say “No” to a client, just follow a small set of simple rules:

It is much easier to refuse if you can give the buyer several examples of how you have already tried to fulfill a similar request.
The main problem with refusing a client is that it may give him the impression that you are completely indifferent to him. Your task is to show that, on the contrary, you are extremely worried that you cannot help him.
A good way to refuse is sometimes a banal request to be patient and understand the situation.
You shouldn’t be a shirt guy and try to please the buyer in every possible way for any reason. If you feel that you have already done a lot for him, feel free to say “No,” especially if he begins to become impudent.
Saying “No” to a request will be much easier if it is possible to offer alternative solutions to the client’s problem.
Refusal should never be motivated by the interests of the organization. This approach will give the client an unfavorable opinion of the company and the impression that it is much more important to its own interests than his. The basis for refusal should be compelling reasons, not speculation about corporate policy.
If you say “No,” at least don’t refuse your services.
A negative answer should always be softened so that it does not sound arrogant and dry.
Any refusal should be directed towards the client’s request, but not towards him.
Even if the general company policy allows you to say “No” to the buyer, there is no need to flaunt it. It is better to mention one or more objective reasons for the refusal.
In the event that, for objective or subjective reasons, you cannot say “Yes” to the buyer, try to present your refusal in the form of a solution that is beneficial to everyone: both you and the buyer. But if possible, it is advisable to meet the client halfway.

The rules of professional ethics do not impose any restrictions on you in terms of refusals, but that is why business etiquette is considered business, so that all parties benefit from the interaction.

Basic rules of business ethics

When communicating with business partners, it is not enough to show politeness and goodwill. For successful negotiations, generally accepted rules must be followed. The most important categories on which business ethics are built include many moral and ethical standards. Depending on their interpretation, they can significantly facilitate or, on the contrary, complicate professional communication. A civilized society based on market relations has already had the opportunity to verify the effectiveness of doing business built on a moral basis. Business and professional ethics contribute to the development of fruitful cooperation, strengthening partnerships and coordination of interests.

Listening skills

Perfection in selling communication (as, in fact, in communication in general) lies, as we know, in the ability to listen to another person in order to understand the hidden message of his words, determine intonation and other non-verbal signals.

According to scientific research, a person hears only 50% of what is said to him. The perception of the rest is hampered by habit, or rather the inability to listen. But this is not the only disadvantage for the seller. When communicating with a manager who does not know how to listen, the client begins to think that he is not interested in him and that he only needs his money.

In addition to this, clients may be annoyed by the manager’s excessive talkativeness, because they are already tired of advertising and other forms of pressure on the consumer. In addition, what is bought is not the product at all, but what it brings to a person’s life, i.e. feeling of security, self-confidence, prestige, status, comfort. How can a sales manager understand what the client wants if he does not listen to him?

At least half of the time that the client spends with you, he wants to “talk it out” and explain what he needs. For this reason, you must learn the skill of active listening, hone it and always use it in your work.

Ability to speak the client's language

If people speak “different” languages, there will be a breakdown in communication. The result will be misunderstanding, grief, misunderstandings and, quite possibly, hostility towards each other. The inability to establish proper verbal communication often turns into a real obstacle for many. And this happens not at all because people cannot find the right words, but for the reason that they simply do not know how to pronounce them at the right moment.

Arm yourself with a few practical recommendations that will allow you to find a common language with your client faster and easier:

Use words that will bring you closer to the client. Such words can be “unfortunately”, “thank you”, “promise”, “with us”, “we”, etc. They will strengthen your connection with your interlocutor, he will subconsciously feel it and reciprocate.
Avoid expressions and words that can “scare off” the client. These are words such as “maybe”, “later”, “mine”, “I”, “me”, etc. Such words will hinder rapprochement, because they focus attention not on the buyer, but on you.
Use simple words, refrain from long words that are difficult to pronounce, and high-flown expressions that make it difficult to grasp the meaning. Most likely, such vocabulary is not used by your interlocutor.
Avoid expressions that irritate the ears. These are economic, family, ethnic, national, racial, political, religious and other similar expressions. They often create a feeling of resistance in people on a subconscious level.
Do not use slang words in your speech, because... they are not able to replace the usual vocabulary, which accurately explains the essence.
Try to say what you really think. Fine words, subterfuge and meaningful expressions are unnecessary in business communication.

Having said something, make sure that your actions do not diverge from what was said. By not delivering as promised, you don't just lose the deal, you lose the client. A man of word and a man of action are two sides of the same coin, and you should strive to become just such a person.

Something bigger than me

When an organization wants to talk about work ethic issues, it first needs to ask how organizational culture contributes. People will only offer their best when they dedicate it to a cause in which they believe. They need to see something bigger than they are.

Organizations must understand this unspoken need among employees for something more if they truly want people to come to work and give their all. Therefore, organizations must define their vision, mission and strategies that motivate people. This is known as benevolent intention

organizations.

Motivated people often find passion for working in their companies. These individuals come to work with the intention of enabling their organization to achieve its goals, supporting their peers and the organization to succeed, empowering their juniors, and growing themselves.

When employees feel like they are working toward greater goals, they will automatically strive to maximize their own contributions. They feel their contribution to the organization is important. They will not feel like they are working just for compensation and this is a great achievement for the organization.

Bargaining skills

Professional ethics in sales is also the skill of finding compromises in matters related to cost. And to do business successfully, you also need to follow some rules.

The parties negotiating a deal involve some bargaining and a search for mutually beneficial solutions in exchange for agreement. This can be regarded as a concession for a concession. This stage is different in that it requires a quick mental reaction and non-standard solutions.

The ability to bargain is based on the following principles:

If something does not play a serious role for you, feel free to give it away.
Always strive for an equal exchange.
If you give something away, be sure, firstly, that you can give it away, and secondly, that you will not regret it in the future.
If you don't get something in return, then don't give anything.

It is obvious that a sales manager can and should bargain to the benefit of both himself and the buyer. But keep in mind that you can only do this when it is provided for by company policy, or when you are not dependent on any organization.

Professional code

Professional communities create their own codes, taking into account general and specific ethical standards. Any code performs several functions:

Creation of a set of ethical professional standards.
Regulation of the actions of any member of the company.
Determination of specific requirements for employees.
Formation of rules for disciplinary sanctions in case of violation of the requirements of the code.
Determining the requirements for professional behavior of an employee in relation to those whom the profession serves: the student, the patient, the client.

The content of the code may include information about the company's core values, which should be shared by all employees.

Ability to ask the right questions

The ability to ask the right questions is the last skill we would like to mention. It is very important and valuable, but you need to learn it constantly, each time striving for better results.

The right questions help clarify unclear points, relieve tension, avoid harsh confrontation, provide time to think about any issues, and better recognize the client’s position.

There are questions that are highly productive and provide a huge amount of additional information (open questions), but there are also less effective ones (closed questions).

With the help of open questions, the subject of discussion itself is revealed. They stimulate a person to tell a detailed and frank story. Closed ones indicate that the topic is no longer relevant and the dialogue can be stopped.

Despite the great effectiveness of open questions, you should not neglect closed ones - sometimes it’s easier to ask them in order to get more specific answers. To learn in detail about the intricacies of working with questions, we advise you to read our article “Techniques for asking questions.”

Now, to summarize the lesson, we can conclude that the manager and head of the sales department not only must be able to identify the essence of problems, quickly solve them and separate the main and the secondary, but must understand the intricacies of business etiquette, skillfully use psychological knowledge and skills and create a positive image of yourself. Taken together, this opens up the broadest professional horizons and allows you to achieve unprecedented success in your chosen field.

And at the end of the course, we invite you to take a little break and get acquainted with short descriptions of very interesting and useful books on sales, as well as watch entertaining and educational videos about sales. Surely you will find something for yourself that you will not fail to use in practice.

What is work ethic?

The “work ethic” dilemma is ubiquitous, but it has come under scrutiny since the turn of the millennium as scandals have emerged that have sunk entire organizations, such as those associated with Enron and WorldCom. Ethics has become a required subject in many professional courses. However, people find it baffling to face problems with what they call "work ethic."

Max Weber first coined the term work ethic

in 1904.
He said that it does not matter whether you are a logger or a farmer, you can still find solace if you do your duty well. There are genuine virtues such as hard work, frugality, honesty, perseverance and honesty that form the basis of the work ethic
.

All of the values included in the “work ethic” set require that we have a degree of self-sacrifice or dedication to the task.

Test your knowledge

If you want to test your knowledge on the topic of this lesson, you can take a short test consisting of several questions. For each question, only 1 option can be correct. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question. The points you receive are affected by the correctness of your answers and the time spent on completion. Please note that the questions are different each time and the options are mixed.

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Kirill NogalesSergei Krutko

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