Realize your full potential

Chapter 1

My name is Mohanjeet Gurm, people know me as Mohan. In this book I am going to share my life in my business and personal life how I involved spiritually, personally, and business life. First of all I will tell you how I started at the beginning with nothing, which eventually led me to have a ten million dollar business and which I ended up losing it all because of the choices I made, my goal is for you to learn from my mistakes and motivate you to exceed in your spiritual, personal, and business life.

I have always been in sales, I worked for an energy company going door to door selling energy contracts. There I learned the key to selling and going the extra mile. The most important thing I learned was never give up. After 6 years, I got married to my lovely wife and shortly after we had our first child, then two years later we had twins. My oldest is 5 years old and the twins are 3 years old now.

I left the company as I felt I was not using my full potential, which I intended to use my full power in me to exceed in my business and personal life. As well that company was not honest in their business and we as sales agent found us lying to customers to get sales and locking their electricity prices to high rates. Which I wanted to make money the honest way and prosper. I then went into the HVAC business, where I was the district sales manager. I had 12 agents under me. We were selling furnaces and air conditioners door to door. This Position was really the next level for me, and it really tested me to work under pressure. Which I succeeded very well after I made a couple of mistakes on the job. After a year I have been working there the owner of the company got greedy and was not paying me and my agents, which I tried to talk to him and I was been telling him and reminding him as a business person we have to keep your ethics with your customers and employees. To no result, I was forced to quit the company and I started my own HVAC company, which I made a pledge to myself that I will keep my company honest to our employees and customers. Which by the way later I got greedy and disconnected and ended up becoming just like my previous employer, but I will go in to detail about this later on in this book.

When I started the business, I had one hundred dollars in my bank account, which was finish in a week. Me and my family were going to be evicted if I didn’t pay the rent. What I did that day made me realize that whatever you want, you have to think positive and have a goal of what you want to accomplish. Anyways back to my story, I then knocked on a door which the customer ended up buying from me, which brought in $5000 for my first sale. I paid the rent and installed the equipment. Which left me a profit of $300. I then used that to get more business, which that led me to my second and third customers and so on.

Now sale persons exist in everything and everybody. It doesn’t matter what you do you are constantly selling and dealing with people, so therefore it is a good idea to practice this everyday so you can 10X your goals and business /and or personal life.

The following are 19 sales tips, if you follow these steps, you will become successful in your personal and business life. In my career I forgot RULE #1, I was trying to be a man of success rather than man of value. Remember people in our business and personal life, you must have integrity. If you break these 19 rules and 10X the wrong way then eventually will land you in jail, which I landed myself. Every day I was in my cell, I was planning not thinking about I what I did and about the present. My whole purpose is to become a success and 10X my dreams and families dream. Here are the 19 rules/tips; we will talk more about me later on in this book.

1) Don’t try to be a man of success, try to be a man of value. – Albert Einstein

What this quote means

There’s a reason people react so negatively when they feel a salesperson is being too ‘sales-y’. A successful sales process doesn’t waste time talking about you, but rather what your offering can do for your potential client. How do you add value to their lives? How is working with you going to transform them? There’s more to what we do as salespeople than just the numbers.

Action you can take today

Instead of obsessing over stats, become a great storyteller. Show your prospects the story of their lives before, during, and after they become your client and the transformative value that you’re adding. Nail down this value story before jumping on your next call and become a ‘person of value’. Rehearse and workshop how this story can play out in different scenarios to motivate your sales team and get them excited with the prospect of helping customers build a better future.

2) You can't turn a no to a yes without a maybe in between. -Francis Underwood

What this quote means

The path to a sale is never as simple as A to B. There’s a whole alphabet between your first conversation and closing the sale. Don’t get discouraged when you hit a wall asking for the close. Think about how that ‘maybe’ is just a ‘yes’ in disguise and use that challenge to fuel your sales motivation all over again.

Action you can take today

Create a list of common concerns that cause your prospects to answer with a ‘maybe’ and clearly explain why those concerns are unfounded. Educate and motivate your sales team to approach these objections with a renewed sense of purpose. Knowing these roadblocks and being able to explain the solutions to them simply, clearly, and confidently will help you keep the conversation moving on the path to a yes. ‘Maybe’ is where great salespeople live. They know that anything other than a flat out ‘no’ is a step towards a yes.

3) You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. – Aristotle

What this quote means

How you choose to live your days is how you choose to live your life. Are you willing to put in the time every day to reach the level of success you truly want? Are you willing to miss that dinner or not go out for drinks because you’re working towards something bigger? These are the choices that define who you are and how successful you’ll be as a salesperson. If this quote isn't a powerful sales motivation tool, I don't know what is.

Action you can take today

Focus on habits, not goals. Frame your day around incentivizing and rewarding yourself for repeating a habit, like making your 40 calls for the day, instead of putting a daily dollar amount on a magic pedestal. Create a repeatable process for yourself, which you know will get you where you want and that you can do every single day without fail. This way, you’re focusing on actions you control rather than putting all the pressure on results that might not come—that's how to motivate your sales team in a way that keeps them excited to show back up for work the next day.

4) You just can't beat the person who never gives up. – Babe Ruth

What this quote means

Simply put, success most often comes to those who refuse to quit. A little less simply put, behavioral economists studying human motivation discovered something called Time Inconsistency—which is the brain’s tendency to value immediate rewards more highly than future rewards. Unfortunately, selling is less about winning every little skirmish and more about winning the war. This means pushing through down days, boosting your sales motivation, and forcing yourself to do the work even when you aren’t ‘feeling it’, and most of all—never, ever giving up.

Action you can take today

Take a step back and look at the bigger picture of your sales strategy. It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day of sales and lose sight of where you want yourself to be in a month, a year, hell, even five years. Commit to the long-term vision of what you want to achieve and never give up. Use that vision of future you to inspire you along the way when life gets you down. Pass this process on to help motivate your sales team and keep them focused on just how great of a reward it'll be once they're standing at the top of the mountain.

5) Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action. - Walter Anderson

What this quote means

We’re all procrastinators at some point. But ironically, the guilt and frustration we feel from not starting is often worse than the pain of actually doing the work. The anxiety we feel when faced with a huge list of prospects or massive sales goals can seem insurmountable, but something amazing happens once we actually start working: The fear goes away and the to-do list all of a sudden seems more doable. Use this sales motivation quote as a constant reminder to bias yourself and your team toward taking action.

Action you can take today

List the one thing you can do right now, no matter how small, that will help you move forward. When you're all in a slump, do this activity in a group to motivate your sales team and pinpoint a specific action you can all take to start feeling the momentum again. Is the action as simple as making that first call? Or replying to an email? Try to get even more specific. Instead of saying, “I’ll call 5 prospects on Wednesday,” say, “I’ll call 5 prospects on Wednesday between 10–11am.” Break down bigger tasks into small items you can easily get started on and watch your sales motivation skyrocket.

6) Success is never owned; it is only rented—and the rent is due every day. - Rory Vaden

What this quote means

In sales (and in life) there’s never a good time to rest on your past achievements. The success you have today came from what you did yesterday. And if you sit back and stop doing what got you here, it’ll go away just as quickly as it came. Your quota refills at the beginning of each month, right? Choose to use this reminder as sales motivation to come out the gates strong every single day. You owe it to yourself and your business to put in the work and keep paying your dues.

Action you can take today

What’s the rent that you paid in the past that allows you to live in the success of your present? Was it dedication? Was it taking risks? Was it constant education and personal growth? Whatever it was, start your day by making a big payment in that same form of rent that's worked so well. Recognize the skills and qualities that got you where you are today and repeat them daily. Write them down and make sure you set aside time for them every single day. Run through this activity with each new member during your sales training & do refresher sessions during retreats to motivate your sales team time and time again around this crucial truth.

7) I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. - Bruce Lee

What this quote means

What’s more important: To be a jack of all trades or a master of one? There will always be some new tool, task, or other distraction that wants to take your attention away today (and tomorrow). But every second spent on an unimportant task is a second taken away from working towards mastery. Focus is our greatest asset on the path to success.

Action you can take today

What’s your ‘one kick’? What skill or technique, if mastered, would bring you and your team the biggest level of success? Take a moment and think about what you put your energy into every day and whether or not you’re working on the right skills. In the past, I’ve gone so far as to set a reminder every few hours to ask me if I’m working on the right thing at this moment, or if I’ve been distracted again. Make yourself a force to be reckoned with and motivate your sales team with rewards for implementing this same high level of self-awareness.

8) Pressure is a privilege. - Billie Jean King

What this quote means

Feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders? Guess what, that’s a good thing. Being pressured means you’re in a position where the actions you take truly matter. You’ve set goals that are challenging. You’re motivated to be better than who you are today. Remember that pressure is just a byproduct of your own success—and you can channel that into a constant source of sales motivation to get back up and do the work all over again each day.

Action you can take today

Create a ‘small wins scrapbook’—a collection of recent successes that you can look back on to remind yourself just how far you’ve come and why you’re feeling pressured to do more today. It’s all too easy to just move on after hitting another goal or making a sale without taking the time to appreciate the work you’ve done. Take that time to celebrate the small wins, motivate your sales team by highlighting those wins and value what everyone on your team does on a daily basis.

9) Change before you have to. - Jack Welch

What this quote means

If you keep doing what you’ve always done, the best you’ll get is what you already have. Unfortunately, the human brain is hardwired to take the path of least resistance, which more often than not means sticking to business as usual, even when you know that changing now will help you in the future. Use this universal truth that the only thing guaranteed in business is change, as sales motivation to constantly innovate and improve your processes.

Action you can take today

Write down the one thing in your heart you know you need to change to make your life and career better in the future. This might be something you’ve known for a long time but haven’t felt the need to act on because there’s not enough pressure in your environment to make you feel like you have to. Now, tell yourself this one thing is going to destroy your career. Every day, look at that one thing and ask yourself ‘Do I really want to wait until I have to do this? Or do I want to be the person I want to be on my own terms?’ Motivate your sales team with looking critically at yourselves and doing this activity as well.

10) If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. - Albert Einstein

What this quote means

It takes a deep understanding to be able to create something simple. Think of Steve Jobs, who famously made Apple engineers make every function on the original iPod accessible in 3 clicks, just because he knew that simplicity was the key to massive sales. I think it worked out pretty well for him. And the positive end result you can expect from achieving a deep understanding of how to sell your product will serve as sales motivation enough to keep pushing forward.

Action you can take today

Test your pitch’s ‘simple factor’ by taking it outside your bubble. Call up your parents, partner or even a friend in a totally different profession and try it out on them. Do they know what you’re talking about? Can you answer questions that come up that you might think are ‘obvious’? Can you make it as simple as possible? Encourage your direct reports to run this experiment and use the results as a teaching opportunity that can motivate your sales team toward seeking further expertise.

11) Everything we want is on the other side of fear. - George Addair

What this quote means

Fear is a sign that you’re on the right path. Trying new things, taking risks, and going after the unknown are all scary experiences that should serve as strong ways to increase sales motivation on a daily basis. That's because they’re also exactly what we need to do when we want to grow. We can’t let something as harmless as a little fear stand between us and what we want.

Action you can take today

Write down the biggest fears that you face every single day and imagine each one going to its extreme conclusion. Are you afraid of a large prospect turning you down? Take it one step further and imagine them yelling at you. Or calling your boss to complain. Or egging your house in the middle of the night. Imagining an extreme outcome to our fears lets us realize just how inconsequential they really are and helps us power through them. When someone on your team is lagging behind the rest of the pack, use this activity to walk them through why their fears (or insecurities) need not hold them back from achieving great results. That should also motivate your sales team to help each other grow professionally.

12) There is no such thing as failure. There are only results. - Tony Robbins

What this quote means

No matter what you do, the fact that you did something is more important than the outcome. Every action helps us move forward, whether it shows us the right way to act, or even just clarifies what we shouldn’t be doing. The only real failure is in not acting, because we've neither achieved a result nor have we grown in any way. While this principle can be applied in all areas of life, it's a particularly useful bit of sales motivation when you're running up against many failures in a row.

Action you can take today

Change your perspective around what you see as ‘failure’ by realizing that each one has helped you in some way. Start by listing out your past five ‘failures’. Now write down what you learned from each one. Did a prospect turn you down because you messed up your pitch? Maybe you learned that you need to do more prep before a call or rewrite a section of your script. It might be painful to revisit those experiences at first, but as you become more comfortable spending time in your own ‘failures’ you’ll start to realize that they are just stepping stones on the path to personal success. Use this activity to motivate your sales team into focusing back on the importance of activity goals versus only looking at financial targets.

13) To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

What this quote means

Salespeople face more negativity than almost any other profession (just be thankful you’re not a politician!) and it’s all too easy to let that negativity make us think that we should just conform to what other people are doing or telling you. But the problem is that by emulating others, the best we can ever be is Number Two. To be truly great, you need to be yourself and lean into leveraging your own unique strengths to sell better.

Action you can take today

Don’t focus on the negatives. Make a list of the moments when your unique selling style worked or times when you went with your gut and came out with the win. This activity will significantly help motivate younger members of your sales team to have more confidence in their approach. Remember too, that there are so many factors in the selling process that are out of your control and that a ‘no’ doesn’t necessarily mean you did anything wrong. Stick with the positives and aim for that top spot.

14) It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness. That is life. - Jean Luc Picard

What this quote means

No matter how hard you prepare, how well you pitch, or how much work you put in, sometimes it’s just not your day. That’s it. Life can be chaotic and trying to rationalize every little event will drive you crazy. Beyond just being a useful piece of sales motivation, this dose of reality will help recover from objections, mistakes and failures in all aspects of your job & personal life.

Action you can take today

Separate yourself from your losses. The next time you get a no, instead of analyzing what you did to lose the sale, look at it from a few different angles. Was there something going on in your prospect’s business that made them not want to buy? Or are there changes happening in the market? The key is to look at the bigger picture to identify other causes that contributed to the deal not being closed—and you can use this review process as a way to motivate your sales team into taking this process into their own hands too. As personal development guru Zig Ziglar puts it: “Failure is an event, not a person.”

15) Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. - Abraham Lincoln

What this quote means

Productivity is about more than just your amount of time spent working. It’s not about just doing, but doing the right things in the best ways possible. Why do more work when you can get the same results in less time? Keeping this quote as a post-it note next to my monitor has served as a very helpful sales motivation reminder to slow down and make sure I'm fully prepared before hopping onto a pitch call with a prospect.

Action you can take today

Spend the time now to save yourself exponentially more time in the future. Does that mean hiring someone else to find your leads or implementing a new CMS that will let you work better and faster with every future client? What about investing a few hours now, into creating a beautiful pitch deck that can better sell to prospects for the months to come? Before you dive into just doing your next task, think of how you can first sharpen your own axe. Motivate your sales team to think critically about this and you'll identify many more opportunities for becoming a more efficient sales organization.

16) Everyone has a plan, till they get punched in the mouth. - Mike Tyson

What this quote means

Don’t get in the ring with Mike Tyson! Seriously though, on the flip side of our previous sales motivation technique, Tyson’s fists are the perfect metaphor for a problem so many of us fall into over preparation. We believe that just because we have plans or we’ve prepped in advance that things can’t go wrong. But the thing about a ‘plan’ is that it’s really just another name for a best guess.

Action you can take today

Plan for the unexpected by setting up systems so that no matter what comes your way, you’ve got something to fall back on. What’s a system? Simply put, it’s the backbone of your sales plan that can guide you back onto the right path when things fall apart. The act of simply having a system like this in place will motivate your sales team to experiment more. Client angry with you? Have a system in place for discounts that you can offer on the spot. Call with a prospect go worse than expected? Have a system of follow ups in place to smooth things over and push them back towards the close.

17) Losers focus on winners and winners focus on winning.

What this quote means

Haters going to hate, but those who achieve real success only focus on themselves and pushing their own limits. Chasing someone else or obsessing over what they did can blind you from focusing on the most important person of all: yourself. Use this sales motivation technique to keep your eye on the prize that matters most.

Action you can take today

Stop the hate. When you start comparing yourself to others, take the emotional context out of the equation, put your ego aside, and turn those feelings of inadequacy or jealousy into a positive learning experience. Encourage and motivate your sales team to focus on improving their own metrics, rather than obsessing over how to beat the person sitting across from them. Moreover, what can you learn from that person that can help increase your own productivity or make yourself more successful? The best revenge is to be a better version of yourself.

18) If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward. - Martin Luther King Jr.

What this quote means

The smallest step will get you that much closer to your final destination. This sales motivation technique is particularly useful in the midst of multiple rejections. Remember that we create our own path to success one step at a time, and even if you don’t know exactly where you’re going, moving in just about any direction (except backwards!) is all it takes to get closer to achieving our goals.

Action you can take today

Find your momentum tipping point. There’s a mental process called the Zeigarnik Effect, which kicks in when you are close to finishing a task, propelling you towards the finish line like you’re running from a hoard of zombies. What is it that pushes you or your team towards the finish line? Hemingway would always stop writing mid-sentence so that when he returned to work the next day he knew where to start, effectively forcing himself into ‘must finish’ mode. How can you use this tactic to motivate your sales team into starting each day with a full battery, charged up and ready to accelerate into the day's tasks?

19) When people give me all these great compliments, I thank them, but still go back to my room and practice. - B.B. King

What this quote means

Extrinsic motivation like praise and monetary success should always be secondary to intrinsic motivation. What is it about what you’re doing that truly drives you to keep at it every single day? When the praise fades or the sales dry up, what is it that will keep you going? Tap into that underlying factor to really find your true well of sales motivation that'll keep you going for the long-haul.

Action you can take today

Find your core motivator. Write a list of the things that motivate you to keep at it every single day. Is it the money? Pride? Personal growth? Praise from your team or boss? Be honest. Now categorize them by extrinsic and intrinsic and rank how important each one is to you. This activity should give you (and your sales team) a great tool to return to any time you feel your sales motivation waning and need a reminder of why you’re putting in the hustle.

Sales motivation is a well that unfortunately runs dry sometimes. But with a few simple exercises and some changes in perspective, we can fill that back up. Use these techniques and action items as a guide to put you back on the path to success, motivate yourself and start seeing real results again.

Chapter 2

My mentor was Grant Cardone, that’s where I learned about sales and to have passion for what you do. Doesn’t matter what you do but there should be some sort of enjoyment in what you do. That means don’t just go to work because of you have to. If you don’t have enjoyment for what you do, then you will never succeed, or you may get by but won’t be able to 10X your dreams. In my career I was following everything from grant Cardone, I grew my business and opened an office in Irvine, California. Then I got disconnected and let myself start doing the things as a person I don’t stand for. Grant Cardone says this to, if you 10X the wrong way than eventually will land you in jail. Which I was in a jail cell for 9 months, every day I had the opportunity to think about where I went wrong. The conclusion I came up with was I was not interested in working the hard way and didn’t want to put effort in, so I started doing everything the illegal way. At that point I have already moved my business to California, we had a home there. My kids going to school there, I just got greedy and wanted more money, so I decided to commit fraud instead of going out there and working hard in my business to get more income. We all make mistakes, but what determines you is your will power to change myself. I consider myself reformed and a new life given to me. I now am a writer and here to motivate my supporters and readers. We as people are always learning, in an industry that’s always changing.

10 Principles

Salespeople who exhibit the 10 Principles achieve the most success. If you want this to be you, you would do well to follow them. They are:

1. Play to win.

Top sellers are extremely dedicated to becoming Top Performers, exhibiting the hustle, passion, and intensity it takes to achieve what only the elite achieve. If you want to win, give it everything.

2. Live by goals.

Top performers are goal-setting and goal-following fanatics. Goals are a part of their daily rituals.

3. Take action.

Top performers realize that goals without actions don’t get you very far. While other people intend to take action and do more, top performers do it.

4. Think buying first, selling second.

Top performers map their selling process to the process and psychology of buying.

5. Be a fluent expert.

Top performers are masters of market knowledge, customer needs, their products and services, their value, their competition, and everything else they need to know to succeed at selling. While they themselves might not be technical experts in every area, they do know what they need to know to sell.

6. Create new conversations every day.

Top performers always feed the front of their pipelines and improve their pipeline quality. They never coast, and nary a day goes by when they don't speak to customers, prospects, and referral sources with the intent to source new business.

7. Lead masterful rainmaking conversations.

Top performers lead masterful sales conversations, from prospecting to needs discovery to closing to account management.

8. Set the agenda; be a change agent.

Top performers recommend, advise, and assist. They are change agents who are not afraid to push when it's in the best interest of the customer. Indeed, they are Insight Sellers.

9. Be brave.

It takes courage to rise to the occasion in sales. Top performers not only conquer their fears, they seek actively to win the most fruitful sales opportunities no matter how difficult the challenges may be.

10. Assess yourself, get feedback, and improve continuously.

Top performers are never afraid to learn the cold, hard truth about themselves. They take what they discover—the good and the bad—to learn, grow, and change for the better. They never stop this cycle. Tony Robbins also said, "In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It's not what we do occasionally that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently." The 10 Principles form the core of top performer's modus operandi. It's not what they believe and what they do sometimes that leads to their wild success—it's how they roll all the time. If you want to roll with the high rollers, make the 10 Principles a part of your belief system and your consistent routine.

Exercise

1) What are your goals in your personal and business life?

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2) What are the things you have to work on?

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3) How will you achieve your goals and 10X them?

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4) What are the steps you need to take, to achieve your goals?

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5) What is one thing you need to change in yourself?

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Chapter 3

Ethical Practices in Sales & Marketing

Business ethics is one of the most controversial and complicated subjects of all time. From academics to astute businessmen, many people have studied the relationship between making money and doing the right thing, and yet little agreement has been reached over the matter. One of the questions in this field is how to sell things in an ethical way.

What Are Ethical Sales and Marketing?

Ethical sales and marketing, or simply ethical marketing practices, is not really a marketing strategy. It is more a school of thought that guides marketing efforts. Through sales ethics and ethical marketing, responsibility, fairness, and honesty are promoted. Of course, this is a difficult subject to tackle because it is highly subjective, and everyone has slightly different ideas of what constitutes right and wrong. Because of that, ethical marketing is not so much a rule system as it is a system of guidelines.

There Are Eight Principles of Ethical Marketing

1. The common standard of truth will be observed in all forms of marketing communication.

2. Personal ethics will guide the actions of marketing professionals.

3. Advertising is set apart from entertainment and news and the line is clear.

4. Marketers will be transparent about who is paid to endorse their products.

5. Consumers will be treated fairly, depending on who the consumer is and what the product is.

6. Consumer privacy will always be respected and upheld.

7. Marketers will comply with standards and regulations set by professional organizations and the government

8. Ethics should be discussed in all marketing decisions in an open and honest way.

Ethical marketing, for all its positivity, has its own sets of advantages and disadvantages. To make the situation even more complicated, unethical marketing is usually effective. Add to that the fact that unethical behavior is not necessarily illegal behavior and it is not hard to see why more companies use unethical marketing, rather than the ethical alternative.

Take the case of diet pills, for example many people buy them, even though they are hardly ever effective. Why is this so? Because companies that sell diet pills exaggerate their claims and manipulate customers into buying them. If such companies advertised their products in an ethical way, they would not last exceptionally long. While their business model might make you angry, however, it is not illegal and so they continue to sell.

If you’re looking to build a positive brand image and develop good relationships with your customers, such unethical marketing practices can lead to your downfall. Customers do not like brands that manipulate them. In order to develop trust among your customers, therefore, you should consider using ethical marketing. If your product lives up to the claims you make when you advertise it, then it will reflect positively on your whole company. The consumer will feel like you care about the value you provide them.

Of course, we cannot say that any company is completely ethical or completely unethical. Ethics is quite often neither black nor white but a sea of varying shades of gray. The boundaries shift and what is ethical today may not be ethical tomorrow. Moreover, many companies that are ethical in one part of their marketing campaign can be unethical in another, or they may be ethical in their advertising but unethical in their production processes, which is another subject altogether.

Again, consider the case of Dove soap. The company ran an ad that featured supposedly real models. The point was to encourage girls to love their bodies just as they were and not feel pressured to live up to a supermodel ideal. The problem is that ads by Dove soap before that ad, as well as ads since that ad, have focused on the same stereotypes of beauty that were being shunned then. This shows just how hard it is to always be ethical. Any company that claims to be ethical in their sales and marketing will have to make it a part of all of their advertising, not just do it once and brand themselves ethical.

What Kind of Company Does Ethical Marketing?

Every type of company can do ethical marketing if it so chooses to. Whether it is a mom and pop store or a huge international company, it is possible to be fair and honest when marketing your products to the consumer. When you do it in a thoughtful way, you can save a lot of money by doing ethical advertising. It can also be quite effective. Moreover, advertising unethically does not always mean your advertising costs are going to be cheap, or that you are going to reap huge profits from it.

Some companies have the highest ethical principles and stick to them in everything they do. For such companies, ethical advertising comes rather naturally and is more an extension of their character than some sticker they slapped on to their brand. They apply ethics in functional areas of business. In fact, such character can be an important selling point for a company when it tries marketing to consumers who care more about the quality and price of the product. Companies that are known for sourcing their raw materials in a sustainable fashion, treating their employees fairly, donating to charitable organizations, and campaigning for the protection of the environment naturally have to be ethical in their marketing to match this.

What Are the Types of Unethical Advertising?

There are at least seven identifiable types of unethical advertising and, just like the seven deadly sins, they rear their ugly heads everywhere you look:

Surrogate Advertising

In certain jurisdictions, the law prohibits the open advertising of such things as alcohol or cigarettes. This does not stop the companies that produce these products from advertising anyway. They do it by finding roundabout ways to remind customers that these products exist without referring to them directly.

Exaggeration

Some advertisers will blatantly lie about how popular a product is or its quality. A good example is when telecommunication companies claim that you can get coverage no matter where you are with their service, or when internet service providers claim you will get upload and download speeds that they cannot possibly deliver.

Subjectivity

This is when an advertiser makes subjective claims about their products, as opposed to objective ones that can be readily tested. For example, “the best tasting pizza” isn’t something you can readily verify.

Lack of Verification

This is when an advertisement claims to deliver results without any scientific proof to back up their claims. When a company claims that their product gets rid of all the acne on your face without explaining how that works, they are resorting to unverified claims.

Sexist Stereotypes

When an advertisement portrays woman as domestic servants or sex objects, then it is promoting negative stereotypes and is encouraging an already deeply sexist culture.

False Comparisons between Brands

Whenever a company makes misleading or blatantly false claims about competing brands, they are being unethical.

Exploitation of Children

Children watch a lot of marketing ads and mostly aren’t able to be objective in their evaluation of it. When a company seeks to exploit the innocence of children to its own profit, it is being unethical.

In order to set yourself apart as a company that practices ethical sales and marketing, you have to make sure every aspect of your company is ethical, from the way you source your materials to the way you treat your workers to the way you advertise. It is possible to be profitable without being unethical. You just have to commit to it.

Chapter 4

Integrating new staff into your sales team can seem difficult. The learning curve is steep, both for individuals new to the profession and experienced salespeople looking to integrate into your organization’s processes and culture.

Difficult, of course, is far from impossible. With the right priorities and structure in place, you can turn new team members into top sellers without pulling out your (and their) hair. To make it happen, here are ten essential sales training topics you should include in your onboarding process.

10 Sales Training Tips.

1) Organizational Background Information

The first thing new sales professionals need to know, regardless of their prior experience, is the type of organization for which they will be working. Part of their sales training needs to include an introduction into that organization, along with its culture, mission, and vision statement. Your sales team will represent the organization to the outside world; their messaging needs to be consistent.

2) Connecting Emotional and Rational Pain Points

It may be natural to think that any type of persuasion is possible using rational arguments. But in reality, a lot of our decision making is emotional. Even if your organization sells to businesses, your personnel needs to understand how to connect rational reasons to become a customer with emotional appeals.

Teach your sales team how to find audience pain points and answer them on multiple levels through your brand’s product or service. Personnel need to understand how to connect rational reasons to become a customer with emotional appeals. A sales team should be able to identify audience pain points and offer them a solution on multiple levels through your brand’s product or service.

3) Researching Prospects Before the Sale

By the time a member of your sales team reaches out to a prospect, they should already be familiar with them. As part of your training, include a section that helps in this research process. Topics should include both internal mechanisms (such as your CRM, which records past interactions with the prospect) and external opportunities, such as LinkedIn and publicly available information.

4) How to Prioritize Prospect Calls and Contacts

When the prospects start rolling in from marketing, it can become easy to get overwhelmed. This training topic helps sales staff understand how to prioritize their time, by estimating which prospects are most likely to convert to customers. Depending on your processing, it could include individual subjects like CRM lead scoring.

5) Building Initial Rapport with Prospects

When you get a prospect on the phone, how do you build an initial relationship that makes them more receptive to your message? Experienced professionals know that this part of the pitch is an art rather than a science. Building initial rapport is an ideal topic for your sales training, as it helps both new and existing staff find pockets of connection that opens up the prospect for a productive conversation.

6) What Happens When the Prospect Pushes Back?

Naturally, not all calls are positive. So, what happens when you make your pitch, and the person on the other side of the line pushes back? How does your organization escalate complaints, and what is the follow-up to a negative conversation? When does it make sense to de-activate a lead? Any comprehensive sales training has to account for these less pleasant questions.

7) Learning When to Let Go and Move On

Even without open push back, every sales professional reaches a point at which contact becomes less productive, and the prospect seems unwilling to commit. At that point, it might make sense to move on to more relevant leads instead. Train your employees to find that point, and how to gently end a chain of messages or calls while still keeping the possibilities open for future re-engagement.

8) Leveraging Personal Networks for Better Prospects

It is a simple truth: people trust their personal connections more than an unknown salesperson. But what if that salesperson uses a mutual connection to break the ice? When done correctly, the personal network can create immense benefits for making a connection and closing a sale. At the same time, the nuances involved (such as making sure that no person’s privacy rights are violated) make this a vital training topic for your staff.

9) The Perfect Sales Pitch

In many ways, it is the holy grail of sales: getting your pitch exactly right. But how do you get there? At least part of your sales training should include best practices, examples, and exercises on how to create the perfect sales pitch. The personalization, relevance to your product, and marriage with the individual salesperson’s style required means this training can get quite complex, but it is crucial, nonetheless.

10) How to Conduct the Right Follow-Up

Finally, it makes sense to train your staff early on with the understanding that a closed sale is not the end of the customer relationship. Repeat purchases and ongoing service matter just as much and become an important revenue source. At this point, the sales professional has already built up a rapport with the new customer, so it makes sense to leverage it moving forward. As part of your online sales training, educate your team members on how to stay in touch with past prospects, and when to find the right time to follow up for a new contract or purchase.

Chapter 5

1. Introduction

Ethics is, at their essence, moral judgment about what is right and what is wrong. In a business sense, ethics is decided upon and formed by each company, employees must decide what they think is the right course of action because each individual’s action within the company affects the entire company, not just the individual. When an employee acts ethically and responsibly, it helps the entire organization develop. Thus, business ethics is more than just words used to enhance the image of a corporation; it is the foundation for success and business ethics should be applied at the very moment a firm opens its doors.

However, the goal of maximizing profits is often in conflict with ethics because the main purpose of business is to maximize profits for its owners or its shareholders and only activities which increase profits are encouraged as this is the only way that companies will survive. Whereas, customers always have an interest in paying a low price for a good or service. Therefore, some questions are raised: “Should business people forsake ethics to achieve profit? Can they achieve profit with ethics in business? Why should business organizations be concerned with ethics?”. This paper is an attempt to respond to these questions, with attention to business ethics.

2. Development

2.1. What is business ethics?

The term “business ethics” represents a combination of two remarkably familiar words, namely “business” and “ethics”. The word “business” is usually used to mean “any organization whose objective is to provide goods or services for profit” (Shaw and Barry, 1995). The word “ethics” refers to what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. “Ethics” also means the continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our moral conduct, striving to ensure that we, and the institutions we help to shape, live up to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based.

Business ethics considers the ethical relationship between businesses and consumers, between businesses and their employees. It also considers the impact of globalization on the environment, and on society at large.

2.2. The importance of business ethics in business development

Business development is the creation of long-term value for an organization from customers, markets, and relationships. To develop business, it is vital to take care of its business ethics. Debates and dilemmas surrounding business ethics have attracted a lot of attention from various quarters. Consumers and pressure groups have increasingly demanded that firms seek out more ethical and ecological ways of doing business. The media has also kept a constant spotlight on corporate abuses and malpractices. And even firms themselves appear to be increasingly recognizing that being ethical may actually be good for business. Ethical issues confront organizations whatever line of business they might be in. At the most basic level, business ethics is not just about the difference between right and wrong; it is the actual application of that knowledge to business.

Business has potential to provide a major contribution to the society in terms of producing the products and services, providing employment, paying taxes, and acting as an engine for economic development. However, how, or indeed whether, this contribution is made raises significant ethical issues that go to the heart of the social role of business in contemporary society is a big question. The demands being placed on business that it should be ethical, by its various stakeholders, are constantly becoming more complex and more challenging. It is expected that business ethics can provide the means to appreciate and understand these challenges more clearly, in order that firms can meet these ethical expectations more effectively.

A business that behaves in an ethical way as a member of the community will often find that the community offers its support in return, which can also be invaluable to the success of the company. This may be done by assisting with community events, donating funds in support of local charities, or simply behaving honestly in dealings with other local businesses.

Business malpractices have the potential to inflict enormous harm on individuals, on communities and on the environment itself ultimately. By helping us to understand more about the causes and the consequences of these malpractices, business ethics seeks to improve the human condition.

It is clear that business ethics has not only been recognized as increasingly important but has provided us with knowledge and skills which help us more understand the modern societies as its following 5 important roles.

2.2.1. Business ethics attracts investment

Business ethics attracts investors and keeps the company’s share price high, thereby protecting the business from takeover. When a person or an entity is considering investment in a stock, there are several of things they take into account. Aside from the quantitative factors surrounding a company’s profit margin a future prospects, consideration is also given to a particular company from the point of view of the qualitative aspects such as their public image and the products that they happen to sell. All these things are considered before the final investment is made.

Therefore, a company that would like to encourage extra business investment is a company that has a strong sense of business ethics. Part of business ethics is responsibility to the investor and for that reason companies with strong reputations in the field of ethical business behavior are also companies that tend to attract more investment from people that are new into the market. Investment is most definitely important to success.

Business ethics is also important in financial matters. This becomes clear when the business is dealing with people such as vendors and shareholders. A business that does not behave with integrity may have difficulty conducting business, as vendors who supply the materials it needs might not be willing to extend credit, while shareholders might no longer be willing to invest their money. While the initial profits might be high, the appearance of ethical problems within the business can make investors uncomfortable risking their money.

2.2.2. Business ethics promotes benefits to the organization

One of the main benefits for a business of behaving ethically is that a better image is given to the world at large, and especially to consumers, resulting in greater profit. It also means that expensive and potentially embarrassing public relation disasters are avoided. As far as employees are concerned, if the business is seen to behave ethically, for example with regard to the environment, it will recruit more highly qualified employees, and this leads to better employee motivation as the employees are proud of their jobs.

Working as an ethical business has many benefits, one of which is the ability to attract and keep investors, employees, and customers. Knowing that the company they deal with has stated their morals and made a promise to work in an ethical and responsible manner allows investors peace of mind that their money is being used in a way that aligns with their own moral standing. When working for a company with strong business ethics, employees are comfortable in the knowledge that they are not by their own action allowing unethical practices to continue. Customers are at ease buying products or services from a company they know to source their materials and labor in an ethical and responsible way.

A positive and healthy corporate culture improves the morale among workers in the organization, which may increase productivity and employee retention; this, in turn, has financial benefits for the organization. Higher levels of productivity improve the efficiency in the company, while increasing employee retention reduces the cost of replacing employees.

2.2.3. Business ethics adjusts employees’ behavior

Ethics in leadership within an organization can direct employee’s by example and guide them in making decisions that are not only beneficial to them as individuals, but also to the organization as a whole. When management is leading an organization in an ethical manner, employees follow in those footsteps and make better decisions in less time with business ethics as a guiding principle, this increases productivity and overall employee morale. When employees complete work in a way that is based on honesty and integrity, the whole organization benefits. Employees who work for a corporation that demands a high standard of business ethics in all facets of operations are more likely to perform their job duties at a higher level and are also more inclined to stay loyal to that organization.

Organizations that build positive business ethics into their corporate culture create a framework to keep the dialogue open and responsive to ethical considerations even as the business evolves and takes on new challenges. Knowing how to organically infuse ethics into everyday business practices and understanding how to communicate the importance of ethical behavior across divisions is a strong top-level leadership skill to develop.

2.2.4. Business ethics improves public image of the company

It is impossible to discuss business ethics as a branch of academia without looking at the relationship between business ethics and public image. Each corporation has a particular public image, which represents the way in which the public views the corporation. A corporation’s environmental policy, the way they treat their employees and the way they treat the communities they exist in are all parts of their overall behavior and this in turn is the principle factor in determining their public image. As proof of this, you will notice that even though Wal-Mart makes products that have a decent quality and an extremely low price, they still have a negative public image.

Since public image is largely a result of company behavior, business ethics play a large role in determining public image since they determine behavior. And public image is one of the reasons as to why business ethics are important to a company’s overall success.

A company which sets out to work within its own ethical guidelines is also less at risk of being fined for poor behavior, and less likely to find themselves in breach of one of the multitude of laws concerning required behavior – for example, laws around payments to corrupt regimes, or environmental practice policies. The whole company can be fined, the directors can be fined, and individual employees can be fined if the responsibility for an infraction falls on their shoulders.

Reputation is one of a company’s most important assets, and one of the most difficult to rebuild should it be lost. Upholding the promises, it has made is crucial to maintaining that reputation.

2.2.5. Business ethics and socio - economic development

In market economy, the enterprises produce and sell products and services in order to meet the demand of customers, get profit and continue their existence. While producing they make some flaws knowingly or without noticing. And this in turn leads to occurring of socio-economic problems in the society.

One of the most effective factors leading to socio-economic problems in society is the businessmen’s breaching the ethical issues concerning the government. When we say the ethical issues concerning the government, of course we mean the delays in tax payment and not fulfilling the responsibilities towards the government bodies by the enterprises. Payment of taxes on time and in correct form will lead to sound formulation of country budget, prevent tax evasion, and thus provide the socio-economic development of the country.

The ethical issues concerning suppliers and other agents (wholesalers, retailers, credit organizations, unions, etc.) have direct influence on the existence of the enterprises. If the agents showed above, do not obey the ethical issues it leads to the destruction of the enterprises and as the result hundreds or even thousands of employees are unemployed.

The main issues in ethical issues concerning the internal environment of the enterprises are ethical issues concerning the shareholders of the enterprises. Thus, the managers of the organizations are appointed by the owners of the organizations. But some managers tend to earn undeserved income, do not obey the principle of loyalty, and this takes the organizations into bankruptcy. As the consequence, it affects the society.

Finally, safety of employees and health of consumers should be mentioned. The establishment of a safe workplace is not only ethical but also socially responsible of every enterprise. Products on the market must be ensured the safety of consumers. That would cause the reputation and long-term survival of the business.

2.3. Principled approaches to business ethics

A man needs a system of rational ethical principles to provide knowledge and guidance in real business situations. The purpose of business ethics is to discern the evaluative principles that are appropriate for the complex world of business. Explicit principles provide those engaged in business with a moral framework within which to think, evaluate, and act. Business ethics is concerned with how a businessman should act so that the goals of his company are attained in a manner consistent with applicable ethical principles. However, applying an ethical principle to complex concrete situations can be difficult and challenging.

Whereas, business in a free society requires honesty, prudence, integrity, justice, respect for contracts and property rights, and so on. Many business ethics issues revolve around the principle or virtue of honesty. An honest man attempts to gain values through productive action and voluntary exchange rather than by force or deception. Honesty as a principle is applicable in an authentic business context because it is necessary to allow men to live well on earth. Honesty means adhering to reality. An honest person does not gain at another’s expense. Honesty means that it is wrong to gain value by faking reality or by misrepresenting the truth.

Managers define ethical business behavior in their workplaces by explaining to employees how behavior and action affects the business’ overall mission. This approach helps employees understand the link between ethical business behavior and corporate success. In general, business ethical values are a set of guiding principles that encourage individuals in an organization to make decisions based on the company’s stated beliefs and attitudes toward business practices within its industry such as:

•Conveying company alveus

•Creating an ethical workplace

•Fair treatment

•Acting with integrity

•Free market competition

•Safe products and services

•Environmental protection

•Resolutely eliminate unethical behavior in business.

3. Conclusion

Setting a system of rational ethical principles in behavior and business is the foundation for business systems to reach sustainable development in general progress of humanity. Ethics is particularly important for the development and prosperity of a nation.

Businesses can increase sales or increase their reputation because of their ethical behavior. The goal of a business is not just to earn profit; to be successful in the long run, business organizations need to be ethical in dealing with customers, employees, investors, the community, and society.

In a sustainable business, employees at every level should be committed to the ethical standards of the business. And a business manager must be able to clearly define and communicate to the employees what factors and ethical standards expected to adhere to and what the consequences are for failing to meet those expectations.

The public now more and more expects the private sector to fulfill its ethical and environmental obligations because of its direct and serious impact on the public interest in modern society. Public opinion expects these enterprises to produce good results in all the balance sheets – financial success, ethics, social justice, and sustainable development.

Chapter 6

I would like to take a moment to apologize to my previous clients who were frauded by my company, I pledge to everybody that I will be better person and businessman. I hope you will learn from my mistakes I made which they cost me exceptionally large.

We as people always need to keep ourselves in check, it helps to keep someone in your life that will hold you accountable for your actions. For me, this person is my wife and kids, it can be anyone you choose.

Here you have it, if you follow these simple guide lines than you will be successful.