As a child growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, my neighborhood was not immune to the occasional solicitor. I can recall my parents listening ever so politely while the representative generated his well-rehearsed spiel of all the benefits these items of various personal hygienic functions offered. I remember being impressed by this man’s zeal, how committed he was to the company and how much he seemed to truly believe in the products. Being young and impressionable, I was hooked. I trusted him. I believed in him because of how much he believed in the company he represented. It was months later after having to use gallons upon gallons of harsh, concentrated shampoo which practically dissolved our scalps and turned our hair into scouring pads, did I realize how deceived we had been.

Lesson learned.

As you can see from the above mentioned example, our actions and decisions can and do influence people. Negative experiences can have lifelong consequences; in fact, to this day I will not purchase certain items unless they are a quality product. That particular day a sale was established but at what cost to the vendor and company? We never again purchased from them. They may have gained one sale but lost plenty of others over the years. It is in this vein that I wish to elaborate on how our decisions impact others.

To have true value, a product or service needs to meet certain criteria. It needs to compare with standards relative to other products or services in its genre. If it does not meet established “norms” then it is routinely considered worthless, likewise the reputation of a company or business. For it to stand up to public scrutiny, it must meet certain levels of societal characterizations, namely whether or not it is operating in a legitimate way and following laws and guidelines put into place in the area in which it is conducting business. If it is not operating up to par and you are representing that business or company to others who have knowledge of it’s shady past, your own name, reputation and credibility will, in turn be tarnished. Also, if you are representing that company to people who are not familiar with its questionable history or dealings, and you are knowingly making false claims, telling half-truths, or omitting certain information then you are impacting others in a negative way, especially if they believe you and find later that you have taken advantage of their trust.

What happens when trust is destroyed?

For the shareholders of a large corporation, erosion of trust can have devastating consequences. Stocks plummet, lack of sales decreases the bottom line, employees are fired or laid off, and the company can teeter on the verge of bankruptcy for years until they either close down or regain the public’s trust. For an individual, the results can be actual physical stress, financial loss which causes extra burdens and the conditioning effect which manifests itself by future decisions based on past experience.

Now that we have entered into the first decade of this millennium, and the technological age of cyber-selling, we are even more at risk of being taken in by the crafty sales pitch. For that reason, we must be even more wary, informed and alert since we do not have the benefit of eye-to-eye contact and therefore must trust written words alone. In my lifetime, I have witnessed an alarming decline in product workmanship as well as irresponsible salesmanship. Business knowledge and ethics are also at a steady decrease and we are at the mercy of the “anything goes” mentality, especially on the internet.

While it would be impossible to educate every person on the entire planet about the impact their actions have on others, at least we can reach out in our little industry, in our little corner of the internet and try to affect positive change by encouraging others to make responsible decisions in their business conduct.

Article written by AnI4AnI.