Question

discuss the ethics of salespeople asking their customers for information about such things as the pricing and promotion strategies of the salespersons competitors

Answer 1

Healthy competition delivers value to customers while allowing companies that compete to earn an appropriate return on their investment. Ethical behavior in a competitive environment includes supporting fair competition, competing on the basis of accurately representing your products and services in the marketplace and fulfilling your obligations in good faith, Gathering information about competitor through ethical means.

There are many ethical ways to gain knowledge about competitors strategy like :-

1. Ask them: Sometimes competitors will converse with you about their business and the prices they offer. Of course, there is more to a business than its prices, but the conversations can identify industry trends that may be helpful.

2.Become a customer: A restaurant owner can have dinner at her competitor's place. A mail-order customer can purchase products and get on the mailing list.

3. Ask your customers. There is no better source of competitive information. Customers are always the first to be approached about buying new products, to know if a competitor is having difficulty paying bills, to hear the word on the street about other departments.

Conclusion :- Salespeople asking their customers for information about such things as the pricing and promotion strategies of the salespersons competitors is totally ethical and necessary to compete in market.