I have been working in the eye care industry for over 5 years. I try to act as a consultant for each office that I work with. As you build relationships with doctors you can become very involved in their practice and also in there personal life. Many times I am faced with situations that are against company policies. In my industry we sell to the private practitioner for them to sell to their patients. Many doctors will divert product and sell it to other practices, which contact lens companies are trying to stop. I have never come across this situation until 6 months ago. A large account that I had been working with for years approached me about buying over 2000 boxes of my product. I never knew for sure what he was doing with the product until he came out to me and said he has some people who are interested in buying some product from him. Once he said that I knew what I had to do. Even though this order could have helped me to make my quota for the quarter I told the Dr I was unable to do anything for a discount or special pricing. I compromised my quota and also my commission, yet I kept my integrity and values. My job is to help the offices I work with to help build their business in order to provide the best possible care to their patients and in my opinion this would have been stepping over the line.
My question for you is do you take the large payday or do the right thing? I have come across alot of other reps through the years who would take the large payday. Where do you stand?
Finally, I have a few initial thoughts on the paper and i would like your feedback. One topic I am thinking about is "The effect of social media on political elections , specifically our last presidential election, how has the game changed for politicians who are looking to get elected? I appreciate any feedback.
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Interesting thoughts David. Does this have anything to do with it being impossible to get contacts or eye glasses without a current prescription at all? If it does, I always thought that practice was, excuse my french, bullshit. If my prescription is a week out of date, give me a break.
ReplyDeleteI think you are onto something with your topic. I thought that social media certainly played a bigger role in the last election than the one before it and I am sure it will play an even bigger role in the following election. Good luck.
David, you have posed a very interesting ethical dilemma.
ReplyDeleteThe paper topic is interesting. I'm looking forward to reading your abstract.
Okay, I just wrote a comment and it disappeared! I will rewrite it, so I apologize if it shows twice.
ReplyDeleteDavid, the dilemma you bring up is an interesting one. In my opinion, you did the right thing. Had you done it once, it would have been much easier for you to do again in the future.
Although personally you did the right thing, what did, or what would, your manager say? I ask this question because many organizations have a culture of sales, sales, sales, and meeting a quota is the most important thing, no matter what. When an organization has this kind of sales culture, managers may actually get mad at you because you did not make that unethical sale, since it affects their quota as well. I have known managers that overlook questionable practices or even practices that go against company policy, to make their sales goals. In some cases, managers may even ask or tell their sales people to make unethical or questionable decisions to meet quotas and get that large commission. What is your organizational culture like?
As for your paper topic, it is a very interesting one. Sam Rohrer, who ran against Tom Corbett for the Republican nomination to run for governor, used a grass roots and social media campaign. He had considerable less money that Corbett, but made use of these other means. Although he did not win, he did much better than many people thought he would.
Thanks for the comments guys. To the first comment it has nothing to do with getting your contacts with an out of date prescription. Just as an FYI most of the doctor's I deal with will give you some contacts to hold you over until you can get in for an exam. I always say if you can buy your contacts from your doctor and they will always hook you up. If you come to them with a cheaper price and they want to keep you as a customer and patient they will honor that price.
ReplyDeleteMike, you bring up an interesting point about mangers and company's who preach quota's and sales to just hit your number. My boss at the time who has been in the industry for over 25 years felt it was the right move. Yes, I would have hit my quota and his quota also, the problem with orders like that is they will come back to hurt you later on. In my case we are always paid on growth, so eventually I would have taken a hit on those sales and probably missed a quarter later on because of it. Although I am sure that there are managers and reps out there who would take the guarantee now.