Aggressive Sales Quotas or Unfair Business Practice?

“In the advertising industry, money is the bottom line-regardless,” said Peter Allen, a customer service representative for a large-scale online directory. It was 1999 and the online business was booming. Everyone in the city wanted to get in on the Internet revolution, but many didn’t really understand what that even involved.

Peter was new to the industry. He was given his territory, the city of San Francisco, and told to sell as much advertising as possible-at any cost-both to the company’s existing clients and to new customers. For his first few months on the job, Peter focused on getting to know the existing customers and evaluating their current advertising packages with the company. Peter was surprised to find that many of his customers were small business owners-auto-body shops and family-owned restaurants that already had large advertising packages way beyond their needs. His boss, the director of customer service, had already set Peter’s quota at a level that presumed that many more sales were possible. Yet, in Peter’s judgment, the market was saturated.

“These small shops thought that the Internet was the next best thing,” said Peter. “They didn’t even understand what the Internet actually was.”

Peter couldn’t fathom how these small businesses got persuaded into spending so much money on advertising. “The businesses you would least think to look up online were the businesses with the most expensive advertising packages,” said Peter.

Discussion Questions:
· Describe, specifically, the ethical dilemma that Peter faced.

· What are virtues Peter needed to act as he did? What do you think motivated him?

· What were the risks Peter faced in making this decision?

· What factors do you think assist people in making moral decisions in the face of a great deal of pressure?