The Ethics of Stealing Business From Competitors

You are on an airplane and you strike up a conversation with the person next to you. She is the decision maker of a company that buys your competitor’s products. You have such a great exchange that she asks for your card and gives you the opportunity to bid for their business. You do and you win the account. Is this an ethical way to liberate business from your competition?

It is not.

You are one of the top dogs in your company and supposed to make it rain. Your employees are counting on you to provide for them. If each employee has 1.75 family members, each employee is close to being three people. Add in all your vendor partners and their families who are counting on you to be their client. They are not looking to be social cases, they just want you to be the leader of a company that gives them a fighting chance to succeed.

What is right and wrong when it comes to stealing business? Simply put, nobody is a good enough salesperson to come in and take a client who is loyal to your company. Period. If they are able to take your business then you did not deserve it. Same with your good employees who leave you for your competition.

So what is ethical? It is easier to define unethical not doing all you can within the limits of the law to provide for your employees. End of story. How many times did you not pull out all the stops to acquire and account from the competition? In doing so, how many people did you let down?

What do you need in order to steal business? First off, commitment to provide for your family and fellow employees. Next, you need to know what companies use your competition. Then you need to make a loyalty driving sales call on those accounts. These are the best leads by far. Lastly, your employees need to know what you did for them and how they too must do their part to earn loyalty each and every day with these clients.

By the way, about the airplane story: it is unethical because you did not call on that client a year ago. You did not provide for your employees sooner.