Spiff - Ethical Nature

Ethical Nature

The use of the spiff, while widely accepted in some industries, is of questionable ethical nature. A spiff can sometimes encourage salespeople to push a less satisfactory product upon a customer, or allow manufacturers to circumvent the instructions or intentions of managers and owners by paying the salespeople directly. While commission-centric sales tactics are often transparent, based on the price of the product being pushed by a salesperson, spiff-centric sales tactics are less noticeable, and may be perceived as dishonest salesmanship by consumers who are pushed towards a product when there is no evidence that the salesperson might be biased or influenced by monetary gain. It should be noted, however, that not all commissions are transparent based on ticket price. Many retailers pay employees different percentages on different products, based on the gross profit margin of the item.

This however, is not always true with retailers. It is important to know the salesperson with whom you are dealing. Many business have adopted the idea that relationship comes first, and severely monitor dishonest sales action. This is why it is important to know the company, as well as the person, you deal with if you want to avoid being sold purely based on their monetary gain.