Ethical Dilemna

As I thought about situations with competing goals or values I quickly thought of my time selling pest control in California.

When selling pest control the goal is to make money and you can't sell if you don't promote the product. Therefore it is essential to tell the potential customers about all the benefits of the product. They have a right to know all the benefits that they are getting. At the same time the customers have a right to know the product's downsides.

The most difficult issue is limited time. A salesman, particularly a door to door salesman, only has a short amount of time to convince the potential customer to buy the product. The question is how to balance the explanation of the benefits and downsides of the product in the short amount of time provided. If the salesman tells all of the negatives right up front the buyer would never purchase the product, which isn't a good option. If the buyer knew all of the positives and all of the negatives then he/she may buy the product despite the negatives, but there is normally not enough time.

I always wonder how to balance the two sides. I don't have time to explain all of the negatives, and if I focused on the negatives then I would be lying, but if I focus on the positives I wouldn't be telling the truth either. It's difficult to balance the explanation of both positive and negative and to be completely honest with both. I figure I have to do my best and give them all the information I can.