Ensuring Compliance with Legal, Regulatory and Social Requirements in Sales

The assignment discusses the importance of legal, regulatory, ethical and social policies and procedures in the sales function. It highlights the need for effective monitoring mechanisms to confirm whether these policies are being rightly practiced or not. The monitoring can be done through various methods such as on-the-job assessments, reviews of competence, tests through e-learning, process of appraisal, online questionnaire on self-assessment, communicating with customers and verifying conformance, communicating with co-workers and verifying conformance, demonstration on desired behavior, etc. The assignment also emphasizes the importance of providing support to sales teams in putting these policies into practice, including training and education. Additionally, it discusses ways of dealing with non-compliance, such as identifying and correcting failures to meet legal and regulatory requirements, monitoring and managing complaints regarding legal, regulatory, ethical and social requirements, and providing full reports about any failures to senior management.

Running Head: Sales Management
Managing Responsible Selling MA-U401

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Table of Contents
Task 1: Report on Managing Responsible Selling.....................................................................3
Introduction:...........................................................................................................................3
Section 1: Legal, Regulatory, and Social Requirements Pertaining to the Sales Function....3
Sales-related legal and regulatory requirements and Codes of Practice:...........................3
Importance of principles of Contract law and Penalties for misrepresentation:................4
Potential impact of social and ethical concerns relating to the sales function:..................5
Processes and policies in the organisation meeting ethical and social requirements and
comply with legal and regulatory requirements:................................................................6
Section 2: Managing the Sales Function in compliance with Legislation.............................7
Sales employees must have a clear understanding of the organisation’s legal, regulatory,
ethical and social policies and procedures and the importance of putting them into
practice:..............................................................................................................................7
Ways of monitoring legal, regulatory, ethical and social policies and procedures are put
into practice........................................................................................................................7
Ways of providing support to the sales team in putting legal, regulatory, ethical and
social policies and procedures into practice:......................................................................8
Section 3: Dealing with Non Compliance..............................................................................9
Ways of identifying and correcting any failures to meet the legal and regulatory
requirements:......................................................................................................................9
Ways of providing full reports about any failures to meet requirements to senior
management:....................................................................................................................10

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Ways of monitoring and managing complaints regarding legal, regulatory, ethical and
social requirements:.........................................................................................................10
Conclusion:..........................................................................................................................11
References:...............................................................................................................................12

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Task 1: Report on Managing Responsible Selling
Introduction:
The report presents the importance of managing responsible selling. This report has been
prepared as per the request of the sales director of Subway Berhain. The report has informed
the managers and sales personnel on the significance of managing responsible selling. The
report has been written in three sections. Sales management is an important function of every
organization. It involves tracking measures where the business of the organization is tracked
and evaluated and the sales team is given ample support. The development of right
deliverables and fixing right prices for them holds a crucial function of the sales
management. It also includes the distribution of the products to right places. The entire
management of sales also includes the marketing contents, taking care of the services to the
customers and other relevant efforts towards responsible selling (Ashe-Edmunds, 2018).
Section 1: Legal, Regulatory, and Social Requirements Pertaining to the
Sales Function
Sales-related legal and regulatory requirements and Codes of Practice:
Consumers are the prime important aspect for the organization. The organization has to be
responsive to the Consumer Law so that it can carry out its selling functions under the
legislative norms. The Consumer Protection Law includes the provisions and regulations
towards the protection of the health of the consumers and their rights where the quality is
ensured through the establishment of quality control measures. It overrules unfair practices
and penalizes the ones for the breach of the provisions of the law (International Labour
Organization, 2014). The Consumer Protection Act 987 is concerned about the conducts of

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the organizations in the situation when the defective products are being sold to the consumers
and the organizations are liable to compensate for the damage to the consumers. This is very
important as it legally binds the organizations and makes it careful towards customer services
(legislation-gov, ND). The Consumer Credit Act 2006 has been another important law which
has been developed as an amendment to the Consumer Credit Act 1974. (legislation-gov,
2006). The law empowers the consumers on the occasion if the credit suppliers or the
organizations provide any defective deliverable to the consumers.
The code of practice is another important aspect of the industry. In case of fast food industry
the Food Law Code of Practice is vital as it provides statutory guidance that is supposed to be
abided by the local authorities (Standard Food Agency, 2017). The relevant provisions of the
law have to be followed and implemented by the local authorities. The organizations need to
understand the code of practice as it provides the guidance regarding the business conducts to
be followed while making a sale. Apart from this the organization can also review the
standard guidelines given by Health and Safety at Work Act which will provide ample
provisions for the sales personnel health and safety.
Importance of principles of Contract law and Penalties for misrepresentation:
The principle of Contract Law is based on the fair and transparent transaction between the
seller and the purchaser. The contract of sales binds the buyer and the seller in an agreement
whereby the seller agrees to make the sale to the buyer with utmost good faith and the buyer
accepts the products pays for the price of the products which is the consideration. The
customers or the buyers get the products as per they are being committed by the sellers. There
is the Sales and Supply of Goods Act 1994 which is an amendment to the sale of goods law
where the provisions have been added for some agreements of sale or hire of goods. It also
includes the in-hire purchases agreements (legislation-gov, 1994). The contract law has been

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developed so that there would be no false or fake commitments an organization can make to
the customers.
Misrepresentation is a false statement which is made by any party to contract to induce the
other party to enter the contract in the basis of the false statement. Misrepresentation can be a
misleading statement made by one party to induce the other one in the contract illegitimately.
The laws recognizes the penalties if the customers discover that they have been induced to
buy any product on the basis of false commitments. The reputation of the organization gets
badly impacted if any sale is done on the basis of misrepresentation. The Misrepresentation
Act 1967 has been developed as an amendment to the laws in relation to voluntary and
innocent misrepresentations especially to amend the section 11 and 35 of the law of the Sale
of Goods Act 1893 (legislation-gov, 1967).
Potential impact of social and ethical concerns relating to the sales function:
For an organization like Subway it is very important that the commercial and trade activities
are conducted fairly and the customers are honoured and treated with respect. It is important
to understand that responsible selling is much more than this. It is the responsibility of the
organization to sale ethically which is not only honouring the customers or treating them
fairly. To enhance the market share and the volume of sales it is important that Subway
becomes able to retain the trust and faith of the customers. Credibility must get demonstrated
by the company’s act. The sales people have to understand that by abiding the social and
ethical principles they could make their organizations highlighted and reputed for all the time.
The customers and other stakeholders look up to the organization which is highly ethical. The
organization has to be professional in the sales functions. The competition should be healthy
this adds value to the customers. It is important that the sales personnel have to support fair

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competition and must follow ethical guidelines in deciding the prices of the product. The
sales promotion activities are also required to be highly ethical (Markgraf, 2018).
Processes and policies in the organisation meeting ethical and social
requirements and comply with legal and regulatory requirements:
It is highly recommended to the management of the organization that the processes and
policies must meet the social and ethical requirements.
 The functions of the organizations must be able to comply with the regulatory and
legislative requirements.
 The company must comply with the norms of the code of conducts and must ensure
fairness in the delivery of the services.
 The customers must be taken care of and their complaints must be addressed on
priority basis.
 The length, type and suitability of the contracts must be taken care of.
 The data protection law must be followed to protect the information of the employees
and the customers.
 The procedures of the fast food industry as per the regulatory bodies of the sector
must be abided by.
 The health and safety of the employees must be considered.
 The ethical codes must be taken care of by the organization (Anastasia, 2015).
 Competitive returns must be made by the organization to its shareholders and the
employees must be treated on fair grounds.

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Section 2: Managing the Sales Function in compliance with Legislation
Sales employees must have a clear understanding of the organisation’s legal,
regulatory, ethical and social policies and procedures and the importance of
putting them into practice:
To ensure that the employees have clear understanding of the legal, regulatory, ethical and
social policies and procedures and the importance of putting them into practice it is important
that the communication system is made effective. The communication between the upper,
medium and lower level of managers is an important aspect. The employees can be given
proper training. Through effective communication the employees can be made understand the
different legal and ethical policies and social procedures. It is the duty of the managers to
ensure that the employees understand the significance of putting the legal, social and ethical
procedures and policies in practice. The organization can also implement and use the Crisis
Communication Plan. It is an emergency blueprint outlining the changes or adjustments that
the organization needs to make in the information (Freeo, ND). The sales teams and the
management have to understand the importance of code of conducts even in market research.
Ways of monitoring legal, regulatory, ethical and social policies and procedures
are put into practice
The company must ensure regular monitoring of the legal, regulatory ethical and social
policies and procedures to confirm whether they are rightly out to practice or not as it is very
important for the organization. There can be several ways of monitoring like the following:
 On the job assessments
 Reviews of competence
 Tests through e-learning
 Process of appraisal

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 Online questionnaire on self-assessment
 Communicating with customers and verifying conformance
 Communicating with co-workers and verifying conformance’
 Demonstration on desired behaviour
The monitoring helps to confirm that the processes and policies are in right place. The
organization can achieve the desired success if the policies and practices are put to right
places. The customers can be satisfied and taken care of if the ethical conducts are being
abided by. The monitoring helps in identifying the areas of gaps and assists the management
to come up with workable and feasible solutions. It helps in continuous improvements in the
entire process.
Ways of providing support to the sales team in putting legal, regulatory, ethical
and social policies and procedures into practice:
It is very important for the management to take active steps in putting efforts in providing
support to the sales team in putting legal, regulatory, ethical and social policies and
procedures into practice. The managers have to act as the coach or facilitator. The managers
have to be there when a sales employee faces any hurdle or issue or moral dilemma. The help
of the specialists like lawyers or consultants must be obtained in case of extreme crisis. The
policies and procedures must be updated on regular basis and any change or additions must
be communicated to make the employees responsive and active towards the changes. The
sales employees must be provided with ample training and education so that they also
become active participant to achieve the organizational goals. The implementation of the
legal, putting legal, regulatory, ethical and social policies and procedures into practice can
never be possible effectively without clear and transparent communication. The sales team
might find it difficult to materialise the sales and in that occasions the management must

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forwards their support so that the sales team becomes able to overcome the challenges and
achieve the competence.
Section 3: Dealing with Non Compliance
Ways of identifying and correcting any failures to meet the legal and regulatory
requirements:
It has already discussed that the monitoring of the procedures and policies and open
communication with the sales team can help the management to identify the failures to meet
the legal and regulatory requirements. It is the basic importance of monitoring and ensuring
regular checks. The training to the sales team is also another important so that they can also
become able to figure out the failures in meeting legal and regulatory requirements. The
methods of monitoring if conducted systematically then the failures can be identified.
The correction to the identified failures can be made through the following ways:
 Reactive responses can be made by the management as this will ensure the inclusion
of any new norm, policy or regulation in the existing policies and procedures.
Developing awareness to the employees through communication system can be done
and the sales employees must be made aware of the changes.
 Proactive measures or responses can also be taken by the management to ensure
continuous improvement of the skills of the staffs and by generating awareness. The
management can also initiate a positive culture with the help of robust code of values
and ethics.

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Ways of providing full reports about any failures to meet requirements to senior
management:
It is important to provide the senior management with the detailed reports of failures as the
final decision will be taken by the senior management only. It is needful and essential that the
senior management gets the information as early as possible so that the final steps and
measures can be taken at the earliest. Communication in person in times of crisis and
emergency is also very important. It removes the time lags and ensures speedy actions to take
place. The reports or information can be given in writing so that effective documentation
remains in place. In cases of some non-compliance the support of legal advisors or lawyers
might be required and the written documentation helps in this respect to great extent. It is the
responsibility of the management to take care of these aspects.
Ways of monitoring and managing complaints regarding legal, regulatory, ethical
and social requirements:
If the company does not abide by any norm of legal and regulatory framework or else any of
the stakeholders or the local and regional regulatory bodies might complain against the
organization. In this situation the management can take the help of the following steps:
 The management can set up a compliance department which will take care of the
compliance and non-compliance.
 The communication process must be effective so that the management gets to know
the breaches or non-compliance cases.
 The situations have to be monitored well.
 The management can come up with a crisis communication plan as explained earlier
in the previous section.

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 There must be ultimate measures which will be responsible for the monitoring of the
breaches of legal and regulatory procedures and policies.
These are important as the management is the sole decision-maker in the cases of non-
compliance and monitoring of the measures taken towards the resolution of complaints and
errors.
Conclusion:
It is very important that the legal, regulatory and social requirements pertaining to the sales
function are abided by. Responsible selling includes the management of the functions of the
sales as per the guidelines of the legislation and dealing with non-compliance. These areas
have been discussed in details in the report so that the sales personnel can understand the
significance of managing responsible selling.

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References:
Anastasia. (2015, February 6). Business, Marketing Social Responsibility & Ethics in
Marketing. Retrieved from cleverism: https://www.cleverism.com/social-
responsibility-ethics-marketing/
Ashe-Edmunds, S. (2018). Importance of Sales Management. Retrieved from chron:
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-sales-management-65099.html
Freeo, S. K. (ND). Crisis Communication Plan: A PR Blue Print. Retrieved from niu:
http://www.niu.edu/newsplace/crisis.html#1
International Labour Organization. (2014). Bahrain (311) > Civil, commercial and family
law (1). Retrieved from ilo: http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?
p_lang=en&p_isn=92412&p_country=BHR&p_count=311&p_classification=01.03&
p_classcount=1
legislation-gov. (1967). Misrepresentation Act 1967. Retrieved from legislation.gov:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1967/7/introduction
legislation-gov. (1994). Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994. Retrieved from legislation.gov:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/35/introduction
legislation-gov. (2006). Consumer Credit Act 2006. Retrieved from legislation.gov:
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/14/contents
legislation-gov. (ND). Consumer Protection Act 1987. Retrieved from legislation.gov:
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1987/43/contents

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Markgraf, B. (2018). Ethical Practices in Sales & Marketing. Retrieved from chron:
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/ethical-practices-sales-marketing-64319.html
Standard Food Agency. (2017, March 30). Food Law Code of Practice. Retrieved from
food.gov: https://www.food.gov.uk/enforcement/codes-of-practice/food-law-code-of-
practice