The one that really strikes a chord of me is the example of the defense attorney saving a murderer from jail. Could there be anything less ethical than that?

Ryan

I think that is often the best approach: to simply not work for that client anymore.

I agree that using fake scarcity could catch up to a client eventually… but I wonder: How?

Ryan

The one that really strikes a chord of me is the example of the defense attorney saving a murderer from jail. Could there be anything less ethical than that?

Ryan

I think that is often the best approach: to simply not work for that client anymore.

I agree that using fake scarcity could catch up to a client eventually… but I wonder: How?

Ryan

It's really unpleasant to have to do it, but I knew I had to steel myself, drop him as a client, and be really blunt about why. Since I'm not incredibly assertive by nature, I found this nerve-wracking (hence my subsequent backflips to weed out up-front ).

The surprising thing was that he didn't make a scene or try to hold me to the “deal” – instead, he disappeared without a word of protest or indignation.

I suspect clients who decide to use dishonesty as a marketing tool know darned well what they're doing is a gamble – and when they're well and truly busted. What to us is unpleasant and stressful… is probably a shoulder-shrug-”let's-move-on” to this type of client.

But it ain't the black and whites that are hard – it's the grey areas, and reading all the responses, there seems to be a lot of those. It's been an education, reading what everyone else has experienced!

* What about a judge who needs to put someone in jail because of some wrongfully laws? Those cases exist.
* … or a defense attorney who knowingly saves a murderer from jail?
* … or a doctor who cannot treat someone because the person is not covered by health insurance; … or the person simply won't give up smoking?
* … or you work for a corporation as employee which takes advantages of its customers.

I want to be perfectly clear here, trust, honesty, ethics in life and business are values I care very passionately about. Just wanted to relativize the emotional pain a little bid.
– Yours John

I wrote some sales copy for a client a few years ago. He not only changed the copy for the worse, he obviously made up testimonials, and basically lied about his expertise on the subject. Email consulting with him was part of the offer. It was obvious to me he didn't have any expertise on the subject at all.

At the time, I wasn't in a position to confront him directly on it, although I did specifically ask if the testimonials were real and he said they were. Based on the way they read, I found it highly unlikely.

I simply didn't do any more work for him. It was the only response I could think of at the time.

As far as fake scarcity goes, it will catch up with your client eventually anyway.

And it doesn't sound as bad as lying about the product itself.

It does raise a red flag about the client. Maybe not a big honkin' flag, but it's a flag.

Thanks much for taking the time to comment. :-)

Ryan

Ethics has always been a big part of my business, going back to 25 years ago when people used to ask me to write term papers and I would turn them down. When I published my award-winning sixth book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First–which is all about ethics as a business success tool–and then a year later, founded the Business Ethics Pledge (http://www.business-ethics-pledge.org), this commitment became a lot more public–a core part of my brand, in fact.

One thing I've done that has helped a lot: in my form response to prospective clients, I include this paragraph:

<<<Please note that I reserve the right to reject a project if I feel I'm not the right person for it. This would include projects that in my opinion promote racism, homophobia, bigotry or violence–or that promote the tobacco, nuclear power, or weapons industries–or if I do not feel the product is of high enough quality that I can get enthusiastic about it.>>>

Which makes it clear right from the get-go (as if the book, etc. didn't make it clear) that values-based thinking is always part of my decision to take on a client, and my process as I work.

To bring it back to your original question, what should you do: I'd call or e-mail to the effect that

“I really appreciate that we've been working together these few years–but I'm just not comfortable with your changing the numbers around. In order to continue our business relationship, I need assurance from you that you'll use honest numbers. If that feels too hard for you, then I'm going to have to ask you to find a different copywriter.”

You're not sounding judgmental, but discussing your own comfort level.

I've also told various clients more than a few times that I had issues with something they were doing, and that I would only keep working if we could get the problem resolved. In fact, just this week I turned down a JV partner because I felt there was an ethical issue. I also saved one client a long time ago because I said to him, “not only can I tell that you plagiarized, but your committee will be able to tell also, and you'll be stripped of your Ph.D.” I made him do the work over, honestly, and he was grateful.

Unfortunately, I can't give too many details about my particular situation. Suffice it to say I've been working with this client for three years now… and the fake scarcity didn't really become an issue until this past year.

Not an easy situation to extricate myself from.

Ryan