Final answer:
Firms best avoid ethical issues in personal selling by establishing a marketing mix focused on long-term customer relationships and the genuine benefits of their products. This encourages ethical sales behavior and aligns with firms' profit motives to engage a diverse customer and employee base.
Step-by-step explanation:
To avoid ethical issues related to personal selling, firms should establish a marketing mix that offers genuine benefits to their target customers. This approach revolves around creating value through product, price, place, and promotion that aligns with customer needs and desires. By focusing on long-term customer relationships and providing real benefits, companies encourage ethical behavior among salespeople, who are less likely to feel pressured to engage in unethical sales tactics for short-term gains.
Moreover, adopting ethical business practices aligns with firm’s incentives to sell to a diverse customer base, as it allows them to tap into broader markets, thus improving profit opportunities. Incentives to reduce workplace discrimination can also be fuelled by the need to expand the employee base for production, compelling businesses to hire from a more diverse pool of applicants, including women and minorities.