Sales people are always under pressure to meet their targets. In high pressure situations, this creates certain behaviours that are not in the client’s best interests. We know we should listen carefully to what the client wants, before we attempt to suggest any solution for the buyer’s needs. We know that by asking well designed questions, we can p…

Previously Rike was Managing Director, Woodbridge International Japan, Branch Manager ING Baring Securities Japan, Vice-President Merrill Lynch, Director of Operations Merrill Lynch Japan. Rike has been a judge for the Japan Market Expansion Competition since 2006. He has a B.A. from Lewis & Clark College.…

Basically your job is toast. There is a machine or there will soon be a machine that can do it faster, better and cheaper than you. Our skill set didn’t change much from the start of agriculture 12,000 years ago until the industrial revolution in the mid-18th century. This last 150 years has been busy. We have created a weapon that can destroy our …

Previously Roberto was the General Manager BrandLoyalty, President Zwiesel Japan, Export Manager and Retail And Sales Promotion Manager Japan. He has a law degree from Universita degli Studi di Torino and was on the Executive Training Programme (ETP) in Japan

My eyes are closing. I am struggling to stay awake. There is something about this presentation that is not working. I thought, it must be me. I must be tired. Later however I realized the problem. I was being lulled into sleep by the monotone delivery of the presenter. The brand by the way is gorgeous. This is seriously high profile, a name that ev…

From October 2024 Alejandro will become Global CEO of Schoeller Allibert. Previously for Tetra Pak, he was VP Packaging Solution Moderna Italy, Managing Director Tetra Pak Iberia, Managing Director Tetra Pak Italy, Global CB BU Marketing Director Sweden, Executive Commercial Director Madrid, Executive Commercial Director Bogata, Sales Manager Exxon…

Pricing is usually set by the boss and salespeople are just there to get out and sell at that designation. The trouble though is salespeople are not convinced by any price setting methodology. They only believe in the reality of the market. The way they know the reality is the degree of pushback they get from clients, when they are trying to sell. …

Previously Scott was Chairman Circlace Inc, CEO Tricor, President Pasona, Manager EY Scott has an undergraduate degree in accounting from Iona University.

You have to tell people how it is or you will lose power and authority. If you swallow what you want to say, you will diminish yourself. If you avoid hard conversations, you will have less influence. You need to tell them exactly how you are feeling. This was the tenor of the advice coming from an American communication “guru”. While listening to t…

Previously Joe was President Asset Health, President at Info Ally, Development Director Taubman, and as a lawyer, Associate at Dawda, Mann, Mulcahy & Sadler, Associate at Clark, Klein & Beaumont. He has a BA from the University of Michigan and a JD from the Wayne State University Law School. He is a certified trainer in the Dale Carnegie Course.…

We can speak to a group and then there is another level, where we try to captivate our audience. What makes the difference. The content could even be the same but in the hands of one person it is dry and delivered in a boring manner. Someone else can take the same basic materials and really bring it to life. The quality of the argument we are going…

Previously Richard was Representative Director at Avira, Senior Inward Investment Officer at the British Consulate-General Osaka, Procurement Manager, Mitsubishi Heavy industries, and Assistant Language Teacher Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme.

Jan Carlzon many years ago published a tremendous guide to customer service. He had the job of turning around SAS airlines and captured that experience in his book “Moments Of Truth”. I was reminded of Carlson’s insights when I was recently checking into my hotel in Singapore. While going through the check-in process at the hotel, a waiter from the…

Previously Emma was Head of Marketing North Asia Area BAT, Customer Director Unilever ANZ, Trade Category Director Unilever China, Unilever Australasia Customer Manager. She has a B.A. in Commerce from Curtin University of Technology.

“Born to lead” is nonsense. Many things shaped that person in order for them to achieve credibility with others. Of course, we can become a “leader” as part of our company designated hierarchy. We sit somewhere in an organizational chart above others, with various reporting lines elevating us above the hoi polloi. We know many people with that augu…

Previously Nicolas was Representative Director and CEO Louis Vuitton Japan, Managing Director DFS Japan and Korea, Vice President Operations North Asia and SEA, Tesla, President & CEO Coach Japan, Regional Director, President & Representative Director Japan, Longchamp, Director, General Manager Japan, Estee Lauder, General Manager Shiseido Japan. N…

Lawyers in Japan are an elite group. I attended a legal symposium, involving these super elite Japanese lawyers and yet the communication skills on offer were incongruent with their elite educations and high social status. I can never resolve how intelligent people can manage to stand up in front of an audience and position themselves such that the…

Previously Bernard was Representative in Japan for Pylote, Group Senior Advisor at Michelin, Nihon Michelin Tire Chairman, Nihon Michelin Tire President, Member of the Board Ichikoh Industries. Bernard has an MBA for HEC School Of Management and a MSC from Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Nancy.…

Tricky area in sales, showmanship. The word has a certain odor about it that reeks of fake, duplicity, con game, spruker, carnival barker, etc. Yet, like storytelling, this is an important part of the sales professional’s repertoire. Clients are card carrying members of the Great Guild Of Skeptics. They are highly doubtful about salespeople’s claim…

Previously Christian was VP Sales and Application Diesel Systems Robert Bosch, General Manager Robert Bosch Japan, Directeur des Ventes Robert Bosch France. He has a mechanical engineering degree from Ecole centrale de Lyon

In our lives, we have harvested a lot of experiences, which we can use in our presentations. If we were better organized, we might have had the forethought to keep notes, so it would be easier to refer to them when we are looking for material. Well there is a hint right there – keep notes from now on. You can just jot down in your Evernote or somet…

Previously Tim has held a number of roles with Meltwater: Area Director, Managing Director Australia, Senior Client Success Manager Australia, Sales Manager Australia, Sales Consultant Australia. Prior to Meltwater, he was a journalist with the Herald Sun in Melbourne.

Imagine my surprise, as an expert in sales training, when I meet salespeople who have not spent even one second trying to master the bridging of the gap between value and cost. Sitting in the audience at a speaker event, next to a thirtyish Japanese sale’s guy, we talked about how he does his sales. He told me he contacts a lead, gets an appointmen…

Previously Ji was Senior Partner, IBM Worldwide Finance and Operations Director at Ogilvy and Mather Advertising; Director, Brand Strategy Group; Director, Global Agency Coa-Cola; Marketing Manager, Turner Broadcasting. She has an MBA from Emory University – Goizueta Business School and an undergraduate degree in accounting from Oglethorpe Universi…

Japan loves rote learning and parents will pay cram schools to get their kids fully tuned up and on to the education escalator. Rote learning and exam technique is the standard educational approach in Japan right through to starting University classes. At University, unless you are trying for very specific careers like medicine, the elite bureaucra…

Previously Michael was Board Chairman and Director Voestalpine Bohler Welding Asia Pacific, Business Development Director-Consumables ESAB Asia Pacific, Country Manager Japan and Korea ESAB, President Besam Japan, Product Manager Eiga AB, Sales Engineer, Market Manager Asia Pacific Nomafa AB. He has a Master of Science from the Faculty of Engineeri…

Normally when we give presentations, they tend to be pretty dry affairs. We marshal the facts, relate what happened, tell stories perhaps but in a one dimensional way. We are relating what happened, but are not making any attempt to bring it alive. However, what do we seek when we are looking for entertainment or education – we are looking for dial…

Previously Gustav was CEO Maihama Club Nursing Homes, Managing Director, Swedish Care Institute, Consultant Access Technology. Gustav Graduated with an MA in East Asian Studies from Stockholm University.

“I would be able to sell a lot more except for all the external factors over which I have zero control”. Actually, you have never heard this line of argument before from a salesperson. This is because this statement is an honest appraisal of what they see as the problem, but they don’t express it that way. Instead they bitch about the boss, the mar…

Previously Tim was an Associate General Counsel at Marelli, Director Indirect Sales at Colt Technology Services, Senior Lawyer Minter Ellison Lawyers. He has a Law Degree, Bachelor of Asian Studies and is a graduate from the from the Kellogg-HKUST Executive MBA

Sometimes you see a confident leader really bomb their presentation. It doesn’t happen all that often, but when it does, the contrast is vast. If they are totally hopeless and they bomb, well that is understandable. But a competent leader shouldn’t bomb their presentation. He did and I was wondering why that happened? It was only at the end, when i…

Previously Tony was in the Financial Accounting Group-Advisory and Administration, Nomura Holdings, Head of Real Estate Finance Macquarie Group, Chief Financial Officer Merrill Lynch, Area Financial Controller HSBC, Manager PWC and Auditor KPMG. He has a Bachelor of Economics, Accountancy from the University of Sydney.…

I have often thought there are so many lessons from the martial arts for our businesses. Here are my musings after 53 years of training in traditional Karate. Stepping on to the floor The dojo is the ultimate equalizer. Whether you arrived by chauffeur driven Roller or took Shanks’s mare, once you step on to that dojo floor only your ability and ch…

Previously, Yannick was General Manager Adolfo Dominguez Japan, Pandora Division Manager Bluebell, Deputy General manager PCSA, Japan Country Manager Fast Retailing Group, Japan CEO Mauboussin, Finance Management Program member GE Healthcare

Salespeople don't set the price of what they sell. This is usually an obscure outcome decided by someone else inside the machine. It might actually be an elaborate process, where multiple variables are carefully calibrated, mathematical formulae are applied and a price is arrived at. Or, it might be a slightly moist index finger boldly thrust skywa…

Previously Padraig was Vice-President, Service Operations at Colt Data Centre Services, Director, Design, Build and Transition, Director, Core Technology, KVH, Manager Equant

The hardest sales job in the world is selling something you don’t believe in yourself. The acid test is would you sell this “whatever” to your grandmother? If the answer is no, then get out of there right now! It is rarely that clear cut though. The more important test is whether what you are selling solves the client’s problem or not. Selling clie…

Mr. Kurokawa is the 18th generation of his family to run this traditional Japanese sweets business, which started in the 1500s in Kyoto. He has worked in the business his whole career and spent a year in their store in Paris.

One of our problem areas is what to do with our hands when we speak. Judging by most of the presentations I see in Japan, few speakers have worked this out yet. Here are some common habits we can improve upon to make ourselves much more persuasive and professional. 1. Hands in front of the body. The arms and hands when held in front of the body cre…

Previously Patrick was Operations Director at Innov8; Purchasing and RD Director at Groupe ADF; Operations Director at Uniross; Purchasing Director at Alcatel Mobile Phones and Mechanical Manager at SAGEM. He has a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Arts et Metiers Paris Tech – Ecole National Superieure d’Arts et Metiers and an MBA from …

Okay, now its time for the show, Soredewa ikimasho, so let's get going. The hush has now swept across the room. All eyes are fixed on the MC, breaths are being held, awaiting the announcement of this year’s winner. Amazingly, it registers that it is your name they are calling to the stage. Emotion wells up. Your team join you for handshaking, shoul…

Previously Hiroshi was Regional Vice President, President F5 Networks, Japan; Chief Executive Japan and China Wipro Technologies; and Managing Director, President BEA Systems Japan. He has a Bachelor of Science, Business Administration and Management from The University of Maine at Orono

If we are presenting a brochure, flyer, price list, hard copy slide deck or any other typical collateral item, then we should adopt best practice for greatest success. Have two copies always, one for you to read and one for the client, unless you are a genius of reading upside down (which by the way seems to include all Japanese!). At the start, pu…

Previously Vice President, Head of APAC Development, Head of Japan, Vice President Colt DSC: Head of Japan Pembroke Real Estate; Executive Officer, Bovis Lend Lease; Architect, Takenaka Komuten; Harvard University Graduate School Of Design; University Of Manitoba Architecture

We are all pretty average on recalling events, people’s names, locations, sequences, inanimate objects, etc., but we are geniuses on remembering feelings. We are especially good on how people made us feel and what super memories we have developed in this particular department. Business is deemed to be logical – cool, balanced, unswerving on the roa…

Previously Ahbijay was Vice-President of Development for IHG Japan, Australasia and Pacific Region, Director of Development Planning AMEA for Whitbread PLC Singapore, and Director of Development Middle East, Africa and South Asia for the Jumeirah Group. He has a Master’s Degree from Erasmus University’s Rotterdam School Of Management…

The Master of Ceremony (MC) goes to the microphone to get the programme underway but the audience are simply oblivious, caught up in their own riveting conversations. The situation is much worse at receptions where alcohol is already flowing and the people down the back are generating a roar, a positive din, that drowns out the speakers. Here are s…

Prior to her Japan posting Simone was VP Marketing International Business Unit in Indianapolis, VP and General Manager Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Chief Marketing Officer Japan, Managing Director Austria, International Marketing Leader Cardiology Indianapolis, National Sales Director Germany, Austria and Switzerland, New Product Planning Mana…

Usually this isn’t even a question for most presenters, because the organisers have already set up the room when you arrive. Our speaking spot has been designated for us. But have we been designated a spot by experts in public speaking or by the venue crew who usually just haul chairs, lug tables around and set up the stage? Sadly the coalescence b…