Introduction of daily columns by our advisor, Teruo Ichiki
※ The “Company” in the text refers to the former employer of our advisor
During a business trip to Shanghai, the director of a Japanese-affiliated inspection company in China (an alumnus of our company) said to me, “Your employees are not able to greet each other,Someone makes eye contact and doesn’t say hello.”I was told. The Chinese employees of this Japanese-affiliated inspection company are very thorough in greeting customers in a pleasant manner, so they told me, “I feel quite uncomfortable when I see your company’s greeting. No matter what their position is, from the customer’s point of view, they are all employees of our company. Whether they are our clients or suppliers, they are important customers, and I think it is important to express our gratitude in our greetings and make them feel comfortable in conducting business negotiations.
When you go to a company that has a greeting that you think is refreshing, you get the impression that the company is well established and educated.
The more our company’s performance improves, the more we receive backlash for being too cocky when we neglect our greetings and manners.
Customers, especially those in the retail business, are trained by their employees to respond to consumers with sincerity, so they may feel uncomfortable with salespeople who cannot even greet them adequately.
It is natural for a sophisticated member of society to have good greetings and manners.
Although this is a theme that has been said many times before, it is one that is often forgotten and easily faded away. A long time ago, one of our employees was detained by Chinese public security authorities in China. Today, when overseas business trips have become the norm, can we say that a recurrence of such an incident is unlikely?
I would like to make efforts so that wherever and whenever I meet our company’s employees, they will be known for their excellent greetings and manners, good business performance, and excellent human resource training.
Is the morning greeting energetic and proper?→When I warn them that they are not doing it, they say, “I am doing it. From my point of view, that is not a greeting. It is just a mumble looking the other way. Look them in the eye and greet them loudly and clearly!
Are they polite and courteous to customers with a smile, or do they treat customers in an arrogant or ungracious manner?、→I once flew to Tokyo because a customer was angry with me, saying, “Your sales person is trying to have a business meeting while chewing gum. When I asked him about it, he told me that he had chewed gum during the waiting time because it would be rude if he smelled bad at the business meeting after eating ramen noodles. The gum chewing must have seemed very arrogant.
Is the agency prompt and neat?→On the way back from Shanghai, I called the company before boarding but was told to wait a moment. I called the company before boarding the flight, but they just said wait a minute.
I believe that a proper attitude toward work is only possible when there is a spiritual soil of politeness appropriate for a member of society, and that a person who is not sincere toward others cannot be sincere only in his/her work.
I believe that good communication is necessary in any workplace or work area, and that it is only through good communication that the power of an organization can be demonstrated.
The basics of communication are greetings and good manners.
It is important for us to pay attention to each other in our daily work life to improve this work, and I hope that we will take the initiative in striving to improve public morale.