Introduction of daily columns by our advisor, Teruo Ichiki

Happy New Year!
We look forward to working with you again this year.

I will be teleworking again this year, and I will do my best to be of service to everyone at InfoEye, even if only in a small way.
I have chosen “communication” as the theme for the beginning of the year.

In teleworking, where communication is reduced, I think it is necessary to devise a way to deepen communication.
I hope that by reproducing my own experiences in the field, I can get everyone to think about how they can devise ways to do this.

Why? Why can’t we make 80% of the contracted budget? Why didn’t you tell us earlier, when today is the end of the month?
When are you going to be able to ship this backlog? What? The end of next month? Isn’t it already gone? It may not be ready? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?

This was a common conversation when I was a department head or section manager.
As a section manager, I wanted to get bad information as soon as possible, so that I could quickly catch it, plan countermeasures, and minimize the damage.

I am sure you have heard the word “horenso” before.
Horenso → “reporting, liaison, and consultation.
The basics of communication are reporting, liaison, and consultation.
I think this is a theme that always comes up in training for new employees.

I would like to consider why it is so important.

I think this “horenso” is important because it is necessary work to achieve goals.

What are the important goals of the company?
One important goal is to make a profit.

Our company is in the business of buying and selling fushion products, which are constantly changing. We earn our customers’ trust and generate profits by accurately suggesting products that will sell well in the next season, taking risks, and delivering the products they want in the time they want them.
In order to make a profit, which is one of the company’s goals, it is essential that the planning, production, sales, and delivery processes work together smoothly and without waste.
However, it should be noted that there are many cases where things do not go smoothly.

At each stage, some kind of problem is bound to occur. A customer reports a change in order, a factory informs a customer of a delay in delivery, a supplier is consulted about a change in sewing specifications, and if each of these steps is not carried out smoothly, a major problem will occur, resulting in a large loss rather than a profit.

An organization that can normally perform this “Hou-Rou-Sou” can create a highly productive organization, enhance team power, and create a synergistic effect, which leads to customer satisfaction, profits, and company development.

What happens to an organization that cannot do this?
The organization will become an organization full of waste, with double takes, re-dos, etc. Team power will deteriorate, power will be reduced, customer dissatisfaction will occur, customers will leave, losses will occur, and the organization will collapse.

This “Hou-Rou-Sou” is the key to the fate of the company. This is how important it is.

Even with such importance, it is difficult to establish a culture of “Hourensou” if the recipients do not take it seriously and do not respond to it sincerely.
Even if you do the reporting, no one will do it if they do not accept it and do not draw conclusions.
It will be harder to be criticized or to be offended.

In the aforementioned conversation between the section manager and the section staff, the section staff neglected their duty to report, but the section manager is also to blame for creating an atmosphere that makes it difficult for them to report.
In addition, not checking how sales contracts are progressing until the end of the month is also a
This is a management error. He puts his own mistakes on the shelf and blames the section staff. The relationship between the two becomes increasingly difficult, and the trust between the two becomes increasingly strained.
The Chief said, “Report! Report!” but to put them in the mindset of “I don’t want to report because I will get angry if I do, and even if I do, I don’t know if they are listening or responding, and I can’t come to a conclusion,” creates tragedy.

Subordinates have an obligation to report and supervisors have a responsibility to make it easier for them to report, and both sides, those who do and those who make them do, have obligations and responsibilities, don’t they?
However, not reporting because it is difficult to say is not a reason. If the person does not report, not only will the organization be inconvenienced, but in the end, the person himself/herself will suffer the most.

By the way, what is a report?

A report is a statement of the progress and results of a given task by a person who has been assigned to it. It is more of a vertical information, a lifeline between you and the people around you, a duty as an employee, and also a PR aspect.

Contact is to inform feelings, ideas, and information, rather than lateral information, and since it is about caring for and sharing information with those around you, you need to look at it with multiple eyes.

Consultation is the process of discussing and listening to the opinions of others in order to solve a problem, to present one’s own point of view and to think about it, and to solve problems with the wisdom of those around you.

I think we all know that “horenso” is important, but I think we need a culture in which this is actively practiced on a regular basis.

This is nothing less than a workplace where communication comes naturally.

I would like to see the creation of a corporate culture in which “reporting and communication” is a natural part of the company’s operations because we are a teleworking company.

Introduction of daily columns by our advisor, Teruo Ichirai

Today, I would like to talk about “accurate forecasting” and “speed” as keys to success.
If you do things right away, you will waste time because you don’t do them, you will have problems because you are late, and you will lose profits. Time is finite, and there is no time to hesitate, worry, or dither.
Once you decide what to do, do it immediately without hesitation.
However, the question is what to do immediately.
In our work, we are supposed to respond with speed to objects that are likely to be profitable. So how do we predict what is likely to be profitable?
Predictability
There is a “Faux Leather Riders Jacket” that became a hit product during my time at Company T. After a research trip to Europe, the designer said to me, “I saw a lot of leather. It might sell well in Japan,” I felt that it would sell.
On the spot, I gathered the sales staff and designers and told them, “Do in-store research by the end of this week and buy all the leather products you think will sell well. By that weekend, I gathered samples that would sell well and bought several copies of the same product that would sell best,
We send them to a few of our main manufacturers to collect materials and find a factory that can sew them. At the same time, we begin to study designs and prepare patterns.
In any case, we would prepare for planning and production before our competitors could make proposals, and we would examine ways to reduce costs.
In any case, we believed that speed was the key to making a sale. After having all the materials, factories, quotations, and delivery dates ready to go
We would then start proposing a plan all at once. We are able to respond quickly to questions from our clients, so orders proceed smoothly.
The orders were delivered to the customers, and the orders for additional products started coming in, and the factory began to increase production.
This story would not have been possible if I had not been so sensitive to the designer’s words. If I had checked with every one of my clients to see if they could sell the product, I would have missed the timing.

By trusting my own predictions and being prepared, the speed increases dramatically.
My sequence of operations leading up to this hit product was
I think it goes as follows: forecast→preparation→proposal→taking orders.

But how can accurate forecasts be made?
Kyocera Honorary Chairman Inamori says in his book “How to Work.

If you keep thinking about something so much that you forget to eat or sleep, and keep thinking about it over and over throughout the day, the thought will gradually penetrate into your “subconscious mind.
The “subconscious” is a kind of consciousness that lies deep within a person, unnoticed. It does not usually come to the surface, but it appears unexpectedly or at the most inopportune time, and it exerts immeasurable power.
Perhaps in my case, too, I was thinking intently about what would sell, which is why I was able to respond sensitively to the designer’s words.

It is important, though, to make accurate predictions and deal with them with speed,
It is something that we just have to think about every day.

At any rate, we will seriously tackle and solve the problems in front of us. And then move forward to new challenges that will improve results. Whether you use your time effectively or waste it is entirely up to you.
It is not for the president to judge or decide. I have no doubt that if you yourself have a positive mindset and make time your friend, your work will produce results and your life will be fulfilled.
Especially these days, long working hours are out of fashion, so it is a matter of how much work you can get done in a given time.
This is the same for our clients, so it is obvious that once they decide to do something, they want to deliver it to the storefront as quickly as possible.
If you do not respond promptly to delivery dates and quotations, which are the deciding factors in product decisions, you will fall behind your competitors. The same goes for planning proposals.

However, it is not enough if the proposal is made quickly. If there is laxity in the speed and finalization of the delivery date and estimate, the proposal may be taken and the order may be passed on to another company.
I believe that the decisive factor in the finalization and speed of the proposal is the advance preparation.

I have sent you a column on advance preparation in April of this year.

Introduction of daily columns by our advisor, Teruo Ichirai

Every item has a cost, which determines its selling price, and then it is distributed.
The higher the selling price and the lower the cost, the higher the profit margin and the more profitable. The lower the selling price and the higher the cost, the lower the profit margin and the less profitable. Low-margin management will eventually lead to business failure.
It is natural for a company to aim for high profit margin management in order to grow, but this is difficult.
However, we cannot avoid it just because it is difficult.
Today I would like to consider how to sell at a high price and why it is a low price.

Kyocera Chairman Kazuo Inamori, who successfully restructured Japan Airlines, said, “Pricing is management.

●Pricing is management.

Price fixing is not only a sales issue to sell or to get orders, but also a matter that determines the fate of the business. The price must satisfy both the seller and the buyer, and it is a very important task that must ultimately be decided by the management.
I have always said, “In business, anyone can sell if the price is low enough. If the price is lower than that, you can get orders as much as you want, but if the price is higher than that, orders will run away. We must find the best price at which customers are willing to buy and sell at that price. The determination of the price is an important task directly related to management, and it is the job of management to determine it.

____Quotes from “The Real Learning of Kazuo Inamori” ____.
●Values, supply and demand

I know that Company T’s fabrics are expensive, but I often had no choice but to buy them because they are differentiated from other products in the world or because I can buy them in kind. It does not matter if it is more or less expensive than the cost. Prices vary depending on one’s view of value and supply and demand. It is important to make people think that although the price is a little high, if it can be done with this quality and in this delivery time, it is not expensive.

●Why sell at a discount?

In your OEM business, when a product is selected and a price is discussed, it is already at the stage after the decision has been made that the product will “sell,” not at the stage of “I’ll buy it because it’s cheap” or “I won’t buy it because it’s expensive,” and the price negotiation is merely based on the intention to “want to buy the product. Salespeople who think they cannot sell unless they make a low price may have the illusion or delusion that they will lose customers if they do not lose the price. The type of person who loses the price is the one who gets carried away by the pace of the customer’s conversation, and as he talks too much on the sly, he is dragged into the other side and is unable to put a certain distance between himself and the customer. In negotiations with different interests, opinions are to be listened to as opinions, and apart from that, one should devise ways to make one’s point. Inevitably, good people are too attuned to the other party’s arguments and compromise without being able to keep their own pace. We must only try to draw a line between our arguments and those of the other party and deal with them in a cool manner. To do this, it is essential not to speak too much of what is not convenient.

●Value, price, supply and demand views

Essentially, prices are set based on a value, price, and supply/demand perspective, and should not be set by simply setting the selling price at 20% above cost. However, cost awareness is important. If the company does not follow the sales rules set by the company, the company will not be able to pay its employees’ salaries.
However, if the price is set based solely on a 20% increase in cost, an opportunity loss will be created if the value of the product could have sold for more.
The act of selling clothing involves a variety of services. These include color, pattern, quality, fashion, delivery time, production capacity, delivery, follow-up, risk, and financial capacity. All of these costs are expensive, so from the seller’s point of view, it is natural to sell at a high price.
However, from the buyer’s point of view, the interests are not aligned: they want to buy at a lower price to make it easier to sell or to take a profit. This is where the contradiction arises.
However, it should be recognized that the seller is in control of the price.
The true reality is that “the seller determines the price,” and the true competitiveness lies in how much service one is able to provide in order to get this price approved.
「The price is “determined by the seller” and it is the buyer who determines if it is appropriate for his/her business convenience, not “the price is determined by the buyer”.
The selling price is determined by the view of value, price, and supply and demand, while maintaining cost consciousness.

To realize the sales price you have decided on, you will need to use sales techniques, bargaining, persuasion, patience and determination, and other martial arts. Martial arts are acquired through serious competition in many fields.

Selling at a low price is never the way to improve your reputation with your clients. Salespeople who sell at a discount should be considered more likely to be considered naive by their clients. Salespeople who sell at a fair price should be considered “solid salespeople. They should be able to pass on the price, but also follow through.” Such a sales person is a trusted sales person.

The following is a talk for employees titled “Management Classroom” by Masahiro Okafuji, Chairman of ITOCHU Corporation.
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿Masahiro Okafuji, Chairman of the Board, quoted from his “Management Classroom”: ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
↓↓↓↓↓↓
The more people who can’t do something, the more they complain.
After all, there are many people who blame internal rules or the external environment for their inability to do their jobs.
In my experience, the more people who cannot do their jobs complain about the rules in detail.
They just keep coming up with reasons why they can’t achieve their budgets. There are those who still make excuses like “the impact of the Lehman Shock.
The conditions under which we all fight will be the same. And yet, blaming internal rules or the external environment as the reason for lack of results is not even funny. Both sports and work are interesting because of the rules, right?
If you really think the rules are wrong, you should insist on getting results first.”

↑↑↑↑＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ quoted from Chairman Masahiro Okafuji’s “Management Classroom” ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

I think he is speaking harshly, but I think he is stating the obvious.

The yen is weakening now, but exchange rates are also the rule. The weak yen is the same throughout Japan. Since we are doing business under the rule of the weak yen throughout Japan, it is no reason for us not to make money. I remember when the exchange rate was 140 yen, and I was grumbling with my colleagues that the exchange rate should be at least 130 yen. At that time, there was extreme competition within the 80-yen rule.
Since we cannot change the exchange rate, we have to keep our wits about us and do our best elsewhere. People who blame the company, their bosses, their subordinates, or the environment for their work not going well will not grow. If you don’t believe that it is within yourself that things go wrong, you will not be able to improve yourself. The fun of business lies in how to fight with all one’s wisdom in a difficult environment.

Chairman Masahiro Okafuji said, “If the rules are really wrong, we should get results before we insist on them.”
But I think that is the president’s real intention. I think he doesn’t want to listen to or acknowledge someone who hasn’t even produced results. The company has to pay salaries no matter what the results are. Even if the company is in the red, it has to pay. However, if the company is in the red, it will go bankrupt and the employees will be left on the street. The company needs to produce good results both to protect its employees and to protect the company. Each and every employee needs to have the resilience to survive through hard work and wisdom in any environment.
I believe that by adhering to the profit margin, the company’s structure will improve. I am prepared to accept a decrease in sales, but as a result of my insistence on improving the profit margin from morning to night, all year round, the quality of planning, production, and delivery improved, and not only the profit margin but also sales increased. On the contrary, if you allow cheap sales, not only will the company’s structure be weakened, but the quality of employees will also decline. I believe that profit margin is a barometer of the quality of a company.