Introduction of daily columns by our advisor, Teruo Ichirai

When do you want to refuse an order?
When a client is so demanding that it is difficult to fulfill the contract if you accept the order.
In such cases, do we force ourselves to accept the order or decline it, and if so, what method should we use to decline?
When it is difficult to guarantee quality or delivery date
There are many cases when accepting the order would not be profitable, but it is important to refuse so that the relationship of trust can continue in the future.
This is an episode that an alumnus of Company T told me about, in which he was consulted by a sales representative of Company A.

A trading company’s sales representative consulted with Company J about a 3-way coat that sold well,
Company J asked for an order of 15,000 pieces for the next fiscal year at this price.
The salesman of Trading Company A asked for this price because he wanted to order 15,000 units of 3-way coats for the next fiscal year,
He said he was getting more and more worried.
Should I refuse or accept?
The T Company alumnus who consulted with him said that he should first refuse and then negotiate to accept the offer at this price.
The result was that they raised the limit price and the order quantity was doubled to 30,000 pieces.
The sales representative then negotiated with the Vietnamese manufacturer and was able to lower the purchase price by 5%.
I believe that this sales person’s reputation with the section manager improved.

I think my client had decided to place the order with Company A, which we did last time, because of the quality.
I gave them a limit price because it was a large order, but I didn’t think they would reject it.
I think the rejection increased my trust that this sales person was solid.
I believe that they negotiated with other manufacturers, were satisfied with the raised price, and confidently put it to the planning meeting, which resulted in an order for double the quantity.

This is an example of how well it worked out, but refusing is what leads to trust.
Think about it, which would you rather buy from: a sales person who is humble and says he will do whatever it takes, or a sales person who answers your questions and clearly states that he cannot do what he cannot do?

There were two types of applicants at Company T: the type that would take anything and the type that would take everything with a lot of thought and consideration.
The type that takes anything and everything is always in a rush, and although they are extremely busy, they don’t get results,
The type that takes on everything is always in a flurry of work, but never produces results.
It is only natural that salespeople who take orders after taking steps in advance to deal with problems such as late delivery, defective products, and pricing will produce better results.

At Company T, there was a discussion about the importance of who takes the initiative, the seller or the buyer.
Of course, this is because the one who has the initiative can carry out business negotiations more favorably.
In the previous example, Company J had overwhelmingly taken the initiative in placing the order, but when the order was rejected, the initiative shifted to Company A’s sales force.
Buyers and sellers have a fifty-fifty relationship.
If the buyer does not buy, sales will not increase, but if the buyer does not sell, sales will not increase either.
If it were me, I would trust a salesman who clearly says he can’t do what he can’t do, rather than a salesman who says he will do whatever it takes.
I understand the effect of saying no, but how should I say no?
If you say, “I can’t do it,” your client, who thinks he has the initiative, may be upset.
After all, there is a way to say no.
You should always say, “I’m very grateful to you for taking the time to contact me.”
and tell them that you are always 1) grateful to them and 2) explain the reason for your refusal.
Then, 2) explain the reason for your refusal.
In Vietnam, where we manufacture, labor costs have skyrocketed and materials have risen due to environmental regulations. After much consideration, we are unable to make the project profitable. I am truly sorry. ………. The customer expresses his or her apologies, for example, “If it weren’t for this, we wouldn’t be able to do it.
It is not nice to say, “If you don’t do this, we can’t do it,” as if you are telling them off.
It is necessary to be considerate so as not to offend the other party’s feelings. If you say, “I’m sorry, but could you please do it this way?
It is very difficult to refuse, but you have no choice but to decline, for example, “I am very sorry, but I would like to ask you to do this.
This is to express your own feelings.

And 3) Propose alternatives.

It is important to make realistic suggestions such as replacing the material, changing the design, or changing the delivery date or price.
It is important to have an alternative proposal that can be done this way, not that it cannot or will not be done.

Refusal will lead to the next business development.
By refusing, you gain trust.
By refusing, we take the initiative.

Refusing is denying the other party’s request, so if you use the wrong words, you may lose their trust.
It is important that your conclusion is based on sincere consideration of your client’s request.

Here is a story about an excellent manager of a retail store in Gifu named M. He said, “I know all the tastes of my regular customers.
He said, “I know all the tastes of my regular customers. But even if I know that a customer buys something because he/she likes it, it is important to be clear about it if I think it doesn’t suit him/her.
But even if I know that a customer likes what he buys, it is important to clearly tell him if I don’t think it looks good on him. By doing so, they feel that the store is serious about me. The other day, a customer told me she didn’t have to buy an item she was going to buy.
He said, “Go home and look in your wardrobe, there are many similar products.
The customer was impressed that you know me better than I know myself.”
This store is not a store that sells anything. It is important for me to make them think that I will really work with them to find clothes that suit me.
Refusing with sincerity leads to trust.

It is necessary to convince the other party that the refusal is not based on salesmanship or only for the benefit of the company, but that you are refusing for the sake of both parties.
It is necessary to convince the other party that you are refusing for their mutual benefit.

The product sold well, so we received an additional order, but the delivery date is a month later, which is an unreasonable delivery date, but we can certainly predict that the product will remain unsold unless it is delivered in a month.
If you fail to deliver on time, your customer will have a pile of bad inventory. It is wise for both parties to refuse.

The customer may say, “If you know you can sell it, why can’t you do it? You are an unreliable supplier,
However, if a relationship of mutual trust has been established, the customer may say, “I know I can sell the product if it goes up in a month, but the production site must be very tight because that sales person said so.
If the delivery date is delayed, there will be a mountain of inventory. If we delay delivery, we will end up with a mountain of inventory, and the next time we place an order, we should place a larger initial order.

Even the negative act of refusal can lead to further trust building if there is a “relationship of trust in the ordinary”.

Introduction of daily columns by our advisor, Teruo Ichirai

I believe that health is an absolute prerequisite for anyone who works, including not only businessmen but also managers.
It is true what they say, “A healthy mind is a healthy body.” It is impossible to come up with good ideas when you are not in good physical condition, and it is impossible to do hard work when you are not in good physical condition. If you are always in poor physical condition, you will not be able to overcome difficulties. And it is important to be healthy not only physically but also mentally and physically.
Now that people are going out less and less because of Corona, why don’t they think once again about how to stay healthy and enjoy their work?
I believe that President Seido Doi understands very well the importance of good health, which is why he is providing funds to support gyms and other facilities.
Today I would like to focus on mental health.

For serious businessmen, stress is a nuisance. There was once an NHK special program called “Killer Stress. It talked about how stress causes a “runaway stress response” in the human body, which destroys brain cells and blood vessels and drives people to death, and introduced ways to control one’s feelings as a countermeasure against stress.

When I was a businessman, I once almost lost my life due to stress.
It was a hot summer day in July 2005.
On the Monday after taking a large amount of work home on my day off and working late into the night, I had a morning meeting early in the morning. On the train to work, I collapsed with severe dizziness and was taken by ambulance. The blood pressure measured in the ambulance was abnormal, so I was prepared for a serious problem.
However, the result was a blessing in disguise, and I was able to leave the hospital three days later, but one wrong move and I could have been in danger.
The cause was that the patient had high blood pressure that was left untreated and was under intense stress, leading to a spike in blood pressure, which may have also caused an acute stroke. It is important to manage blood pressure, but it is also important to handle stress.
Strong external stress may induce disease, but it is impossible for people today to avoid stress. Without moderate stress, bodily functions would degenerate, and extreme stress can paralyze bodily functions. I still think it is necessary to deal with stress in a good way.
But how do we deal with stress?

Isn’t it a matter of changing one’s mind (mood swings)?
I too often dwell on small things, but there is nothing more unproductive than worrying about inconclusive issues. If you are dwelling on your failures, then you should spend your energy on the path to success.

I think it is also an effective way to change your mind on vacation by taking up a hobby.
Before Corona, I used to compete in ballroom dance competitions throughout the year. At competitions, you can’t think about work, so you focus on the competition. Concentrating on something other than work is a good way to change my mind.

I know some of you may not have the time for such a hobby, but it is because you are so busy that you need a change of pace and need to make time for it. The presidents of Nidec, Softbank, and First Rite Rings are extremely busy people who work on private jets, but it seems that they make time to play golf.
To improve work efficiency, it is necessary to change one’s mindset, not to escape from one’s work.

For example, a moderate amount of alcohol after work may give you energy for tomorrow, but excessive drinking to forget about work or to escape can have a negative impact on tomorrow’s work. Instead of vitality for tomorrow, it can create a negative cycle for tomorrow. A change of scenery means that you need to reset to avoid work bias or getting stuck in a rut, not to escape from work.
A change of scenery is important to create a healthy state of mind and body.

I believe that laughter is good for one’s mood and good for one’s health.
I once heard a rakugo storyteller who was a doctor turned rakugo performer.
The rakugo storyteller said that even a young and healthy person’s body produces 3,000 to 5,000 cancer cells a day, and that natural killer (NK) cells are the ones that kill them. There are 5 billion NK cells in the human body, and it is said that when they are active, we are less susceptible to cancer and infectious diseases. When we laugh, we activate NK cells. As a result, NK cells attack cancer cells, viruses, and other sources of disease one after another, thereby enhancing the immune system. In other words, if we laugh a lot, our resistance to cancer and viruses increases, and at the same time, it leads to the improvement of immune disorders. It is probably best to laugh from the bottom of the belly, but even a fake smile is said to activate NK cells as the brain recognizes that you have laughed. Since smiling at work makes you feel uncomfortable, you might as well make up a smile in the restroom.
This is “how to change your mind” that I found on the Internet.
＜How to change your mind at work＞

1) Stretch
2) Meditate and take deep breaths
3) Stand up and leave the area
4) Clear off your desk.

<How to change your mind at home>

1) Take a drive alone
2) Take a leisurely bath at a lukewarm temperature
3) Traveling
4) Watch an emotional movie and cry or laugh as much as possible

I believe that each person has his/her own way of changing his/her mood.
Would you be interested in introducing your own way of changing your mind?

Introduction of daily columns by our advisor, Teruo Ichiki

We spend much of our day at work. Even if we take Saturdays and Sundays off, we must spend most of our lives at work. Some people may say that work is work and I find value in my hobbies. However, there is no doubt that there is a big difference in the fulfillment of life between spending a lot of time working at a job that is interesting and working at a job that you hate.

When I was young, I hated my job. I think the reason why I disliked it was because I felt like I was “forced” to work. My first sales job was in the bedding section. After working as a sales representative in the Kyushu region, I was assigned to the bottom section and later transferred to the cut-and-sew section. When I was transferred from the bottom section to the cut-and-sew section, the section manager at the time told me, “With your current sales performance, you will be useless in any section. I was such a “bad salesman” that I convinced myself that he was right.

The cut-and-sew section manager of the last section as a section member was unimaginably strict and absolutely obedient, so my sense of being “forced” to do something grew stronger and stronger, and every day I wondered when I would quit.
However, although the section chief was strict with his subordinates, he had a good business sense and was a top performer in the product department. He would find a project that would sell, and when he decided on it, he would place a large order, thoroughly pursue costs, set a selling price, and sell the product in large quantities all at once. There was no compromise in this series of operations.

I thought that in order to convince the section chief, who was eager to make a profit from a project that would sell well, I should create a project that would sell well and show him that I could make a profit, so I decided to do something new that the current section was not doing.
First, I planned a woven jogging suit at a cut-and-sew factory using fabrics that were in stock, and it sold well. Next, I proposed a total project using the popular pile knit material, including jets, T-shirts, running and jogging shorts, and succeeded in selling to bottom and nightie companies, which had not been the section’s clients before.
I really enjoyed thinking and planning by myself, producing by myself, and selling to the customers I had in mind. Eventually, I decided to make woven pants, which the section did not do. When I suggested it to the section manager, he readily agreed.

Casual pants were booming at the time, and Takihyo was taking the world by storm. I studied Takihyo and went around the Shinichi district of Fukuyama, which was Takihyo’s main production area, bowing to them and asking them to let me do business with them. In retrospect, it was right around that time when Sabrina pants, broken jeans, bleached jeans, stretch pants, and casual pants were all booming among Mrs. Takihyo women.

Work became much busier than before, but the busyness was not painful at all because I was having fun. Every day I thought about quitting, but the day I decided to make things myself, I was transformed into a person who only found work interesting. A few years later, I took advantage of the huge boom in chemical jeans and created Section 59.

When I hated my job, I didn’t take any action on my own, but instead, I assumed that I was “forced” to do things on my own, and all I did was complain about the company and complain about my boss.
I blamed my boss, my clients, and the environment for my lack of success at work, and did not have the courage to face myself head-on. I was just afraid to deny myself at that time.

Make work enjoyable through your own ingenuity, do your own research and strive to do your job well, and always keep a positive attitude in mind. As you gradually start to produce results in this way, you will enjoy your work.
When you enjoy your work, you will be able to overcome even the most difficult tasks. You will never know what is really going on unless you really try, even if the work seems uninteresting. If you really try it and you just can’t like it, you can give up and find what you really love.

This is an excerpt from a book titled “How to Work” by Kazuo Inamori, chairman of Kyocera Corporation and the man who rebuilt Japan Airlines.
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Fall in love with your work.
I fall in love with my work.
That is why I have been able to keep a demanding job for so long.
People are willing to go through any hardship if they love their work. And if you are willing to go through any hardship and keep working hard, you will succeed in most things. In other words, it is no exaggeration to say that your life is determined by this one word: to love your work. ——-

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊