What is Sales Enthusiasm...

Every year, as summer approaches, there are many cold calls from people who appear to be new employees, saying, 'I've been assigned to this area, so I'd like to greet the president.'

If you can only use such clichés and one-dimensional approaches, then for us who are being visited suddenly, it is nothing but a 'nuisance'.

Moreover, a company with a boss who doesn't train their staff, telling them that 'the number of business cards you collect in a day is the path a new employee must follow,' is a 'huge nuisance' to both the new employee and the people they visit.

Whether the place being visited is an existing client or a new prospect...

To the person receiving the visit, they are being told, 'I've been assigned to this area, could I have a little of your time?' without any deep interest in 'what kind of customers we have, what products or services we use, and what kind of happiness we are trying to bring' to them.

For us, this is taking away precious time that we are using to prepare for creating value for our customers' futures.

That is why, including the future possibilities of that business, I almost want to put up a sign at the entrance that says, 'To listen to your unannounced sales visit, we will charge 10,000 yen every 5 minutes.' Of course, I wouldn't actually put up such a sign, as it would only leave a bad impression on the local area.

When I tell them I don't have time, the salesperson always desperately bows their head at the end, saying, 'Could I at least have your business card?'
And the sight of a senior employee standing behind the new recruit, wondering how they can manage that full-faced fake smile...

I'm sorry.
While I cannot cooperate with your quota, I cannot give you my business card as a slight resistance against the company that makes you do such things.

If I carelessly hand over my business card and then receive a long email saying, 'Our company's XX is sending this to everyone who has exchanged business cards with us in the past,' it only makes me raise my guard even more and close my heart.

Using guts and enthusiasm for methods that lose trust is clearly a 'charge' where the effort is misdirected.

Of course, I am not denying all visits.
Even during my time as a salaryman, and after I became independent and started developing new business, I know the hardship of it deep in my bones.

But an unannounced visit without even understanding what kind of value creation the place you are visiting is striving for is no different from 'pushy sales,' and it is truly just a nuisance.
Even for small companies and shops, in this day and age, you can find them online if you search by address and company name.

Of course, there are times when you can't understand at all what kind of business they are aiming for just by what is written there.
Even so, if you visit while taking an interest in the work they do every day or feeling something, the possibility of a dialogue being born is not zero.

The point is... I don't think 'enthusiasm' is just about having a loud voice or bowing deeply.

What is the 'enthusiasm' to have one's own existence value recognized...?

Isn't it, first of all, to have a deep interest in the other party, and to think through how you can be of service to their future, and why it must be you...?

In the first place, if you have that 'enthusiasm,' there should be a deep interest and empathy for 'who you are trying to bring what kind of happiness to' within the company you work for as well...

If you are seeking a place for a product proposal talk to meet company quotas, without even being able to explain that to others and without being convinced of it yourself, then we cannot offer the time we hold dear.

It would be nasty to hand over a printout of this content instead of our business card, so I won't do that... but 'visiting' and 'taking someone's time' is 80% determined by preparation and arrangement in advance.

Backstage, Inc.
Business Culture Designer
Yoshinori Kawai

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