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…

David has been with Bain his whole career, starting as an Associate to Partner, becoming a Partner and HR Leader Switzerland, Partner and Healthcare Practice Leader, Senior Partner and Regional EMEA Practice Leader for Transformation and Change, Senior Partner and Global Leader Change and Implementation Practice.…

To succeed in our own business, we need three critical skills: the ability to master our time, to clone ourselves and to be persuasive. Time: Poor time control leads to inefficiency, wasted efforts, stress and missed opportunities. Entrepreneurs are geniuses at trying to do too much. This means they are run ragged with time demands and no good solu…

Prior to starting the Swiss Prime Brands company in Japan, Luca was an Assistant Manager at Masuda Infinity Japan, a Junior Associate at Goldwyn Partners Group AG, a Consultant at Het Buitenhuis. Be honest – are you a great leader or are you a mediocre leader? How can you become a leader people actually want to follow? How can you be the leader who…

There is an old truism in sales, “sales is nothing more than the transfer of the enthusiasm of the seller for the product or service to the buyer”. What are we doing when we are speaking? We are selling! “Hang on a minute there Greg. I am a professional, I am not a car or vacuum cleaner salesman”, you might be saying to yourself. That sort of self-…

Eddie’s coaching of Japan to defeat South Africa against their hometown advantage in South Africa, was a breakthrough moment for Japanese rugby, which until that point had never managed to win a game at that level. Eddie started his coaching career at Randwick as an assistant coach in 1994. He coached Tokai University as an assistant coach in 1995-…

Having a buying need and doing something about it can often be quite disparate ideas. When the buyer is looking at the gap between where they are now and where they want to be and they judge it is pretty close, they don’t feel any urgency or need to buy. They will have certain drivers pushing them along in their role in the business, but this gap p…

Previously Gaspard was Port Cities Managing Director Mexico, Managing Directors Indonesia, Ethnicraft Project Manager, Carmeuse Group Supply Chain Analyst. Gaspard Graduated from the Louvain School of Management, Universite Catholique De Louvain

Sadly, not everyone is like us – wonderful, charming, amusing, attractive. Despite our best efforts to be a role model of perfection, setting them a good example, others persist in being a major pain. Here are some selective tips on negotiating with the difficult amongst us. 1. Meet on mutual ground Try to meet, rather than engage in a protracted e…

Jean Pierre has spent most of his career at L’Oreal. Previously he was Senior Vice President L’Oreal Luxe APAC, Managing Director L’Oreal Luxe Europe, General Manager L’Oreal Luxe Thailand. He is an MBA Graduate of emlyon business school.

The chances of speaking to a 5000 person business audience happening and happening regularly in Japan are remote for most of us. Nevertheless, in case you find yourself in front of a very large audience, here are a few hints on how to adjust to the increased size of the event. Get there early and go and sit in some of the most far-flung locations. …

Geoffrey has started his own company Shining Prince Entertainment, currently he is Japan Representative for Drylab Media Tech. Previously he was Co-Founder and Head of Sales for V-Net Solutions Japan, General Manager HBO Max Japan, Japan Country Manager for IMAX, Strategic Advisor for 20th Century Fox Japan, Advisor to LAIKA LLC, Advisor to Netflix…

In sales in Japan we chill, cruise and take the foot off the pedal. We get lazy. We start cutting corners. We get off our game. The temptation is when we get to a certain level of success we think well, we have done enough. We have to facedown “average is good enough” self-talk. We need to make sure we are doing the basics like a demon on fire. The…

Maxime founded his company in 2007 in China and now has offices in Tokyo, Paris, Vancouver and New York. Before starting Ekohe, he was the R&D Manager at Labbrand in Shanghai. He has a Master’s Degree in Engineering from Centrale Lille Institute and another Master’s Degree in Artificial Intelligence and Pattern Recognition from Shanghai Jiao Tong U…

The classic movie half-time locker room Churchillian oratory from the coach, whipping the team into a frenzy for the coming onslaught is now gathering dust in Hollywood’s archives. Today’s most successful coaches are masters of human psychology, combining insight with superb communication skills. What about leaders in business in Japan? In my exper…

Guillermo has spent most of his career at Chanel as Country Manager Singapore, Regional President SE Asia, Global Marketing Director (cosmetics), Japan Cosmetics General Manager, Japan Fashion General Manager. He graduated from the University of the Basque Country (Spain) and is also a graduate of the EU’s Executive Training Programme in Japan (ETP…

When we stand in front of an audience, we are representing our personal brand and our firm’s brand. People evaluate us and our companies based on how we perform. Think back to the presentations you’ve seen and I’m sure you’ll agree that many speakers are missing passion and commitment to the topic. Don’t be like that. Typically, we speakers enter a…