Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (8-g): セールスプロセス＃6 製品デモ

STEP #6 DEMONSTRATING THE PRODUCT:　製品のデモ

A good demonstration is very important, as confidence is built in the product. Just like buying shoes, a customer is more confident in the shoes if he tries them on and walks around. A demonstration is the same as a product presentation, but features, which cannot be shown when the product is not in use, is presented.

デモには十分な準備を。以下はトラックのデモ。
一般的な製品では、顧客の課題を解決できること、他社に優っていることを証明する必要があります。そのため他社よりの後にデモを行い、他社情報を入手した上で行うことが肝要です。
また、購入の可能性のない顧客にはデモは行わないことも検討。デモのコストもバカになりません。

To make an effective demonstration ride for vehicles to be sold in a dealership these rules should apply:

1. The vehicle should be clean inside and out.
2. The salesman should always drive firsｔ.
3. The salesman should only drive on a planned route decided by management.
3. The route should go through a number of driving conditions and situations, which shows various vehicle features. (For example, acceleration, off-road driving, grade ability, maneuverability, braking, cornering, interior quietness in a noisy area, etc.).
4. There should be a turnaround point where the customer drives back to the dealership.
6. All potential drivers should drive the vehicle if possible.
7. The demonstration ride should be active and not passive.
8. Going in crowded areas, dangerous areas, or by competing dealerships should be avoided.
9. The demonstration ride should be about 8 ~ 10 minutes long.
10. The salesman should ask a trial close question before returning to the dealership.
11. The salesman should ask the customer to park the vehicle next to his current vehicle to compare the two vehicles. That difference is what you are selling.

Using all the senses will help insure that the product is not easily forgotten.

After I left Isuzu Motors and started working for Unika Company Limited, a Japanese hardware accessories manufacturer, I took that same detailed concept and applied it to cutting tools for the construction industry. My customer in the United States set up a demonstration program for exhibitions throughout the country. Also, with the marketing manager of that company, I developed 3-4 minute videos demonstrating the products. After that and building up customer testimonials which I will talk about later in this chapter, sales tripled and I sold the total production capacity of the company!!

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、来日後、特に、いすゞ自動車勤務でのカルチャーショックとグローバルリーダーとしての活躍など。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミュニケーション。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。本人の希望は、英語での発表です。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (8-f): セールスプロセス＃5 何をプレゼンするのか。

STEP #5 PRESENTING THE PRODUCT:　何をプレゼンするのか

機能ばかりでなく顧客価値を売る
A good product presentation makes negotiation easier. The better the presentation is, the easier the closing. The more value you can create of the product in the presentation, the more the customer will pay, as there is less chance he will ask for a big discount. Not only features should be presented, but also customer benefits should be explained, and the salesman should check to confirm that those benefits are important to the customer.

選定基準と意思決定者の明確化
The salesman should determine what the customer's main decision making criteria are. Is he a person who makes his decisions based on logical data, or is he a person who very strongly bases his decisions on the impact it will have on the people around him?

あらかじめ顧客のニーズと購入意思を確認すべし
The presentation should be tailored to the customer's buying motive, and the product should not be presented until the needs, wants, and ability to buy are fully understood. Remember, showing is better than telling, and letting the customer do things is better than just showing him something.

よいプレゼンには練習が必要
A good presentation takes practice, just like an actor rehearses his lines, or a tennis player practices his serve. It is far better to practice on your own or with a coach than in front of the customer or a person you want to influence. Making mistakes in front of a coach can be very valuable. Making a mistake in front of someone you want to influence can be very harmful.

What I did in my vehicle seminars is first give a slide presentation of the vehicle in the seminar room. Later on in my career, I used PowerPoint presentations on the features of the vehicle. After that, we walked outside to the vehicle, and I walked around the vehicle presenting each feature. I put cards of features and benefits all over the vehicle where those features should be presented to the customer.

Then, I selected six people from the group to participate in a presentation contest. For each presentation one person was the salesman (the presenter), one was the customer (He only listened to the customer.) And the rest of the participants judged the contest with a feature check sheet. At all times, people were learning and hearing the features. As a matter of fact, they heard and saw the features as much as eight times. That exercise has been a huge success, even for the highly skilled, professional sales person. The repetition improved the skill level. You could very easily see it after the third contest presentation.

A salesman is like a teacher, if the customer (student) learns well, more loyalty will be built up, and the chance of selling will improve.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、来日後、特に、いすゞ自動車勤務でのカルチャーショックとグローバルリーダーとしての活躍など。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミュニケーション。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。本人の希望は、英語での発表です。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (8-e): セールスプロセス＃4 製品の選択

STEP #4 SELECTING A PRODUCT:　製品の選択

何を顧客に提供するのか？
Before you can satisfy a person’s needs, you have got to know what you have to offer. You have got to know the features and user benefits of your product, service or value of your ideas. Therefore, before you can select a product (or make a suggestion on an issue) you have to have the appropriate knowledge. Product knowledge (or appropriate product information) is vital. Also, clearly knowing the requirements of the customer as explained above is vital.

顧客のニーズを把握
You can never select the right product for a customer if you do not thoroughly know the products' features and user benefits. Studying the product is essential. Knowing the customer through good qualifying and counseling is also vital to make a good product selection. A bad salesman/customer relationship is often created when a salesman selects a product and gets into a presentation before the buyer’s needs, wants and ability to buy is determined.

自分の会社の実情を知る
Knowing the company’s ability to supply the product is also important. This includes knowing what specifications the company is ordering, knowing what is in the company now, knowing what is being delivered soon, and knowing what has been ordered. This is also necessary. Armed with that information you can select the correct product and the features that should be important to the buyer.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、来日後、特に、いすゞ自動車勤務でのカルチャーショックとグローバルリーダーとしての活躍など。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミュニケーション。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。本人の希望は、英語での発表です。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (8-d): セールスプロセス＃3 営業のあるべき姿は？

STEP #3 QUALIFYING & COUNSELLING：

質問力と傾聴
Asking questions and listening is extremely powerful! People often think talking, presenting and persuading is power. I think the opposite. We all have opinions we love to talk about. There is always the new theory that someone wants to kick around.

But if a person has the discipline to hold back on his own opinions and theories and get the other person (friend, customer, family member, whatever) talking, it can be very powerful. It gives you the data you need to know to learn what to say, when and how to say it.

Qualifying and counselling is all about determining what the other person wants. In a sales situation, it is determining his needs, wants and ability to buy. This step in the selling process is the most important and where most mistakes are made.

Too many people go right into their product presentation having no idea what the person is looking for, needs or if the person has the ability to pay for it. Sales people love to talk and at this stage, that is the last thing the salesmen should be doing. It does take discipline.

営業のタイプ
I know of three types of salesmen, the ORDER TAKER, the HARD SELLER and the CONSULTANT.　

The ORDER TAKER（御用聞き営業）treats people like shoppers and will process a purchase if requested. He does not know the customer, his own products that he sells or what the customer’s concerns are. In this case, for a very expensive product, the customer feels insecure. With a lack of information, there is fear that the wrong product is selected, which will badly affect his life or business.

The HARD SELLER（押しの強い営業） treats people like opponents and tries to win the sale at all cost. His only interest is making the sale, not solving the customer’s problem. In this case, the customer feels defensive. When pressure is felt, the customer responds with pressure. Both attack each other instead of solving the given problem.

The CONSULTANT（押しの弱い営業？？） treats people like clients, learns their needs and application. The salesman “qualifies” the person as a customer. Then he selects and presents the product, which will satisfy those needs. The result is satisfaction, even if the sale is not made. All effort is placed on solving the problem. This puts the customer at ease and his confidence builds with the information and advice received.

Before making any recommendation or giving a product presentation, first the salesman has to determine the customer’s needs wants and ability to buy.

He determines the customer’s dominant buying motives (the real reason he is there to purchase something). The dominant buying motive is the first response the customer gives when the salesman asks what he is looking for in the product. He may give several reasons, but his first response is usually the most important reason to buy for him.

顧客に語らせる。そのための質問を設計するのが理詰めの営業
The sales person should ask open-ended questions (questions which require an explanation to answer, not with a simple “yes” or “no”). By using open-ended questions, he keeps the buyer talking about 80% of the time.

顧客を知る
He should listen intently by trying to reduce all internal (other things he’s thinking about) and external distractions (noise, music, view of others, etc.). He should seek the person’s underlying attitudes and hidden motives, avoid premature judgements, give full attention to the person, and look for non-verbal clues to his feelings.

The sales person should determine what the buyer is mentally focused on. Does the person focus on great details or does he/she just want to know the overall concept of the subject at hand (your product, service or simple ideas)?

Armed with the information the sales person gets, he can determine in detail what to suggest or recommend.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、来日後、特に、いすゞ自動車勤務でのカルチャーショックとグローバルリーダーとしての活躍など。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミュニケーション。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。本人の希望は、英語での発表です。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (8-ｃ): セールスプロセス＃2 面談と挨拶。第一印象を良くするには。

STEP #2 MEETING & GREETING:

How do you make a good first impression? That is what this step is all about. Here are some things to think about:

1. Before you meet someone for the first time, drive all other thoughts, worries, or ideas from your mind. We are all thinking all the time.
When we approach a stranger (or customer), or when someone approaches us, we should drop our own thoughts for a few seconds.

2. Pinpoint the concentration on the person (or customer). Doesn’t it feel good when someone gives you his or her undivided attention?
That is the feeling you want to create in the people you meet.

3. Try to observe the person’s gestures, voice, posture, expressions and behaviour and determine if he is a talkative person or quiet person.

4. Then, match your behaviour to that person and make him feel comfortable.

5. Smile, hold eye contact, and listen to how he is feeling.

6. Determine the impression you want to make by your clothing, posture, what you say and how you say it.

7. Learn the person’s name and use it often.

Those are the things I recommended to salesmen when visiting customers.
We all like to be free to act, talk and dress the way we like, but when it is business and someone is paying us to be there, it might be better to follow the above steps.
You’ll be more successful.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、来日後、特に、いすゞ自動車勤務でのカルチャーショックとグローバルリーダーとしての活躍など。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミュニケーション。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。本人の希望は、英語での発表です。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (8-ｂ): セールスプロセス＃１顧客を見つける

8章は営業の話でRon-sanのLife Storyではない、と思われるでしょうが、Ron-sanがいすゞ自動車で活躍したのはこの分野。

自分で営業教育プログラムを開発し、世界中を駆けずり回りました。

STEP #1 FINDING PEOPLE:

見込客を見つける
No matter what the product is, if a sales person meets or makes contact in some form (telephone, email, visiting, whatever), with a lot of people with a need for that particular product his chances of selling will increase. He must have a steady schedule of contacting a lot of targeted people.

生まれながらのセールスマン
We have all heard the expression “a salesman is not made, he is born”, meaning a person has to be born with certain talent or character to be a good salesmen. In some ways that is true. I have run into many people, which do not have the personality to continually meet strangers every day. When they try, it simply exhausts them.

“Order Taker“と営業の相違
Most sales people just respond to customer requests and don’t seek business. They put up a false front and take sales orders when they come in. They are only order takers and not sales people. These people only process orders as they come in. They do not seek sales or people who have needs for a particular product. They rely on advertising, showroom traffic, product reputation, etc.

乗用車とトラック販売の相違
Over my career, I have noticed a great deal of difference between car sales people and truck sales people. The car people are in the showroom waiting for the customer to come in. The truck people are out wondering around truck repair shops, delivery areas, and goods receiving spots, along major truck routes and in restaurants when truck operators eat. As I would present to groups as large as 25-30, I would always have a mixture of both in the room. Both are successful if they are meeting a lot of people. If they are not, some different action plan must be put in place. As my selling has always been international, with long distances between my customers and me, after learning who to contact from the Internet or other sources, my initial contact method has been through email or FAX. From there I followed up with a telephone call and then a personal visit.

顧客リストの作成・活用
So, my sales action plan was built on what I had taught for many years beforehand. It involves, finding a prospect list, using direct mail, telephone prospecting, building a referral source, setting up prospect planner files and setting up current customer files.

Setting up customer files has been a powerful activity. It sets the stage for activities from getting a prospect list right through maintaining contact with the customer long after he has bought the product. It has really made me organized, motivated and active every working day. In the early days, I used and taught a customer card system, but today there are excellent computer programs that can really do all the work for you. All you have to do is put in the data. It’s beautiful.

My prospecting activities (finding customers) have been so successful that I have at least twice outsold the production capacity available of Unika Company Limited which is the company I worked for after I left Isuzu Motors which I will talk about later in the book. On those occasions, my activities had to change from finding customers to apologizing to customers for delays in deliveries.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、来日後、特に、いすゞ自動車勤務でのカルチャーショックとグローバルリーダーとしての活躍など。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミュニケーション。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。本人の希望は、英語での発表です。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (8-a): ここからはセールストレーニングの話。

Ronさんが20年間言い続けてきたこと。営業の話ですが、Ronさんの仕事の大きな部分を占めています。先週の記事の再掲です。
When I look back, I wonder why my training carried the value it did and was as durable as it was. A song is only on the charts for a few weeks, and here I am saying the same thing for almost 20 years.

ゴール自体が大事なのではない
After doing all the studies on selling and writing on the subject, I came up with ten steps to selling. Each step is an activity or series of activities. We have all heard the expression, “We are goal oriented, not activity oriented.” Well, I can’t disagree with that statement, but it is not compete. It ignores the activities required to achieve the goal you want to achieve. I believe once the goal is set, all the attention should be on the activities required to achieve the goal. 90% of one’s attention should be on the activities required to achieve the goal, not the goal itself. The goal should be set initially and occasionally evaluated to confirm its value. Other than that, all the attention should be on the activities as I see it. If highly successful activities have been developed, evaluated and proven, one should use them as much as possible. An example is Toyota’s production system. The production lines are set up so the production worker does not have to think. They just follow very precisely determined activities. Well, I developed selling activities with that same belief in mind.

自分でどうにもならないことを嘆いても
Too often I hear sales managers pressuring sales people about making their sales target and to make their assigned quotas. They talk about the competition. They talk about inflation and pricing concerns. They talk about new technology challenging the current product range. They talk about the strength and/or weakness in the economy. They talk about supplies and importing problems. Discussions on these subjects can go on for hours to no conclusion. For a retail sales person, all of these factors are totally out of his control, and he walks out of the room with a sales goal but feels completely helpless.

誰もが実施できるセールスプロセス
So, I tried to write a sales training seminar on activities that will be most helpful to produce the sales goals set. I wanted to write activities, I as a sales manager could order someone to do. I cannot order someone to sell because of the factors above, which are out of a salesman’s control. Each of my 11 steps is within the person’s control.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、来日後、特に、いすゞ自動車勤務でのカルチャーショックとグローバルリーダーとしての活躍など。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミュニケーション。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。本人の希望は、英語での発表です。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (7-d): セールスセミナー＆トレーニングの成功

シンガポールで最初のセールスセミナー開催
After a year of study and writing, I conducted my first sales seminar in Singapore, in 1985. It was not the best seminar I ever gave, but I learned a great deal from that program and from that point the seminars improved and improved. While I was teaching, I was probing the best salesmen as to what made them so successful. I not only shared their thoughts with the whole group, I took that knowledge and used it to improve the future seminars.





世界各地でセミナー
From that first seminar, my training activities exploded, and I started traveling worldwide, particularly in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. I gave seminars in Europe only a few times and a couple of times in Canada. But, most of the time I was working in the jungles and desserts of the world. As of this writing, I have traveled to over 80 countries worldwide.

Over the years, although vehicle models have changed, basic sales techniques, sales management and general management have changed very little. Also, those principles are very universal and can apply in many countries and cultures. There are modifications required, but they are very slight considering the total concept.

トレーニングカストマイズ
Furthermore, as I studied how sales were made in many markets, I learned there is never one best way. What is best in one region might not be in another. Obviously a salesman would not telephone his customer if none of the customers had telephones. He would not send out advertisement if the customers could not read.

トレーニング大成功
I had no idea to this day why my presentations and seminars were so popular. I would guess it has something to do with my personality and the ability to communicate with people who have a wide range of education levels. Also, for some reason, my sense of humor seems to be successful in many wide and diverse groups. I guess that was just a gift from God. I know that my goals of globally interacting and understanding people were on the right track.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、来日後、特に、いすゞ自動車勤務でのカルチャーショックとグローバルリーダーとしての活躍など。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミュニケーション。今の時期だと花見、ではなくて新緑見物

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。本人の希望は、英語での発表です。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (7-c): セールストレーニングの講師に必要なスキル・知識の習得

GMのコンサルタントと関係者からの学び
There was a Japanese domestic market GM Consultant from Chevrolet, Gardner Glenn, who was trying to improve Isuzu’s sales in Japan and spent time in Chevrolet’s training operation in the United States. When I approached him, he thought we could complement each other very well, as I was a Japanese speaker, and he had just arrived from the US with little background about Japan. Through our many discussions, he provided me a wealth of material from GM’s old training programs. That was just the raw material I needed to write my own international commercial vehicle and car sales training program.



Gardner Glenn consulting me

Also, Gardner had recruited the John Williamson Company to provide seminars in Japan. John Williamson owned a group of dealerships in the southern part of the United States. At that time, they had 22 dealerships and an in-group training center in Birmingham, Alabama. Now, there are mega-dealers owning hundreds of dealerships, but in those days dealership groups were rare.

米国でトレーニングに参加
John Williamson invited me to his training center to attend one of his normal US domestic 2-week salesmen courses and spend a week observing a dealership of my choice. That was very productive three weeks, as I then had all the material and techniques that I needed to do it all myself. Also, I received, for free, great material for a dealership sales manager seminar, my second program.

Over and above that, I read a dozen books on basic salesmanship.

As I had worked in Isuzu’s overseas sales promotion department and was a pretty good Japanese speaker at that time, I had a pretty good understanding of the Isuzu products, particularly the trucks. What I did not know, I could learn very easily by going into Isuzu’s Engineering and asking about it. One of the functions of sales seminars is to help the retail salesmen sell and to do that, they had to know the features and user benefits of buying the vehicle. Therefore, teaching about the product was critical and not just teaching basic salesmanship.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、来日後、特に、いすゞ自動車勤務でのカルチャーショックとグローバルリーダーとしての活躍など。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミュニケーション。今の時期だと花見、ではなくて葉桜見物

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。本人の希望は、英語での発表です。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (7-b): チャンス到来

いよいよ国際ビジネスのチャンスが！

After being with the company for about three years, my chance to get into international business came. I was asked to go over to the Isuzu Training Center and help them write an English training manual about 1-2 days a week, as they were asked by top management to provide training to dealers around the world in the same fashion as they did for Japanese domestic dealers. So, I then had three desks to work from on different days of the week.

When I got to the Training Department, I learned that not only did they not have a training program for me to improve on. What they did have would not be acceptable in overseas markets. On top of that, even if they could use the material no one wanted to or was qualified to teach overseas. What they were trying to do was to build a case that overseas sales training could not be done in Isuzu Motors.

As the English training job in the Personnel Department was pretty well established, I only went there occasionally to set up classes. Also, the Overseas Sales Promotion job was changed to an as need be basis. That left me open to spend all my time to develop sales training program for overseas dealers’ salesmen.

For me though, that was a job I wanted very badly. I had the teaching background and experience. Also, I had a business education and experience. What I needed was a good sales program for vehicles. So, I approached the GM consultants within Isuzu.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、来日後、特に、いすゞ自動車勤務でのカルチャーショックとグローバルリーダーとしての活躍など。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミュニケーション。今の時期だと花見、ではなくて葉桜見物



皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。本人の希望は、英語での発表です。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (7-a): 英語の手伝いではなくビジネスでの貢献を！

マーケットコミュニケーションの手伝いを開始
I was not happy with my assignment in the Isuzu Motors Personnel Department and was always looking for ways to get more into the international business. It came first when I was asked to help with English written material in the Overseas Sales Promotion Department.

I was asked to spend every Friday in that department to rewriting English speeches, slide presentations, corporate catalogues, product presentations and video narrations. So, I had two desks and two bosses with very different assignments coming at me.

ビジネススキルを活かし、いすゞ自動車の海外営業を分析、弱点を発見
Through all the English rewriting, I learned the features on all of the overseas cars, trucks and other products. Armed with what I learned in business school, I could see some of the things that were lacking in Isuzu’s overseas sales promotional activities and the weaknesses in many of their overseas sales activities. Furthermore, learned most of the people in the overseas sales departments had weak selling skills. They were only able to process orders as the purchases came in from customers around the world. This was a source of friction between Engineering and the Overseas Sales Departments. The sales organization was separated by regions of the world and sales channels.

There were three main overseas sales channels, the IMODC channel, the GM channel, and the Isuzu channel. This is not counting domestic Japan, which in those days was about half the business.

The IMODC channel stands for Isuzu Motors Overseas Distribution Corporation. It basically distributed to the smaller countries of the world and was a joint venture with GM with Isuzu owning 51% of the shares and having management responsibility. The GM channel was made up mostly of GM’s overseas assembly plants in which Isuzu sold to in the CKD (completely knocked down) form. The Isuzu channel was its own network, mostly in Asia. Some of the countries had assembly operations; some only had dealers that imported completely built up vehicles.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、来日後、特に、いすゞ自動車勤務でのカルチャーショックとグローバルリーダーとしての活躍など。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミュニケーション。今の時期だと花見



皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。本人の希望は、英語での発表です。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (6-e): 会社の日本的な付き合いはどうしたのか。

実のところIBM入社当時、私は酒が飲めなかったこともあり、会社の付き合いは苦手でした。Ronさんはどうしたのでしょう。
The atmosphere in the personnel department was something new for me. We had our own tennis team that competed in head office and in company-wide tournaments. We went to baseball games together. In the evenings, I would from time to time go out with other members of our group for a drink and dinner. This was all company paid as it came under the heading of building teamwork. In most Japanese companies even today, being able to get along and work as a team member is sometimes more important than your actual job performance. If taken to the extreme, this concept can become a liability for many companies, as they cannot make the difficult decisions as to how to be more efficient, who is needed and who is not needed. Just getting along is not enough.

この頃のRonさんの問題は二つ。
In those early months in the company, I suffered with language problems again. I didn’t know the financial and managerial terms required in internal business discussions. Also, the offices and meeting rooms were filled with heavy smokers that left me with a headache at the end of each day.
今は後者の問題はないですね。

そして会社は・・・・・
The meetings were twice as long as I thought they could have been and with three to four times more people than was necessary. Decisions were slow in coming and not made without a lot of research. One troublesome area about decisions by committee is that with the continual interaction of a large number of people no one will be finally responsible. Even top management would rubber-stamp what these committees decide and not even know what they are approving. Even if they did, they would not be able to stand up and strongly support the committees’ position.

I would listen to rambling and rambling on subjects of which no one had the required information to make a decision. So, the talking just kept going. Rarely did a meeting end on time. A one-hour meeting could very easily go for three hours. Also, there were people in the room saying nothing and doing nothing. No note taking, nothing. Some, believe it or not, some attendees were sleeping in the meetings. Although, improvements have been made, that characteristic about Isuzu was there even when I left. It unfortunately is a very common problem in many large Japanese companies but to a lesser degree today. The good side is a lot of information comes out. The bad side is that with management by committee no one will take responsibility for the decision and stand behind it.

It was becoming clearer that my goals and dreams for life would start to material greatly working in Isuzu Motors through their international activities. I still had to find out exactly what role I would play in that regard. That started to be answered in the years that followed.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、来日後、特に、いすゞ自動車勤務でのカルチャーショックとグローバルリーダーとしての活躍など。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミニケーション。今の時期だと花見

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (6-ｄ): 『FORTUNE』マガジンに載る！

フォーチュンマガジンに載る。
In those days, it was extremely rare for a foreign person to work full-time in a large Japanese company. Because of the language, corporate culture and business style, there seemed to be little value. In my case, I was one of a growing number of people taking this career path. It was so rare that along with four other people, I was interview for an article in FORTUNE MAGAZINE. It was in the July 12, 1982 issue. I am still in close contact with one of those people today.

Even in those days, Isuzu Motors was in financial difficulties and had a debt to equity ratio of 85% to 15%. Also, its working capital (current assets to current liabilities) was mostly in the red. Simply, they lived off of bank borrowing. As there were a lot of land and other long-term assets that were heavily undervalued on the books, the banks were always willing to continue to lend to Isuzu.

Most of the shareholders were institutional investors, like GM. Their main concern was related to working with Isuzu more than Isuzu’s profit making. The banks wanted to lend. The trading companies wanted to process overseas sales and lend short-term. GM wanted cheap and good vehicles, which they could not produce themselves. The financial health of Isuzu Motors was a minor concern to almost of the major shareholders. When the company did lose a great deal of money during a business term or because of a product failed, no one at the top management level would be held responsible. There was always a reason other than bad management decisions. That lack of attention and accountability is one of several reasons the company continued to deteriorate during my 21 years in the company.

From the job interview and throughout my career in Isuzu Motors, I had always been able to get agreement on proposals if I said I could do it cheaper than the way it is currently done. There was always a cost cutting program in place, and that got attention.

During the job interview, I said I would bring all language training programs in-house. I would hire teachers directly and set up an in-house testing system. That alone saved millions of Japanese Yen per year. No one was interested in improvements, only how to do the same thing cheaper.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、来日後、特に、いすゞ自動車勤務でのカルチャーショックとグローバルリーダーとしての活躍など。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミニケーション。今の時期だと花見

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (6-c): 日本的な社宅のうわさ話

日本的な社宅のゴシップ
On top of that, we were adjusting to living in Isuzu’s company housing. Just six months after I started working for Isuzu Motors, Taeko and I got married. That made me eligible for company housing which was an apartment at extremely low rent. I paid about 15,000 yen (about $100) a month for rent. Along with some freelance work, that allowed us to save a great deal of our income. There were problems though. The apartment was right next to a fire department and sirens were always waking us up in the middle of the night. As all the apartments were filled with Isuzu employee families, there was always gossip about which husband is working the hardest and coming home the latest. I was usually home the earliest, which created a good topic of conversation. On top of that, it was an older building, and we were facing north which was very cold in the winter. But, we got what we paid for and lived there about four years and saved a great deal of money.

During those four years our first daughter, Emily, was born. That was another topic for gossip. Emily started walking at one year and 10 months, very late. Also, speaking was very late. Wives are always comparing children, and ours was one of the slowest. We didn’t know it at the time, but Emily has learning disabilities, and she has been a great challenge for both Taeko and me. Taeko must care for her almost totally. For feeding, bathing, clothing and even brushing her teeth, Emily to some degree needs help. Some things she can do on her own, many things she can’t. It puts a strain on all of us, but that’s what life has given us.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、特に何故日本に来る決断をしたのか、などを聴いてみたいですね。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミニケーション。今の時期だと花見

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (6-b): Ronさんの結婚

最初の仕事は人事の研修部。
My first position was to work in the training section within the Personnel Department. My first function was to set up a range of English classes for the entire company, as well as test staff on their English ability.

一方で、結婚に向けて準備
While I was adjusting to working in a large Japanese company, I was also adjusting to married life. I had been with Taeko most of my time through graduate school. She’s a Tokyo girl, born and raised right in the center of the city.

The first time she brought me over to her house, I met the whole family, father, mother, two brothers and sister. Taeko is the youngest of the four children.

Taeko’s father ran a carpenter business but was pretty much retired when I met him. The two sons ran the business with the older of the two managing the company, the mother doing the accounting and the other brother doing a lot of the carpentry work.

One week after I met Taeko’s father, he died of a heart attack. Although I know he had heart trouble, I always wonder if by seeing this Californian’s face had an influence on hi passing away.

As I could speak in Japanese quite well and could carry on daily conversations on most subjects, I built a very good relationship with all of Taeko’s family, particularly her mother. Taeko’s oldest brother had three daughters. Taeko’s sister had two daughters. We’ve got two daughters. Taeko’s other brother had a son and daughter. That makes eight nieces and one nephew. I have taken Taeko’s mother, Taeko’s sider and several of the nieces along with me when I took my family to visit my US family and friends in California. I’m very close to Taeko’s family and love having them it town. We get together about twice a year during holidays.



違いをそのまま受け入れる
In spite of the cultural, religious, linguistic differences, my marriage with Taeko has been relatively strong over the past 30 plus years. I think I made the right choice, because we respect each other’s differences and accept each other for what we are. I also tend to be a pretty good negotiator and can get people to come to a happy agreement on things. I’m lucky that Taeko and I have not had any major differences on important subjects. On smaller issues, we both have made our sacrifices for the other.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、特に何故日本に来る決断をしたのか、などを聴いてみたいですね。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミニケーション。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜仕事に疲れたら『武蔵野』でコトリップ（『武蔵野』リイド社、斎藤潤一郎著）＞