Boss/Subordinate

Looking back, it's been several years since I became Hayashida-san and Odaka-san's boss. After becoming the same team, every day was really turbulent.

Those were the days when the word “turbulent” was rightly applied (laughs).

I've been in business for 20 years so far, but I think the past few years have caused the most trouble to our customers. I've experienced a lot of pinches that I can't get over alone.

There have been many times when big problems have arisen, and to be honest, there were times when I almost broke my heart. Due to numerous delivery problems caused by tight supply and demand for semiconductors, it was not uncommon for us to receive requests from customers saying, "The problem is too big, so let me talk to Mr. Odaka's boss!"

Difficult events were commonplace. But I think they really helped me. Both of them have been tenacious in working with our customers even during this difficult time. As Mr. Odaka said, there were many times when my boss, myself, was called by the customers, but because the two of us were busy, we frequently updated the status to the customers, so ``Mr. Hayashida reported the situation every day.'' They are very aware of the situation, but if the Company don't receive semiconductors, it will have a big impact on our business, so we would like you to help us.'' Or, ``I have heard from Mr. Odaka that this situation is Macnica 's fault.'' I fully understand that this is not the case, but is there anything I can do about it?'' You can have a conversation with the customer. If this is the case, if both of you are using busyness as an excuse for not being able to do things properly and thinking that it's Macnica 's responsibility to not receive the item, then you need to start by making the customer understand the situation. I from.

If this happens, the customer's feelings will rise, making it difficult to move forward with the conversation, and in the worst case scenario, it could have a major negative impact on future transactions as a whole. Of course, as a trading company, it is important how we solve problems under these circumstances, but the delivery problems of the past few years were not due to Macnica 's misoperations, but rather problems in the supply chain that occurred worldwide. This was due to confusion, so we endeavored to obtain detailed information from our supplier manufacturers and help our customers understand the current situation.

If the customer gets angry, the boss, Mr. Hihara, will have to stand in front of the customer and deal with it. As much as possible, I worked to build a relationship of trust between the customer and myself, the sales representative on site, so that we could solve the problem on our own.

I'll definitely get help if I need it, so I don't have to worry about it (laughs). Due to frequent business troubles with various customers, it was physically impossible for me to visit all of them...

As a subordinate, I was able to do my best without hesitation because I had a sense of security that "Mr. Hihara will follow up" in case of emergency.

Personally, I was able to see Mr. Hihara confronting customers on site, so I was able to study Mr. Hihara's sales skills, which I don't usually see, and it was a good experience. rice field!

Mr. Hihara and Mr. Hayashida have been working in the same team since before I was assigned to my current department.

There are too many to count (laughs).

(Laughs) The most memorable story is about when I changed jobs soon after. A few months after I joined the company, I was handed over to a customer of an industrial equipment manufacturer from my predecessor in sales. At that time, the customer was planning a new large-scale development project, and my predecessor was approaching it with considerable effort, but due to this change in responsibility, I started chasing this project halfway through. is.

Shortly after you changed jobs, you suddenly had a big project.

It was a project with tens of millions of yen in sales, so it was a big pressure for me at the time. It was a business that my predecessor was also working on with all his might, so I felt the pressure of "I can't let that feeling go to waste!" However, when I changed jobs from a completely different industry, I was still immature. I was forced into a situation where I lost the .

We were unable to meet the customer's requirements. It's not easy to get out of that situation.

As Mr. Odaka said, it was a very difficult situation. But Hihara-san immediately came to help me. Until then, I had only been able to make ordinary proposals, but Mr. Hihara prioritized this project over other work and visited the customer's site together. You helped me negotiate the terms. In the process, I was able to come up with a proposal with Mr. Hihara that I hadn't thought of on my own.

I thought it would be difficult to win this project if it was the proposal that Mr. Hayashida had originally presented to the customer. But at that time, Mr. Hayashida was still inexperienced, so it was inevitable that he could not come up with the best proposal right away. It's only natural for me, the boss, to follow them.

Thank you very much for your help at that time. I still vividly remember how I felt relieved when Mr. Hihara told me, ``If you fail, I will take full responsibility, so let's enjoy this exciting situation.'' That project gave me the mindset to take on new challenges without fear of failure.

The bigger the project, the more pressure I often feel, but I would like to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Hihara and Mr. Hayashida and work positively!