The secret to naseba’s success is our corporate culture. I am very demanding that all the people that work for me – want exactly what I want … which is to be the best.
to fully explained why I have this type of culture ?. I must start from the beginning…
In 1998, I was living in Fukuoka, Japan working for the Japanese government on the JET Program. It was a stress free, cushy life where all I did was study Japanese.
Mid-way through my 2.5 year on the program (my contract was for 3 years), I passed the highest level on the Japanese fluency exam, …1 kyu…. My Japanese was at a level that I was very proud of, and I wanted to move into a corporate environment … and move up to Tokyo.
On the Monday after I got my test results, I excitedly went to the library to look in the Japan Times (English newspaper) to see about what type of jobs were available in Tokyo.
The Japan Times, English job recruitment came out every Monday and a large, 1/4 page advert in bold: Wanted …Sales Executives? ? ?soon to be opening an office in Shanghai??
This was before google ? so I had no clue what the company did ? but my dream was to learn to speak mandarin Chinese ? and I knew how to sell ? so I instantly wanted this job.
I called my ?best friend? from the library and told him that I had found my ?next step.?
I chased the company to ensure they reviewed my CV ? I bought an airplane ticket and flew up to Tokyo for the interview.
The office was in a very nice location in Tokyo ? but extremely messy and disorganized.
The guy who interviewed me was 28 years old ? he was 2 hours late for my interview and during the entire 30 minute interview he had his feet up on his desk? and said with his arms out stretched, ?I made $28,000 in commission last month ? which is a record for the office.?
I can remember ? clear as day ? thinking to myself, ?if this clown can make 28K in a month ? I can make double that ?? I told him to give me 6 months and I would break his record.
I am not sure how many people reading this have ever been lied to, and manipulated to join a company, but that is exactly what happened to me.
To take this ?amazing opportunity? ? as a conference sales man ? I had to quit my job in southern Japan and move to Tokyo within 2 weeks because I was told, ?there will be no more recruitment for the next 6 months??
I loved my life in Fukuoka, and made nearly 5,000 dollars a month teaching Japanese and studying?maybe the best 2.5 years of my life?.however, I was intellectually ready for a change ? and? of course, I did not want to miss this once in a life time opportunity.
Therefore, I quit a job that paid me 4,000 dollars a month tax free salary (plus I earned easily another 1K a month working on the side teaching english), a great apartment for free and a job that had absolutely no stress ? and move to Tokyo for salary package of 1,000 dollars a month plus commission ? of course NO housing allowance.
To make this happen ASAP ? I borrowed $10,000 from my bank back in America (to cover the 6 months in deposits plus agency fees, plus first month rent ? as well as buy all furniture, etc.
I rented an apartment on the 2nd floor of a brand new 2 story building in a trendy, exclusive area of Tokyo.
My rent was 1,000 dollars a month (the same as my salary) so I had no choice, but to succeed.
My first day on the job ? I showed up at 7:30am (work started at 9) ? the office was closed, so I waited outside until 8:50 when the first person showed up ? then my boss showed up just at 9. I was shocked to see how many people sauntered into the office 10 minutes late.
So there I am ? all ready to go ? dressed very sharp ? naively, looking forward to my training school ? and the clown that interviewed me, the GM of the office comes up to me and says ?I am transferring to Sydney so this is my last week. Here is the training manual ? best of luck mate.? The guy was American ? and he used the word ?mate.? I wanted to vomit.
? its 9:25 am ? and I have just realized that I am the only person that was stupid enough to take the job.
I made what I thought to be the biggest mistake of my life ?
I sat in the conference room alone with the shitty training manual thinking ? ?what am I going to do?? I was sincerely sick with anger ? I got completely lied to and bull shitted to join this company?but it got worse?
As I am sitting at lunch, sulking ? a Malaysian kid came up to me and said ?lets quit together ?this job is terrible?this company is terrible?last month we got paid 2 weeks late.?
I was in shock ? but I had no choice ? I had to do the job until I found another one, just to pay my rent.
That night was also my first night that I would sleep in my new apartment ?
At 2am, as I am sleeping, my next door neighbour comes home and when he shuts his door, the whole apartment shook ? then his mobile phone rings and he has answers it with what to me seemed like shouting and I could hear every word.
The conversation lasted 30 minutes or so.
(I would discover this Japanese man came home every night between 2-3 AM.)
It was 2am and I was wide awake in my beautiful studio apartment which I realized was the new style of ?pre-fabricated? buildings in Tokyo ? the ones that they can construct in a few weeks ?the kind of building that are put together like puzzles, which explains why the apartment shook when my neighbour shut his door ? the walls were paper thin.
The next morning, I went to Starbucks, depressed, but still naively optimistic?telling myself the ?man at the top of the mountain ?.? thinking to myself what a bunch of crap ? ?the man at the top did not get bull shitted to base camp ??
I had a triple latte and immediately got pumped up by the caffeine for my 2nd day.
I had no clue what I was doing, but I told myself over and over that I would not fail ? I had to sell.
I was selling a sports hospitality package for a Sumo match ? my job was to find someone who wanted to entertain their clients via sports hospitality.
I had no clue ? absolutely no idea what I was doing ? I had no idea who I should call ? no idea of what I should say ? I knew nothing of the job.
I got no sales training ? no product training ? no explanation whatsoever on the company. I had no clue what the company did.
What I also remember clearly ? was that I was very ashamed to be associated with the people I was working with ? all of my ?co-workers? were sloppy, under-achievers that were more focused on complaining than fixing the situation.
People came late ? left early – ate at their desks throughout the day ? many desks were broken and the office was completely disorganized ?
I was humiliated leaving the office for lunch and being seen with my co-workers.
Essentially, I was just a ?telemarketer?? so there I sat at the end of my 2nd day thinking to myself ? ?I graduated from one of America?s best universities, I can speak fluent Japanese ? and I am working in a call center in Tokyo with a bunch of underachievers ?? It was horrible????.
The 3rd and 4th day went by uneventful ? my focus was to leave the office without anyone from my company standing next to me ? thus anyone who saw me would not think I was associated with them. The office was very mediocre and I was ashamed to be associated with it?
The 5th day ? Friday, I pitched (a major international finance newspaper )? I had no idea what I was doing ? no clue, but God came down and touched me ?when I called the Managing Editor back to ?confirm he got his fax? he replied, ?sign me up ? I will take two packages?? It was 5pm on Friday night in the office, and nearly everyone had left ? I had no idea of how to send a contract.
The clown that hired me, it was his last day, and he was just about to walk out of the office when I asked him how to send a contract ?. ?mate ? great job? and he put together the contract for roughly 25,000 US$ ? I made 10% commission.
The contract came straight back ? so on my first week, without having any idea of what I was doing, I was told that I sold the biggest sale the office had seen for 6+ months ? but I am not bragging ? it was an absolute fluke ? my sale had nothing to do with ?ability? .. it was pure luck.
I got all excited over the weekend thinking about how much opportunity I had because the office was a disgrace ? a bastion of mediocrity?.
My 2nd week ? I sold again, to a trader ? who would become a good client of mine in the future ? I still had no idea what I was doing. I was ?charming? people on the phone. I was NOT ?selling? them ? I did not use a sales pitch ?. I did not know what a sales pitch was ?
My 3rd week, the CEO of Asia flew me down to Sydney (he had heard that I was about to quit ? which I was) thus brought me to Sydney for ?training.?
So my 3rd week with the company and I fly down to Sydney for ?training.? An amazing experience that I did not fully appreciate.
That Monday morning, the CEO of Asia scheduled to meet me at 8:30 am ? I go into his office, all excited to discuss the farce of an office that I had just come from ? after an hour of waiting ? his secretary informs me that the CEO is out all week at meetings ? and for me to go down stairs and one of the sales managers would take care of me ?
The office in Sydney was gorgeous .. and in a great location, and for the most part clean and organzied ? nothing like the mess I came from ?
So I walked onto the sales floor at 10am or so and a short Italian/British guy, very sharp comes up to me and tells me that I was on his team .. pointed to a desk and then he disappeared ?
I had no idea what I was selling ? but even worse?I had no idea how to dial out on the phone ?
15 minutes later, a girl sitting across from me walks over and explains what we were selling ? and shows me how to use the phone ?
There was absolutely zero training.
I picked up the phone .. and started to do what I had done in Tokyo for 2 weeks .. ?charm? and ?talk? my way to a deal?
My sales manager had come back from his 45 minute cigarette break and sat across from me, he kept telling me ? ?stick to the pitch?? then finally ? it clicked and at lunch I wrote a pitch ? ?painted the picture? ?etc ?
My 4th day in Sydney, by now I had lost all interest in continue to work for the company ? I was amazed at how ?half assed? everything was ? people would come back from lunch completely drunk (I chuckle as I type, but its true). It was a fun few days, but I did not see a future ?.
Then I stumbled once again into success ? Credit Suiss ? I pitched a woman named Tanya ? and the ONLY reason this women took my call and listened to me was because I had an American voice .. and I was very charming with her ? I did not sell her ? I charmed her ?..
4th day in Sydney and I sold a 94,000 Aus$ deal to Credit Suiss for some golf tournament ?
I flew back to Tokyo on Sunday morning ? having sold every single week since I joined the company ? but still having no idea what the company did ?.
My 5th week at the company – and the Chairman flies in to review the Tokyo office and to meet the new Japanese GM, Uekihara that had been hired. (the Japanese GM was the most mediocre person in management that I have ever met – and he was terminated within a few weeks)
The office manager, Chika, came to me and said ?the Chairman wants to meet you ?? and I was naive ? I fully expected the chairman to meet me?.and I remember thinking to myself ?big deal??
Anyways ? at the end of the day, I get called in to meet the Chairman of my company ?a very successful english business man in his late 30s, and there I am, naively unappreciating his time.
He looked at me and said ?you have worked for my company for 5 weeks and have done around 100,000 pounds of business?? He then smiled and said ?you must like working here very much??
I could not help it, I told him exactly what I felt ? I told him that I wanted to quit that I hated the job. I explained that I got lied to, to join the company?
he starred me down ? probably 2 minutes without saying a word and then said with the same big smile on his face as he had greeted me, ?give me one month?.and I will have everything fixed.?
A week or so later – he sent Paul Northover, the GM of New York to come to Tokyo to relaunch the office ? I remember meeting Paul on a Saturday at Starbucks and telling him exactly what I thought about the office; the team; the company ? etc ?
At the time, Paul had a strong British accent and sat there dead faced listening to me tell all about the office and all the mediocrity, and commented from time to time .. ?that?s outrageous??
but that Saturday, he and I went to the office ? we spent the whole day cleaning ? re-organizing?throwing loads of trash and broken desks away ? on Sunday we spent the whole day training ? he wrote me a pitch, he showed me how to get through to the d maker ? how to organize my leads ? I was excited because I believed in Paul as a leader (finally I got trained and understood what I was doing).
From that Monday – Paul and I re-launched the office ? firing most of the office. Very quickly I became consistently the top sales person in Asia ? I looked at the job as a game and to be honest, it was during the I.T. bubble so sponsorship sales was easy.
There is no way I would be where I am at today if it were not for the training and support of Paul Northover.
After a few months, Paul transferred to become the GM of Chicago ?
The new GM was transferred from Hong Kong and came in and immediately took great care of me ? He promoted me to sales director of the office ? and together he and I built the Tokyo office into the biggest office in Asia for the company.
6 months to nearly the day – I broke the record for the biggest commission claim in one month and made $32,000 and out of pure coincidence the clown that recruited me was in the Tokyo office the week I broke his record ? so I made sure I told him that I now had the record.
The new GM, Jason Gorud and I worked in a perfect partnership ? I ran the sales floor and he ran the administration & production ?.we completely re-did the training manual – I was in charge of all recruitment ? we fired all the previous jokers and completely re-launched the team. We had the ultimate partnership and the office excelled.
Instead of a ?one day? mediocre training school ? we did a full week and most of the time, fired one or two people from the school to ensure that everyone understood the exclusivity of the team. Also – no one would go on the phones until they had their pitch, benefits, objection, interactive questions down perfect.
I discovered very quickly the secret to success as a manager is to lead by example. I could be very demanding on the team ? because I led completely from the front. I was the number one sales person in the region and led my teams by example.
I was promoted to General Manager and then transferred to Sydney for a period of 6 months of ?GM Training? which was a complete waste of time ? but finally ? I made it to Shanghai ? and I opened that office completely from scratch with one other person and it became a very quick success ?.
My secret was leading the office by example ? working harder than everyone else and selling the biggest deals ? ensured that everyone believed in what I said ? because they would witness me doing it.
The formula was easy ? very strict recruitment ? nice, organized office ? great training?.constant retraining ?lots of fun incentives to make the job fun ?.but most importantly ? having an exclusive team environment ? an Army.
The sales books say ?the more calls you make the more chances you have for a deal ?? but for me, we expect everyone to hammer the phone because??the more calls you make the better you become ? the better you become ? the more fun the job is ? the more fun the job is ? the better chance you have to sell ? etc??
I have rambled enough ? I will not go into all the offices that I launched and or the success of each ? but every where I went ? I was always the top sales person ? which gave me a lot of authority ? and taught me the sales management secret to success ..?lead by example? ?make sure you are the best in the office?. and your team will follow.
At my previous company, in the 3.5 years I was a GM or SD, I had 11 people in total in 7 countries quit working for me ? I am very proud of my low turnover ? very few people quit working for my team.
Even now at naseba ? we have little turnover ? our Dubai office had a period where the GM lost several employees due to the ?greener grass syndrome? ?with sales staff believing a competitor offered an easier ride to the top ? but in the end, if I reflect on who quit ? none of my key managers and senior level people, no one quit, it was only Dubai based average, mediocre sales people thinking they found a short cut.
naseba is not for everyone