Tajiri Nozomu, a former employee of the sensor maker Keyence, writes about selling in President Online. Customers, he says, often grasp their problems and needs only on the surface and have not noticed the essential ones. He calls the real need nīzu no ura no nīzu, the need behind the need.
A proposal built only on what the customer says, in his view, will not satisfy the customer.
Japanese manufacturers have long asked the suppliers they already trade with for VE and VA proposals, the engineering magazine Monoist writes. Toyota defines VE as cost reduction that removes unneeded functions and reaches into design and production methods.
One winter day, according to a famous story, the warlord Oda Nobunaga went outside and found that his sandals were missing. He asked Saru, Monkey, as he called his young servant, where they were. The servant took them out of his robe and said that he had warmed them. The servant later became Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the ruler of Japan.
The story first appears in Ehon Taikōki, a popular illustrated biography. The magazine Waraku notes that no other source has it, so it cannot be called true.
Japanese department stores run gaishō, outside sales, in which assigned staff visit valued customers and sell to them at home. Staff bring the goods the customer wants and run sales tailored to that person.
A Daimaru Matsuzakaya feature says the work is hard unless staff know the customer’s hobbies, values and even family makeup in detail.
The inn Kagaya at Wakura Onsen ranked first for 36 years in a row in an annual ranking of Japan’s hotels and inns chosen by professionals. In the ranking announced in December 2016, it fell to third.
Its idea of service is egao de kibataraki, a smile and quick attentiveness. Kagaya tells its staff that guest satisfaction is half the manual. The rest should be brought to 100 by their own sense and their work on the spot.
Kagaya has been closed since the earthquake on the Noto Peninsula on January 1, 2024 damaged it. It is building a new building.
A well-known story tells how Ishida Mitsunari entered the service of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi stopped at a temple and asked for tea. A temple boy first served a cup almost full of lukewarm tea. Hideyoshi asked for more. The boy served less tea, a little hotter. The third time, he served a small amount of quite hot tea in a small cup. Hideyoshi was impressed by the boy’s attentiveness and asked the abbot for him.
The story is known as sanken no cha, the three offerings of tea. It first appears in Bushō kanjōki, published in 1716, and was later retold in Ehon Taikōki and Meishō genkōroku. It is most likely a later invention.
Kayui tokoro ni te ga todoku (痒い所に手が届く): one’s hand reaches the itchy spot. Care that reaches every small detail, the mark of someone who is attentive.
Ki ga kiku (気が利く): one’s attention works. Noticing even small things, being thoughtful and quick to see what is needed.
Japanese hair salons keep a kokyaku karute, a customer chart, for each client. It records the cut and the color, the products used, the hair type and any allergies. It also records the customer’s preferred style, lifestyle, what was talked about, and treatments the customer dislikes.
A guide for salon owners says the chart makes it easier to suit each customer and gives a reason to come back.