Q: Why isn't marketing enough to keep the pipeline full?
A: Marketing can help through database segmentation, SEO content, white papers, eBooks, and paid search. Buyers will download or enquire, but from a sales point of view that's never enough. If you want the top of the funnel to stay full, sales has to take control and generate leads directly.
Mini-summary: Marketing helps, but sales must actively create new opportunities.

Q: What does accountability look like in sales activity?
A: It starts with KAIs, Key Activity Indicators. Track the ratios from calls and emails to contacts, from contacts to meetings, and from meetings to deals. When you know these ratios, you can link daily activity to real results instead of guessing.
Mini-summary: KAIs connect effort to outcomes and make performance measurable.

Q: How do you work out how much prospecting you need?
A: Use your average deal size and annual target, then work backwards. If the average deal is one million yen and the target is thirty million, you can calculate the number of deals required, then the meetings required, then the original contacts required. In Japan, for most B2B sales, face-to-face meetings are often required, especially for a new supplier.
Mini-summary: Work backwards from target and average deal size to set clear activity volume.

Q: What can salespeople control, even if marketing is running campaigns?
A: You can control your own actions. Decide how many networking events you'll attend, how many cold calls you'll make, and how many orphan clients you'll reactivate. Be clear on what an ideal client looks like and aim directly at them.
Mini-summary: Control your calendar and activity, not marketing output.

Q: How can one client help you win more clients in the same industry?
A: Rivals in the same business often share the same problems. If you've helped one five-star hotel in Tokyo, similar hotels likely face similar issues. Your insight becomes a battering ram to approach the other players with a relevant conversation.
Mini-summary: Use industry insight from one client as leverage with their competitors.

Q: How do you break through Japan's "call killers" on cold calls?
A: Gatekeepers are polite but tough, and they protect the boss. If you can't reach the sales manager, persistence matters. Use an approach that references success with direct competitors and asks to explore whether you could do the same. If the manager "isn't there", don't give up. Keep calling back every few hours until you connect. Then protect the habit by blocking prospecting time in your schedule like any client meeting.
Mini-summary: Use a credible script, call back persistently, and schedule prospecting as non-negotiable time.

Author Bio:
"Dr Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is a veteran Japan CEO and trainer, author of multiple best-sellers and host of the Japan Business Mastery series. He leads leadership and presentation programmes at Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo."

Q: Why do dynamic leaders often struggle to listen well?
A: Because they're focused on making things happen. They drive decisions, push through obstacles, and can turn conversations into monologues rather than dialogues.
Mini-summary: High drive can crowd out listening.

Q: Why can this become worse in Japan?
A: Getting things done in Japan can require extra perseverance, especially for entrepreneurs and turnaround leaders. The "push hard" style becomes the default operating procedure.
Mini-summary: Japan's hurdles can reinforce a push-only habit.

Q: What's the hidden cost of poor listening?
A: Opportunity cost. Vital information isn't being processed when a leader is only pushing out and not drawing insight in. Missing subtle clues, hints, and references can block chances you never notice.
Mini-summary: Poor listening quietly denies you opportunities.

Q: How does low self-awareness show up in these leaders?
A: They miss the signals in the room. They don't notice the listener's frustration at being hit with energy, passion, and commitment that may be far more interesting to the speaker than the audience.
Mini-summary: If you can't read the room, you can't adjust.

Q: Why is listening a leadership "sales" skill?
A: Leaders are selling a vision, direction, culture, plan, and values. "Selling isn't telling." If you steamroll people, you may get surface agreement, but you won't get genuine buy-in.
Mini-summary: Influence requires dialogue, not domination.

Q: What should leaders do instead of steamrolling?
A: Slow down and ask questions. When the other person can contribute, it becomes a dialogue and you gain new perspectives. You also build the relationship by showing respect.
Mini-summary: Questions create engagement and learning.

Q: What happens to staff when leaders do all the talking?
A: Staff are trained not to contribute. They become passive and wait for the next "feeding session" from the boss, rather than taking ownership and offering ideas.
Mini-summary: Over-talking trains passivity.

Q: How do you rebuild contribution and trust?
A: Make questioning a consistent operating procedure, not a one-off. Staff need to see the pattern repeated before they risk speaking up. Your reaction is critical: if you cut them off or dismiss them, they'll go quiet again.
Mini-summary: Consistency and respectful reactions unlock opinions.

Dr Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is a veteran Japan CEO and trainer, author of multiple best-sellers and host of the Japan Business Mastery series. He leads leadership and presentation programmes at Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo.

Creating Your Personal Style When Presenting
When people hear you're speaking, do they say, "I need to attend that talk"? Style can be built on purpose—by choosing what you'll be known for and practising it in public.

Q: Can you really create a personal presenting style?
A: Yes. Decide your signature—energy, data, stories, razor-clear analysis—then build toward it. Borrow from role models and subtract anything that isn't you.
Mini-summary: Style is deliberate: choose a signature and subtract the rest.

Q: How do you build a following without constant stage time?
A: Publish. Write blogs, record short videos, guest on podcasts. Consistency makes you findable and proves your expertise to organisers.
Mini-summary: Be discoverable: publish proof, consistently.

Q: Should I use humour?
A: Only if it's natural. Forced jokes and culture-centric sarcasm backfire. If wit is part of you, use it sparingly; if not, prioritise clarity and value.
Mini-summary: Be congruent; forced humour erodes trust.

Q: Where do data and research fit?
A: If you have strong data, make it a draw. New information builds authority and repeat audiences—provided delivery keeps it engaging.
Mini-summary: Insight attracts; delivery retains.

Q: How do I avoid being boring?
A: Short sentences, purposeful pauses, clean visuals, one clear message and one action. Practise weekly and review recordings to trim filler.
Mini-summary: Tighten delivery and rehearse in public.

Bottom line: Choose your lane, publish consistently and refine delivery. Repetition creates rhythm; rhythm becomes style—and style builds your brand.

About the Author
Dr Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is a veteran Japan CEO and trainer, author of multiple best-sellers and host of the Japan Business Mastery series. He leads leadership and presentation programmes at Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo.