|
Jcommunications has been a
great help for us as a foreign business owner in Japan. It is difficult to
gather important information about the business situation in Japan without
having a Japanese resource. Jcommunications has an experienced team who
understand local and overseas business practices as well as the cultural
differences. "
Abious K.K. president August Hergesheimer
Q1.What is your
main business ?
A. We are supplier of ASAI berry fruits from Brazil as
material importer to "consumer food products manufacture, at the same time we
also sell "ASAI berry through TV shopping and web site to end users all over
Japan.
Q2.What is USP of your company in comparison with other
company ?
A. We are one of 2 ditributors ASAI materials supplier in
Japan.
We also have our original products brand to TV shopping.
"According to our products, our company is mostly feminine type of work
place. " It is very good for women to work.
Q3.What kind issues did you
have in your company ?
A. Once we made the system of TV shopping mainly,
product brand is going up well", but it become very difficult to make our
original customer list.
Also, we had a big headache to make repeaters for our
products."
Q4,What is the most important thing about your lead generation
and sales process?
A. For our products, it is important to make leads
from people who are interested in health and diet. But as a foreign business
owner in Japan, it became very difficult to know which media is the most
effective to invest our resouces.
But since we worked together, it is more
easier to make decisions to do advertisements.
Q5.How did you come to
start working with Jcommunications?
A. Actually, I know one consultant
from previous work place.
Then I trust him and J communications to work
together again.
Q6.There are other companies offering services to you,
but what made you feel necessary that Jcommunications services like consulting
and research services ?
A. What is important for me to work with
Jcommunications is
of course we know each other since 15years ago.
Also,
they could submit English version of all research results to me. Usually, we
have to pay extra expenses to make english one. But it does not occur in J
communications, they just handle English without paying extra expenses. It is
very helpful to us.
They also have very good overseas networks, and are very
familiar with marketing strategy in Japan.
They think very logically like
company in North America.
Q7.What kinds of results have you achieved
since you started using services one year ago?
A. It helped us a
lot.
I do not have enough information as foreigh business owner in
Japan.
There are some good seminers, but I can not go because of language
problem.
I understand most Japanese, but in a seminar there are many words I
do not know.
I was so impressed by research which we can not reach to by
using their original network. English data is also very appreciated.
Then I
do not have to go those seminars so often.
Q8.What kinds of companies do
you think would benefit from using J communications services?
A. A busy
company who donot have enough people should use J communications. I totally
recommend foreign companies must use them as a partner in Japan. Also, company
already succeeded in Japan also use J communications in case they go for
overseas.
Q9.What kind of reputation does Jcommunications have within
your company?
A. Whenever we have meeting in our company, it is very
difficult to look at different point of views all the time. But once we discuss
with J communications, we could reach and see our final destinations after
research and consulting. It make a good reputation from our
employees.
Q10.What kinds of services would you like Jcommunications to
offer in the future?
A. We difinitely need support from J communications
in order to put our resouces on
direct marketing and develop new market for
new products.
I believe I would like to grow our company as a partner of J
communications.
"Jcommunications showed us that marketing is not
just an important tool, but that it can also help us turn customers into fans of
our company. They showed us concrete steps on how to do this, and their ideas
really suited our company's style."
CRI Design Office Pty. Ltd.
Estate Division Assistant Manager Mr.Shouji Akinori,
Q.1 What
does your company do?
A. We have a resort division that focuses on land
sales, building and remodeling houses in the Yatsugatake, Azumino, and Izu
areas. We are also a franchisee of Serco Home, which is a Canadian house
constructor in the Tokyo district.
Q2. Compared to other companies in the
same industry, what is your company's unique selling proposition
(USP)?
A. Firstly we are the only company that is operating in the resort
business and the housing business. Because of this we are able to take
information from each industry and use it in the other, thus enabling us to give
our clients much more thorough advice.
We have 37 years experience in this
business, and have a great reputation for selling excellent quality houses and
vacation homes. All our customers are highly satisfied with our facility
management as well.
In addition to selling houses, we also build and operate
hotels and the restaurants inside those hotels, and we are known as the No. 1
Developer in the Yatsugatake area.
And within Tokyo, we build our houses
based on Canadian styles such as 2x6 techniques, firewood stoves, vaulted
ceilings, basements and so on. We are house builders, but we have excellent
know-how that allows us to meet our customers' demands and compete even with the
best house designers.
Q3. What problems have you been facing in recent
years?
A. Like other house builders, we used to have so many salespeople
that we never thought about the relationship between sales and marketing. Five
or six years ago, that was an OK way to do business.
However, now we only
have around 10% of the number of salespeople that we used to have. Yet, we need
to close the same number of contracts as before. Without any real marketing
skills we were facing a very difficult situation.
Q4. What is the most
important thing about your lead generation and sales process?
A. Our
ultimate goal is to have stable sales throughout the year, and to set up a
marketing system that brings in new prospects easily and then qualifies them
before giving them to the salespeople for signing.
Q5. How did you come
to start working with Jcommunications?
A. We accessed their web site
first. Jcommunications has the 24-hour telephone reception system. We looked at
their ezine, and other information and realized that Jcommunications had a
similar way of thinking about marketing as we did. This is what made us decide
to attend their seminar. After the seminar, we decided to use Jcommunications
services.
Q6. There are other companies offering similar services to
Jcommunications; what made you feel that Jcommunications services like Autopilot
24 and telephone consulting services were what you needed?
A. There are
not a lot of companies offering this kind of 24-hour telephone reception system,
and among those companies, Jcommunications was the one that had the best way of
thinking about marketing, and how to make best use of the company's resources.
So after considering all this, we decided to choose
Jcommunications.
Q7. What kind of results have you achieved since you
started using our system one year ago?
A. Compared to the results we
have gotten when we used advertising companies in the past, the results have
been great. Just from one advertisement, we had 50 responses!
And from the
responses we get the number of people that sign contracts with us has increased
too. We no longer have to chase prospects, it's fantastic!
Q8. What kinds
of companies do you think would benefit from using J communications
services?
A. I think this service would benefit any kind of business
targeting consumers. In fact, I think a b2b business could use it too,
depending on how they used it. I guess it could even be used for personal use.
The telephone consulting is very helpful, and because of that, we haven't had
any problems using the system.
Q9. What kind of reputation does
Jcommunications have within your company?
A. In our company meetings
usually the room is very stiff and quiet. But after discussions with the
consultant from Jcommunications, we were able to get new ideas and
inspiration.
Q10. What kinds of services would you like Jcommunications
to offer in the future?
A. Presently, we only use the system in our
resort department, but in the future we'd like to use it in our Serco Home
section, too.
We also have restaurant and hotel facilities, so ultimately I'd
like to use the system for those departments as well.
In the near future, we
are planning an IPO and naturally we'd like to consult with Jcommunications
about this, to make use of their specialist knowledge.
"The time I heard about Jcommunications was when
I attended their business seminar for house builders. I was very glad to see
that they offered a consulting service. Their Autopilot 24 and direct response
marketing systems have both been really effective for our business."
B-Tech Pty. Ltd. President, Mr.
Higuchi
Q.1 What does your company do?
A. We sell new houses
and houses that have been renovated, mainly in the Ota-Ku area of
Tokyo.
Q.2 Compared to other companies in the same industry, what is your
company's unique selling proposition (USP)?
A. Our original business was
renovation and remodeling, and so we are very experienced at designing and
remodeling houses.
Q3. What problems have you been facing in recent
years?
A. We are a family business, and until now, we have not been able
to set up an automated system, and so it has been difficult to keep the business
stable. And we recently started in the business of making new houses, and we
were not sure what we should do first.
Q4. What is the most important
thing about your lead generation and sales process?
When we were only
doing the remodeling business, often there were changes to the original request
and sometimes we only made a small profit on a contract. That was the main
reason we decided to change our focus to building new houses, and
automate
our system.
Q5. How did you come to start working with
Jcommunications?
A. The first time I came across Jcommunications was when
I attended their seminar for house builders. They introduced their 24-hour
telephone reception system. In addition to this they had a lot of marketing
advice and knowledge to share with us. If it were just a tool to use on our own,
I don't think it would have been effective for us.
Q6. There are other
companies offering similar services to Jcommunications; what made you feel that
Jcommunications services like Autopilot 24 and telephone consulting services
were what you needed?
A. I liked the fact that they focused a lot on
house builders and other high-priced products. Customer often only purchases
this type of product once, and so it is really important to have a system like
this. I was also impressed that they pointed out many of the mistakes that
business owners usually make.
Q7. What kind of results have you achieved
since you started using our system?
A. At first, it took some time to
gather a lot of prospects. We used their reception system as well as placing
advertisements in local free papers and sending out fliers. The direct response
system has been the most effective way for us to gather prospects. However, just
only using a tool is meaningless. We needed consulting like Jcommunications
offered. Because of that, we now have a system that brings in enough prospects
and produces a stable flow of sales.
Q8. What kinds of companies do you
think would benefit from using J communications services?
A. I think
house builders and remodeling companies would benefit.
Q9. What kind
of reputation does Jcommunications have within your company?
A. We are
still basically a family business, and Jcommunications supports us many
different ways.
Q10. What kinds of services would you like
Jcommunications to offer in the future?
A. I am looking forward to see
what happens to our company over the next year!
We will definitely try to
stay small, but still be the best at what we do.
"I met Jcommunications when I was looking for a
company that could set up a 24-hour telephone reception system for us. I
requested their brochure and when I looked over it I noticed that they also
offered consulting services, and this consulting service has proved really
helpful for us. Presently, we use Jcommunications not only for our 24-hour
telephone reception system but also as a strategic partner for our
marketing."
Aizuya Shouten General Manager,
Mr. Suda and his wife Shinobu.
http://m.rakuten.co.jp/aizuya/
Q.1
What does your company do?
Ａ． We sell products related to Buddhism, such
as family altars for the home. Our main business is in Tochigi and the Kanto
area, but we also have a Rakuten shop which allows us to sell our goods all over
Japan.
Q2. Compared to other companies in the same industry, what is
your company's unique selling proposition (USP)?
Ａ．We have a strong
reputation of kind service to customers. Most of our customers are senior
citizens and they are very pleased that we offer the service of driving them to
and from their home to our shop. Our company also has a 50-year history in this
area, and that makes us one of the oldest companies in this industry in this
area.
My parents are originally from Aizuwakamatsu city in Fukushima
prefecture and that is why our company is called "Aizuya" and we are very proud
of our Aizu-style finishing on the products.
Q3. What problems have you
been facing in recent years?
Ａ．After the bubble economy, most people
stopped spending money on the Buddhist-stylefamily altars. Prices decreased
dramatically, and most people were satisfied just to have the most basic and
cheapest family altar. Because we are a family business, we didn't have any sort
of business system in place to deal with these kinds of changes. We had to deal
with each problem individually as it came up, and naturally we had no time to
set up a system either. This made it very difficult to create find prospects and
increase our sales.
Q4. What is the most important point about your
lead generation and sales process?
A. Our main product is the family
altar, which people buy only once in their life. And so we felt a lot of
pressure to always be looking for new customers. Until now, our main way of
finding prospects was sending direct mail, checking the obituaries and people
building new houses and calling or visiting those people. Unfortunately not
enough of those prospects became customers and so we decided we needed to find a
new method.
Q5. How did you come to start working with
Jcommunications?
A. At first I accessed the web site to search for
company that could do 24-hour telephone reception. I needed the service, and
requested a brochure from Jcommunications and then had a telephone consulting.
After that, I attended their business seminar. At the seminar, I could see many
examples that could also apply to our company.
Q6. There are other
companies offering similar services to Jcommunications; what made you feel that
Jcommunications services like Autopilot 24 and telephone consulting services
were what you needed?
A. I'm sure there are other companies, however, I
noticed that the marketing system closely follows a direct response marketing
system that I had already read about. I also felt that just having a telephone
system would not be enough, Jcommunications also has a telephone consulting
system to help the business owners and that is why I decided to ask
Jcommunications.
Q7. What kind of results have you achieved since you
started using our system six months ago?
A. As a matter of fact, it has
really helped! I wasn't sure if making a free report was a good idea or not, but
in the end, the content was good and I was able to get the local newspaper to
write an article about us. From that newspaper enquiry, we received over 440
calls for more information, and a lot of those people ended up buying a family
altar from us. The first day the article was in the newspaper, we received over
170 calls, this would have been impossible with our old system, but thanks to
the Autopilot 24 system, we were able to handle all of the calls. And many of
the people who read our free report came directly to our shop. Our business has
made great progress in the last six months.
Q8. What kinds of companies
do you think would benefit from using J communications services?
A. I
guess house builders, mail order companies, and companies selling products that
people don't need to buy very often.
Q9. What kind of reputation does
Jcommunications have within your company?
A. I haven't actually told my
father in detail about Jcommunications, but he knows that business is going well
because of what I am doing.
Q10. What kinds of services would you like
Jcommunications to offer in the future?
A. I cant think of anything right
now, but since our customers are generally older people, it would be good if the
system was a little easier to use.
I look forward to your support as I
continue to work on our lead generation system and increasing profits in our
company. |
