I didn't want the sales team members to be seen in the office that day.

It was a time when I entered Mexico as a sales director in 2008 and began full-fledged sales later that year after completing the construction of the plant. I went to work in the morning that day and looked at yesterday's sales figures, which were far below what we had planned. We had a difficult situation those days. I had all the sales team members gather in the auditorium. I went to the auditorium earlier than the staff and waited standing until all the staff gathered. Everyone was supposed to gather, but there was a message that one or two members had to attend a bit late because of urgent business. I immediately made them stop what they were doing and made them come to the auditorium right away.

All the staff gathered in the auditorium. Then my words had to begin. I started speaking with yesterday's performance. I continued to talk to my members. Yesterday our performance was far below the sales plan. "Under these circumstances, our ability to predict sales is far from sufficient. If we can't predict the same day's sales in the morning, we have to look back at our capabilities. And we, all, don't have to be here if we're not doing this well. I, too, have no point in being here. I cannot find any reason for the existence of a sales team and a sales director who don't perform well. What we are in this position, the sales department, is to sell. So we have to sell. Why are we here if we can't sell?"

I told all the sales team members to go out of the company immediately and bring in the sales volume. I said "It doesn't matter if you go to the client company and sit next to the person in charge, or you go home, or you sleep in a hotel" I told them that if you wouldn't bring the sales amount next morning, you didn't need to come to work. Saying so, the officials expressed reluctance. They said that there were a lot of things to do, such as ordering production right away, arranging the trucks, and so on. Of course I had known that. But I insisted. I was the decision maker, and all responsibility and authority for sales lay with me, and if I said so, that was up to me. "So get out of here. Go out and get the sales volume." That was what the sales team should do, I thought so. I said I didn't want to see the sales team members in the office from that moment to next day. So I sent all the sales team members out of the company.

I knew that doing so right away didn't meant that sales would surge. I knew we had to order production that day, and we needed to get the trucks out of the way. But I wanted to see the sales in a month, two months and a year. It was my judgment that with that mind set and determination, we would continue to achieve the sales targets. So I needed the urgency of the members. Each member needed to be determined to achieve their sales goals. So I sent the members out of the company that day.

* I don't want to use the word 'employee'. I prefer to use 'member'.

The next morning our members came to the office. I had the members gather in the auditorium again and revealed the sales volume brought by each member. The expectation was not missed. There was not much amount. It was less than 2% of our monthly sales target. Even so, I praised the staff. In the market situation, we were doing our best. I spoke clearly to the sales team staff. "Don't try to persuade me as far as the sales target is concerned. I will surely achieve my sales goal." So we did our best to achieve our sales goal.

Our efforts paid off and we had achieved our sales target attainment level in the shortest period of time and realized the surplus.

Steel sales are not an industry with immediate performance. It is also sensitive to market conditions. But I didn't want to see blaming it on all the reports mentioned that the market was bad. I knew the market was bad even if it was not written in the report. So in this market situation, I wanted to see in the report what the best we could do. The market is bad, but we focused on what to do.

I asked my members how many customers we had when I heard the report that the market was bad and the sales volume was low. That moment if the number of customers was 100, we should expand the number of customers to 200. Then I asked to my members to raise our service levels. If at that moment the market was bad, it was difficult for customers too. So I requested to go to the customers' companies and see if there was anything we could do to help. But would that be possible to increase the number of customers to 200? I had have so many experiences in this market. I knew even if we do our best, we could expand just  10 more customers at the most. I knew it. But we had to do something to achieve the targets.

Our sales team and I used to have dinner together after the monthly settlement. It was natural that we have achieved our performance. I also thanked the members for doing their best. I was actually grateful. I was grateful that the members for trusting and following me. Some of the sales team members who worked together at that time still work for the corporation, and some had moved on to other companies. I'm sure now the sales team members I worked with at that time became the strong sales force anywhere in Mexico.

It was not impossible to achieve the sales target.

The sales meeting was held every day. Directors and managers gathered in the conference room at 9 o'clock to hold a sales meeting that day. One of our managers looked very tired during the meeting. When I asked her if she had a drink last night, she said she couldn't sleep. When I asked her why she couldn't sleep, she said she tried to sleep at night but couldn't because she didn't think she would be able to meet his sales target that day. I laughed and asked if it really is, and it really is. After the meeting, the manager came into my office. I asked the manager to have a cup of coffee, so we went out together and brought in. The manager thanked me. When I asked the reason, she said that the sales target has been just a number but "Now, it is not only a number, but also a goal to achieve." She said that she gained confidence that she could do anything. She told me when I first came, it was impossible for everyone to achieve monthly sales target. It was less than four months to achieve the monthly targets. But now it's changed. Achieving the goal has become a given. And it was shocked for her when one of the other employees said, "It's impossible," when I said, "Just make it possible." That moment she thought we would not continue to achieve our sales target, but she admitted she was wrong. Now she can't even sleep at night if we don't meet our sales goals on the same day. I thanked her, too. I'm sure our employees are not just saying that it's difficult to achieve their goals, but that they know what we have to do to achieve our difficult sales goals and do their best to achieve them. Even though we did our best to do what we had to do, when we found difficulties, we ran diligently to the factory and to the client company. Decisions were made immediately, and a system was created in which profits could be predicted at the same time as sales. It has been quantified so that we can see the performance in numbers every day and the results of our efforts. As a result, not only employees' awareness but also the way we perform our duties has changed.

I saw the market separately. It is a separation of industrial groups. The industrial group has been separated and the management styles were different. In other words, I managed with different ways in each market such as automobiles, home appliances, construction etc. To that end, discussions with directors in charge continued. I had an opinion that it would be better to leave the market as it flows, except for the automobile and home appliance markets. It is to leave the supply and demand of prices or supplies to the market. It was my opinion that doing so would allow some time to elapse so that our products could naturally settle in the market. However, the director's opinion was different. Instead of leaving it to the market, the director in charge said, "We should create a system to distinguish customers and standardize the price level." I was a little skeptical. If we manage the market in a contrived manner, I wondered if there would be any results in terms of human and physical costs. Even so, I think I should not just ignore the opinion of the director in charge. So I asked him to make a plan and report to me first. After a while, the director has come up with a plan to manage the market. I asked him to wait a little bit in order to review the report first. Then I went over the management report, and I couldn't help but admit that I was wrong. It could be summarized that the market is divided into specific customer groups, the financial status of the client company is also considered, and the market is being led by price forecasting. My idea was wrong. I called the director. I said it was great and I was wrong. Then we put the director's idea into action.

Our marketing department has changed. We became strong.