Toxic Sales
Bullying, humiliation, ridiculous targets, rubbish goods, stress, shame – a toxic cocktail often suffered in the sales environment. We often get into sales by accident. There are no varsity courses in sales. There is training available by companies like ourselves, but often this is not offered by the employer.
The assumption is you look after yourself. We won’t invest in you and we will fire you if you can’t make your numbers. “Churn em and burn em” is the dominant ethos. The successful salespeople ride the favourable market through to the inevitable downturn. If they survive that experience, they often wind up being the sales manager. Battlefield commands come on the back of your officer being killed off.
There is a high turnover rate in sales both when people fail or succeed. In either case, you are out the door and off to somewhere else. The survivors who don’t want to move on the greener pastures, often become the bosses. They continue the toxic culture regardless of how stupid it is, because that is all they know.
The client in all of this is the “mark”, to be harvested, to have their cash extracted and then abandoned to their own devices thereafter. Often in bad sales organisations, area salespeople have to cover big territories. This is because they can only hit that one market once. They are selling a lie. Their product is not matched by quality against price and they have to scarper with the cash and get out of Dodge. They are like sharks, which have to keep swimming around in order to breathe. They move from town to town, fleecing the rubes and riding off into the sunset. They are 100% commission pirates who have allegiance to no flag, except the skull and crossbones of short sighted, selfish salesmanship. The successful move up in the organisation and the rest move on.
Who decided it would be like this? Not the salesperson. They join a company and then discover the disconnect between the cost and the value, between the rhetoric and the reality. By this time they have already left their previous job and are treading water to make commission and not drown in debt. They are always just one week from financial oblivion, so they have to keep dancing while the music is playing. The evil ethos is the company’s making and this is where the blame should lie.
Bad companies are inevitably run by bad sales managers. The reason is simple – “birds of a feather, flock together”. Good sales managers don’t want to be involved in a business where they have to survive by fleecing the buyers. They see a bigger picture, they have ability and talent and a war chest of funds to offer them choices.
Old Japanese saying – “the fish rots from the head”. Consequently your company’s bad sales boss, environment, culture and ethos stinks. If you are a “good” person in sales, swimming in toxic cocktail of sales hell, then get out. You are not in a position to reform that business or management. It didn’t get that way by accident. Now you may not be able to move immediately, but for the sake of your health and mental well-being, don’t put up with crap from idiots. As soon as you can, move.
In the interim, educate yourself. There are tonnes of books, free videos and podcasts on how to do a better job serving clients. Access them. Feed your mind with the positive, because for sure you are being killed by the negative environment surrounding you. If you have the funds then get yourself into training. By whatever ethical means, make yourself more skillful and valuable.
I often refer to kokorogamae, which I translate in this case as our “true intentions”. Don’t let any toxic environment or people corrupt your true intentions. We should have a very clear guiding light and that should be to serve the best interests of the customer. That means we have their success as the catalyst to our own success.
This is not instant and means a different type of client relationship with a longer sales cycle. The share of wallet increases when there is a good track record and strong trust. The lifetime value of the customer becomes an integral part of the equation. This type of sales environment only exists in companies with a correct kokorogamae. If your company is not like that then do not become a lifer pirate, get out and save your career, health and mental well being.
Action Steps
Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com
If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.
About The Author
Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan
In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.
A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcast “THE Leadership Japan Series”, he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.
leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.
Presenting Our Sale’s Materials
If we are presenting a brochure, flyer, price list, hard copy slide deck or any other typical collateral item, then we should adopt best practice for greatest success. Have two copies always, one for you to read and one for the client, unless you are a genius of reading upside down (which by the way seems to include all Japanese!).
At the start, put your copy to the side for later if you need it and turn the client’s copy around to face them. Then proceed to physically control the page changes of the document.
Don’t just hand it over, if you can avoid it. You want to walk them through the pages, under your strict supervision. There is usually a lot of information involved and we only want to draw attention to the key points. We don’t receive unlimited buyer time, so we have to plan well. You don’t want them flicking through the pages at the back and you are still explaining something up the front
By the way, don’t place any collateral pieces in view of the client at the start of the meeting. Keep them unseen on the chair next to you or in your bag. Why? We want to spend the first part of the meeting asking solid questions to uncover their needs. Don’t distract the buyer from answering your questions – this is vital to understanding their business and their needs.
As we hear their answers we set off a chain reaction. We mentally scan the solution library in our brain and start lining up products for them. The details will be in a brochure or a flyer etc., but by showing them at the start we will distract the client. It also implies I am here to sell you something. What is our mantra? Everyone loves to buy but nobody wants to be sold. Keep the sales materials out of sight, until you absolutely know what you will need.
Also, at the beginning, we don’t know which materials to show to them, because we don’t know which is the best solution for their needs. Are they after blue or pink? There is no point in going to great depths to describe your unmatchable, unbeatable, best blue in the universe, a prince amongst blues, if they only want to buy pink. After the questioning phase is completed, when we know what they need, then and only then, do we can grab our materials and guide them through the detail.
If we hand over the sales materials at the start, they will be reading something on page five and you will still be focused on page one. If you allow this to happen, control of the sales conversation has been lost. The salesperson’s key job is to keep control of the sale’s talk direction, from beginning to end. If you can’t do that, then selling is going to be a tough employ for you.
After placing the document in front of them, facing them, pick up your nice pen and use it to show them where to look. There are many distractions on any single page, so we need to keep the show on the road and them focused on the key items. Our pen is our navigator.
When we need to make a strong point, we should back it up by using eye contact. The problem is their eyes are glued to the page in front of them, so that they are not even looking at us anymore. To get their eyes off the page, to make eye contact with us, simply raise the pen to your own eye height and their gaze will soon join yours.
Know where the items of most interest in your materials are located, based on what you heard earlier and skip pages that are not as relevant. Do not go through the whole thing, from beginning to end. You want them focused only on the most relevant and interesting elements of your presentation. Also you have to narrows things down, because you just don’t have that much time available to you.
Slide Decks
Regarding the preparation of slide decks, this is a very specific “visual” topic and so please go to our You Tube Channel. We have a comprehensive video tutorial of all the nitty gritty detail of what works best. To access the video, please go to our YouTube Channel, “Dale Carnegie Training Japan”.
In the playlists, there is a section called “How to Become Really Excellent At Presentations”. Scroll down to find the video titled “How to Use Powerpoint etc., (Properly) When Presenting”.
This takes you through colours, fonts, layout, graphs, tables, photos - everything you need to know in one place.
Many Japanese presenters are at world champion level at getting this type of thing wrong. Everything and the kitchen sink is thrown up on the one screen, with garish colours and disparate fonts. Usually it is a total mess.
Don’t make this your template to try and blend in. The country of zen has not managed to apply any such minimalist concepts to what goes up on a screen. The basic rule is “less is more” with presentations on screen.
Proposal Documents
It is extremely rare that we wrap up a deal at the first meeting in Japan. Usually, we come back with our solution and pricing. There are many favoured standard styles for presenting proposals for clients, so it is impossible to go through all of those.
However, in general because of their risk aversion, most Japanese buyers have a tremendous desire for detail. Let me share with you an insight about this preference for above average levels of information supply.
When I was student here in the late 1970s, I attended an international symposium on Sino-Japanese relations. One of the Japanese academics was relaying a story about the introduction of zen into Japan from China. One of the zen stories used a well and a bucket as a metaphor for a spiritual point of instruction. In the Chinese version, the key point was the allegory not the detail of the equipment being used
In the Japanese version of this story, great attention was placed on the dimensions of the well, the bucket, the winding mechanism, the construction of the rope etc. I have never forgotten that insight and it has played out as a truism here in Japan. I have found it is almost impossible to give the Japanese buyer too much detail. I am not suggesting you should, but just be aware there is a hunger here for data.
As flagged, this is part of their risk aversion preference. By having more and more detail, they can reduce the possibility of a mistake or a failure. They will suck up as much detail as they can get out of you.
It doesn’t mean you should give them so much detail, because it diffuses their concentration on the key things we want them focused on. Remember, we should never sell past the sale. However, bear in mind that the demand for detail and data from the buyer is always going to be super strong. Probably way past what you may be used to.
The proposal should reflect the information captured during the sales interview. Outline what you believe is the issue facing the client based on what they told you. Warning! Before proceeding any further, it is critical to check that you have clearly understood their needs.
If this is incorrect, then the rest of the document is immediately headed for the trashcan. Assuming that is not the case and having laid that understanding out, now suggest your solution.
Depending on your preference, you can present the content in this way:
Expected Result-Problem-Solution
or
Problem-Solution-Expected Result.
At the solution point though, go into some substantial detail.
Where possible try not to just send the proposal document by email. Present it yourself, because what may be clear to you, may not be so clear to the buyer. We often assume knowledge that they don’t have and so key points can be missed. Sometimes buyers will say “just email me the proposal”. Resist this idea with every fibre in your body and get over there and present it instead. Mention you have something you must “show them” and explain that is why you can’t just send it.
Often they will be the internal advocate for what we are selling, so we want them to have the power of persuasion on our behalf. Always present the proposal in person for clarity and so you can answer any questions or correct any misunderstandings.
Action Steps
or Problem-Solution-Expected Result.
Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com
If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.
About The Author
Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan
In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.
A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcast “THE Leadership Japan Series”, he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.
leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.
Creating Consistently Great Customer Service
Jan Carlzon many years ago published a tremendous guide to customer service. He had the job of turning around SAS airlines and captured that experience in his book “Moments Of Truth”. I was reminded of Carlson’s insights when I was recently checking into my hotel in Singapore.
By the way, the drive in from Changi Airport is a credit to the Singaporean Government, who spend millions every year to develop and maintain their landscaped, leafy, tropical thoroughfares. This is smart. You are already in a pleasant mood just getting into town. While going through the check-in process at the hotel, a waiter from the adjoining restaurant approached me bearing an ice-cold glass of freshly squeezed juice. Singapore is very humid and trust me, that ice cold beverage went down very well. I thought this is really well thought through customer service by this Hotel.
One of Carlzon’s observations about customer service however was the importance of consistency of delivery. For example, visualise the telephone receptionist answers your call in a pleasant helpful manner and you are uplifted by your exposure to the brand. The next staff member receiving the transferred call however, is grumpy and unfriendly. Now both your mood and positive impression plummet. You are suddenly irritated by this company, who have just damaged their brand by their lack of an ability to sustain good service across only two consecutive touch points with the customer.
So back to my story. As I get to my room, in good spirits after unexpectedly receiving my ice-cold juice, I find out the television isn’t working. After a forensic search for the cause, including a few harsh words with the television controller, I discover the power is not on. There is a card slot next to the door that initiates the power supply to the room. Actually, I discovered the same system in the elevator, when I unsuccessfully tried to select my floor. Yes, I worked it all out eventually, but the thought occurred to me that the pleasant young woman checking me into the hotel, failed to mention these two facts to me. Sustainability of good service has to be the goal if you want to protect or grow your brand.
Let me mention a customer service breakdown I particularly dislike here in Japan. You call just about any organisation, get a very flat voice answering the phone saying in Japanese “XYZ company here”. You ask to speak with that very excellent and impressive member of staff, Ms. Suzuki whom you met recently. The flat uninterested voice tells you that she “is not at her desk right now” and then stone cold silence.
The “may I take down your name and phone number so that she can call you back” bit is rarely offered. Instead, you are left hanging on the phone. The inference of the silence is that if Ms. Suzuki is not around, that is your problem and you should call back later, rather than expect a return call. Again, to Carlzon’s point, these inconsistencies of customer service directly damage the brand. In this example, when I had previously met Ms. Suzuki, I was impressed by her and had a good impression of the whole organisation. The person taking the call has just put that positive image to the sword.
When you are the leader of your company, you presume that everyone “gets it” about representing the brand and that the whole team delivers consistent levels of service. You expect that your whole team is supporting the marketing department’s efforts to create an excellent image of the organization. After all, you have been spending truckloads of money on that marketing effort, haven’t you?
But are all the staff supporting the effort to build the brand? Perhaps they have forgotten what you have said about consistent customer service in the past or they are a new hire or a part-timer who didn’t get properly briefed.
I had one of my recent hires in the sales team answering the phone with an unhelpful tone in his voice. He actually sounded like he was angry. He was in his fifties, so no boy, but obviously that had been his standard phone manner throughout his entire working life. A perpetual brand killer and reputation destroyer right there. We have an open plan office, so I could hear this. If you are encased in the dark wood paneled corner executive crib with a tremendous view, then maybe you will never know and therefore be unable to do anything about it.
Leaders, we should all sit down and draw the spider’s web of how customers interact with us and who they interact with. We should expect that nobody gets it and determine that we have to tell them all again, again and again.
So how about this for a starter for educating our staff to do a better job protecting and enhancing the brand:
First impressions count, but so do all the follow-up impressions, if we want to build a sustainable, consistent positive image with our customers. Consistency of good experiences doesn’t happen automatically. We have to look again at all of our touch points with our customers and ensure that everyone in the team understands their place in maintaining the excellent brand we have built up.
Action Steps
Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com
If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.
About The Author
Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan
In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.
A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcast “THE Leadership Japan Series”, he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.
leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.
You Don’t Want Sales
Clever, shallow, smooth as silk, glib, “rat with a gold tooth” salespeople are the scourge of the earth. They are focused on your money and how quickly they can separate you from it. There are no barriers to entry or qualifications to enter this field of sales work. Riff raff need not apply but quite often they do. Some will tell you anything, they live for today and like a shark, are constantly moving around in order to feed. Snake oil purveyors to the naïve and trusting, create an unsavory image in the minds of our buyers.
So, how do honest salespeople get anywhere when the image of the profession is so negative. Movies like The Wolf of Wall Street, Boiler Room, people like Bernie Madoff, etc. - it goes on and on convincing us that we are permanently potential victims of scammers, charlatans and confidence men.
By the way, we are all in sales today. You might have friends in one of the “professions” thinking sales has nothing to do with them, but they are no longer above the fray. Lawyers are competing for clients just as voraciously as dentists, architects, engineers, doctors and everyone else who spent long years slogging through varsity. The company title might be vague, such as the popular “business development”, but the sales activity is the same, usually without the prerequisite sales skills.
The key point to differentiate yourself from the shady carnival barker type, sales pond scum and assorted lowlifes giving the rest of us a bad name, is to stop focusing on sales. Instead focus on the re-orders.
This mental shift is fundamental. A sale can be a one-time thing, a transient satisfaction of a temporary itch. In some cases that may be all that is needed. This is the long hard road of sales though – constantly prospecting to find new clients, having a pipeline that is razor thin and precariously teetering between feast and famine. Not recommended.
The re-order concept is totally relationship based and is linked to the idea of the lifetime value of the buyer. A client may only buy, say $10,000 worth of your product or service and that seems a small amount. However, when that client continues to buy from you, year in year out, that $10,000 purchase becomes a sizeable amount.
One of our clients only sends a few people along to various public courses we hold during the year. However, they have been doing this every month for forty years! If we only looked at the contribution on a quarterly or annual basis, we would not appreciate the value of this client to the business. Did we know it would keep going for forty years at the start – no and that is the point.
There is a degree of trust that brings the business to you, without you having to go and hunt it down. Clients want to work with you because they feel safe and secure. They know the value you provide and they know your word is your bond. Sometimes, it may be a long time between drinks before the follow up order appears, but it will eventually appear.
For example, another of our clients bought one year, did nothing the next year and then has continued to buy for the last two years. Altogether that client represents over a million dollars in total revenues. We would prefer they bought every year but in this profession of sales, we all know the client is never on your schedule. The re-orders are what makes a business not the single sale.
So what is the key to gaining the trust and providing the value over the long -term? I believe the concept of kokorogamae (心構え) or “true intentions” is the key. This is a Japanese word describing a mental outlook which appears in many traditional activities - calligraphy, flower arrangement, tea ceremony, martial arts, etc. I discovered kokorogamae through my study of traditional Japanese Shitoryu karate-do – the Way of Karate.
In business, your true intention is to be a long-term partner in achieving the client’s success, on the basis that the more successful they become, the more goods or services you will need to provide them, as they grow and expand their operation.
If your true intention is to build trust, then there will be no attempt to snow the client at the first meeting, to lure them into a false sense of security and scamper off with their money. Instead you will tell the client what you do, who else you have done it for and some evidence about the results achieved for them. Evidence not bombast is always a constant theme in your client conversations. Fast talking salespeople invariably are an “evidence free zone”.
So are you capturing enough evidence of the results you have provided, aligned with the value achieved behind those results? If you are not, then start looking for ways you can amass that evidence. It might be getting a testimonial from the client, some statistics on their sales volumes prior and following the delivery of your product or service. It might be a self-assessment done before and after, to draw out the difference you have made to their business.
To build trust, you will bring insights you have gathered, that spark those valuable client “we hadn’t thought of that” moments. You don’t just string together a bunch of statements, assertions and claims about your widget’s features. This is typically what untrained salespeople do. They blag on about the detail of the spec or the content or the whatever it is they sell.
Rather you ask questions enabling you to best analyse whether you in fact have a suitable solution or not, for the client’s issue. If you don’t have it, you say so immediately - you don’t prevaricate or equivocate. No trying to strong-arm the client into buying something that ultimately won’t provide them with value. If you can’t be of service to this client, then your job is to go find someone else you can serve. Hanging around to make a sale that won’t work is a time bomb. It will go off after the client realizes there are no results emanating from their interaction with you. Your trust factor is now down to zero, the reputation of your company is smashed and they will never speak well of you to other potential clients. Heaven forbid they should do so on social media!
Trust is built when your questioning skills are such that the client feels safe in the knowledge that your really understand what are their business needs. Most salespeople are poor listeners, but clients really want to know you have heard them, rather than you having been engrossed with what you will say next. You introduce the solution’s features, the benefits of the features, the applications of the benefits and the back up evidence to support what you are saying. You execute on the order from the client, as agreed and you deliver value at every point possible. You do this every time.
What you do after the sale tells the client everything and this determines whether this will be a long-term partnership or not. If something goes wrong you fix it immediately, you don’t become mealy-mouthed about what was happened and you hand back the money without hesitation. Salespeople defending the indefensible happens far too often and destroys all trust. If you are wrong admit it, fix it and make sure there is no repeat of the problem.
When I was involved in trade, the Japanese client’s container didn’t make it on to the ship as originally planned. The day before the ship sailed, the overseas supplier told us that they would miss the departure. From the exporter’s point of view, no problem, just stick the container on the next available ship. The client was furious. One of my sales staff was holding the phone away from her head and everyone in the office could hear the buyer meltdown underway.
Yes the next ship would arrive soon, but the buyer had already promised supply to their key clients and now they would show their unreliability. Many years of buyer trust would be destroyed. Needless to say there was no further business for that exporter, so a big opportunity lost through a casual attitude to service and a lack of understanding of the client’s needs.
Ask yourself, are we really fully on top of the follow-up mechanisms in our business, especially when we are so busy running around beating the bushes trying to spark the next sale? Are we managing our time sufficiently well enough that we don’t allow errors and mistakes to arise because we have forgotten some vital step? I find when I am too busy mistakes arise and they usually arise at the worst possible time! Sometimes we need to slow down a bit and get the basics right, before we sally forth into the next deal.
No trust or no value – then no re-orders. It is simple and complex at the same time. The salesperson’s job is to demonstrate the trust and supply the value. Ask yourself, are you really doing that? Are you actually on top of it? You say “Yes” – fantastic, good for you. By the way, if I rang them right now, would your clients agree with your positive self-assessment?
If your “true intentions” are correct, then value and trust will flow accordingly and so will the re-orders. Let’s work hard on getting our kokorogamae correct.
Action Steps
Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com
If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.
About The Author
Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan
In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.
A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, THE Sales Japan Series and THE Presentations Japan Series, he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.