Episode #164: Leading An Intentional Sales Professional Life In 2020

Why do yearly targets feel “set in stone,” and what should you focus on instead?

Your sales targets will be set regardless of when your financial year begins. The numbers themselves aren’t the real issue. The lever you can control is how you improve this year so those targets become easier and more certain to hit.

Most salespeople roll one year into the next without recalibrating what they do or why they do it. Habits—especially bad ones—slow progress. The new year is your chance to intervene, reset, and upgrade.

Mini-summary: Targets are fixed; your growth isn’t. Progress comes from intentional recalibration, not repeating last year’s habits.

In many companies—especially across 日本企業 (Japanese companies)—sales is treated like a fallback career. People drift into sales after other roles don’t work out, receive little training, and conclude the job is miserable. That environment breeds low confidence and a victim mindset.

Professionals don’t drift. They train.

• Study sales and communication consistently.

• If you’re not a reader, use audio or video learning.

• Invest in a real sales training course—even if it feels like a stretch financially—because the payoff multiplies over time.

At Dale Carnegie Tokyo (東京), we see the difference daily: trained salespeople control conversations, build trust faster, and close more reliably. Dale Carnegie has supported global sales excellence for 100+ years and has trained leaders and sales teams in Tokyo since 1963.

Mini-summary: Professionalism is a decision backed by training. Skill compounds, and so does revenue.

“Kokorogame (true intention)” is a concept from Japan Sales Mastery. In traditional Japanese disciplines, masters prepare their mind before the act:

• Martial artists meditate before engagement.

• Flower arrangers strip stems with care.

• Shodō (calligraphy) experts grind ink slowly before writing.

Each ritual centers the mind for the task ahead. Sales is no different. Your intention shapes everything that follows. Ask yourself:

• Are you selling to make yourself money?

• Or to make the client money and help them advance their business?

That answer triggers a chain reaction in your tone, questions, patience, and credibility. It’s the line between professionals and short-term “pitch people.”

Mini-summary: Kokorogame (true intention) is your mental foundation. When your purpose is client success, your selling becomes sharper and more trusted.

In Japan, buyers control about 99% of sales conversations. That’s inefficient for the client and deadly for the salesperson. Your job is to help the buyer reach the best decision—not to let them self-serve in confusion.

When salespeople are untrained, they default to pitching. In Japanese business culture, the buyer is treated like “God,” and “God demands the pitch.” The result:

• You deliver a generic presentation.

• You guess at needs.

• You hope to get lucky.

Professionals don’t guess. They gain permission to ask questions, qualify needs, and guide decision-making. A strong sales conversation includes:
A) Discovering whether you actually have what they need.
B) Presenting the solution in a way that makes the client think, “This is exactly right for us.”

Pitching is fragile. Question-driven selling is reliable.

Mini-summary: In Japan, shifting from “pitching” to “leading” the conversation is the fastest path to consistent wins.

What should you work on first to become a more skillful salesperson this year?

If you focus on only three upgrades, start here:

1. Decide to be a professional.
   Train your craft like a career, not a rescue job.

2. Align your kokorogame (true intention).
   Sell to advance the client’s business, not just to close.

3. Control the sales conversation.
   Ask smart questions first, then present a tailored solution.

Attitude and skill are the base. Product knowledge is the multiplier poured on top.

Mini-summary: Master these three fundamentals and everything else—confidence, credibility, closing—gets easier.

• Targets don’t change your year—your habits do.

• Training turns sales from survival into a profession.

• Kokorogame (true intention) drives trust and outcomes.

• Leading the conversation beats hoping the pitch lands.

Founded in the U.S. in 1912, Dale Carnegie Training has supported individuals and companies worldwide for over a century in leadership, sales, presentation, executive coaching, and DEI. Our Tokyo office, established in 1963, has been empowering both Japanese and multinational corporate clients ever since.