Episode #282: The Big Sales Audio Landgrab

If you work in sales in Tokyo, your biggest risk isn’t competition — it’s invisibility. In a market where buyers search online long before they talk to you, the question is simple: are you easy to find, and do people already trust you when they do?

This page explains how consistent content creation across social media, blogs, and podcasts builds personal branding and demand — especially for professionals selling in Japan.

In modern sales, the number of people who want to know you matters more than the number you personally know. You can only meet so many prospects each month, but digital platforms let your reputation reach thousands you’ll never meet in person.

Social media has democratized visibility. With little or no cost, salespeople can publish expertise, appear in searches, and build credibility at scale — far beyond what physical networking allows.

Mini-summary: In Japan’s competitive sales environment, being visible online multiplies your reach faster than in-person networking ever can.

It’s normal to distrust social platforms. I avoided them until December 2011, when I attended the Dale Carnegie International Convention in San Diego. There, sales author Jeffrey Gitomer challenged a room of over 1,000 professionals by asking: “How many Twitter followers do you have?”

He had 30,000+. I had zero. That moment forced a rethink. On the flight back to Tokyo, I joined social platforms cautiously, then focused on Facebook and LinkedIn instead of Twitter because they fit my style better.

I also made a rule:

• No personal posts

• Only business insights

• Nothing controversial or embarrassing

Mini-summary: You don’t need to love social media — you need to use it strategically and professionally.

What kind of content builds a strong personal brand?

Starting in 2012, I published regular blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. At the same time, I wrote monthly articles for business magazines. That consistent output created a library of expertise people could discover anytime.

Then I learned to multipurpose content after seeing Gary Vaynerchuk (Gary Vee) combine education, motivation, and reality-style media. The insight was simple:
One idea can become many formats.

A blog can become:

• a podcast episode

• a video topic

• part of a newsletter

• training material

Mini-summary: Personal branding grows faster when one piece of thinking is reused across multiple channels.

How did podcasts expand reach in the Japanese market?

A magazine editor suggested I start a podcast. I didn’t even know what one was. But the format turned out to be a major advantage.

Key milestones:

• Aug 2, 2014: First podcast launched — The Japan Leadership Series (“Flexible Japan-Stop Dreaming”).

• Nov 3, 2016: Two niche shows added — The Presentations Japan Series and The Sales Japan Series.

Focusing on niches made the content easier to find and more relevant to specific audiences in Japan.

Mini-summary: Podcasting lets sales and leadership experts dominate specific niches, especially in Japan.

In 2018 I read Google would expand audio search. Competing in text meant fighting millions of blogs daily. Audio was far less crowded.

So I converted audio from YouTube shows into podcasts:

• Aug 18, 2019: The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show (first episode: “Not Meeting the Leadership Challenge Is Quietly Killing Us”).

• Oct 4, 2019: Japan Business Mastery Show (first episode: “Five Deadly and Dastardly Leader Misperceptions”).

• Jun 6, 2020: Japan’s Top Business Interviews (first episode with CEO Yasuaki Mori of Infinion Technologies Japan).

This built a multi-channel presence that worked for both human audiences and emerging AI search systems.

Mini-summary: Audio and video increase discoverability because they face less competition and are rising in AI search importance.

What results can consistent publishing create for sales?

The upshot has been huge:

• Personal branding climbed sharply

• A loyal audience (“true fans”) formed

• New inquiries arrive organically every week

• No paid ads required

By publishing fresh business content Monday through Saturday on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, people regularly contact me about training in Japan. Sure, spam appears too — but serious prospects can evaluate quality before they buy.

Mini-summary: Consistent visible expertise attracts qualified inbound leads — even without advertising.

Are you having your own “Jeffrey Gitomer moment”?

Today, Jeffrey Gitomer has about 67,000 LinkedIn followers, and I have around 26,000 — about 40% of his total. But in my niche, that reach is rare.

Here’s the key idea:
Your biggest problem in sales is getting found.

Blogs are brutally competitive. Podcasts are less saturated, especially English-language shows from Japan. LibSyn data suggests Japan-origin podcasts are about 1% of total hosted shows — meaning the opportunity is still wide open.

So the real question is:
If you’re in sales, what are you doing to be found?

Mini-summary: The market rewards the visible. If you’re not publishing, you’re hiding.

• Visibility beats networking scale: digital content multiplies reach.

• Professional, non-controversial posting builds trust in Japan.

• Multipurposing one idea across formats accelerates branding.

• Podcasts and audio content remain under-competitive in Japan, especially in English.

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.