For the first time in this project, we have interviewed our sales director, Matsumoto, who has been at the frontline of the TOYO sales.

We could hear about his thoughts and beliefs on the job of “Sales”.

we hope you can take a moment to enjoy the first interview with us. Thank you.

――Good evening. So, this is our first in-house interview, and we are excited to hear your story today.

Matsumoto: Thank you for this project. Let’s get it started.

First question. Could you share us with what are the construction industry news and trends that you are particularly interested in nowadays?

Matsumoto: After all, I’m interested in news regarding BIM, construction DX, and Robotization. I feel that the number of people involved in the construction industry will decrease, and I think that the construction industry will be required to work without relying on people in the future.

Why do you think the number of people involved in the construction industry is decreasing?

 Matsumoto: In addition to 3K (Handwork, Dirty, Dangerous), I think one of the causes is that treatment has not been established. Another reason is that fewer people are finding the construction industry interesting nowadays.

In this construction industry, I have an impression that many people used to feel the pleasure of constructing the buildings, but recently I feel that fewer people would feel the same.

–I see. Perhaps more and more people aren’t finding the construction industry very attractive.  

 It seems that the construction industry needs to get excited in order for people to join in the construction industry, but have you ever thought about what you can do to make the construction industry exciting?

Matsumoto: I haven’t thought about the construction industry, but we held a REBAR EXPO in 2017 (Photo below) to boost the rebar industry, which is our field. This was the world’s first exhibition specializing in rebar, and it was a good opportunity for many people to know about the rebar industry.

――Next question. Would you please tell us a story that remains in your memory when you were a salesman in the past?

Matsumoto: As a matter of fact, there are a lot of stories like this. (laughs)

――Sure, you have (laughs). Would you please kindly select a story of failure from your experience to start?

Matsumoto: Ok. In the first year of joining the company, the seniors were all out for the installation of machines and I went to the customer’s place alone for repairing. Then, I broke the machine. On the next day, I asked seniors at work about the solution, and I managed to make it right. At that time, I learned things just by repeating trials and errors. I was doing it with the spirit of “hitting and breaking” (laughs)

――We learn from the story that it is important to see, experience, and strengthen skills in the field.

Matsumoto: That’s right. At that time, I didn’t even have a telephone to call. It was an environment where everything was not prepared as we have now, so by gaining a lot of such experience, I feel that my knowledge and skills have become my own.

–Thank you for sharing the stories. For the next question, could you tell us about your happy experience in your work in the past?

Matsumoto: Of course. A customer from Kochi prefecture where I was in charge at the time was carrying out rebar processing work in a limited space. I was refused flatly when I prosed machines since there was no place to put them. Even so, I kept observing the worksites and drew with a pen and paper a picture of how to make the workplace spacious and suggested it to the president. I was very happy when I got a call a month later to hear that the customer would like to purchase machines because the space was open.

Although it must be a lot of hard work, I was impressed and very pleased that the customer listened and took action following my proposals.

――It is not necessarily customers buy machines right away. You gained the trust by thinking hard and making proposals for your customers.

Thank you for reading. More stories are to be continued next month…