272 Kokorogamae and Selling In Japan

<p style="font-weight: 400;">Intention in life is key.  Are we living an intentional life or are we a buffeted bystander of what is happening around us?  We have our personal vision, aspirations, goals, targets or maybe not.  Sales is one area of professional pursuit where intention is everything.  Assertion is key in sales, but it is assertion with a Smiley Face not a grimace.  Of course, salespeople need to have superb people and communication skills.  The point though is toward what end?  What is the intention behind everything that is being done?  Is it to make a lot of money, to be the big dog in the sales team, to own lots of luxury goods?</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">This is what kokorogamae is all about.  This is a compound word.  Kokoro itself has a number of meanings, one is heart, another is spirit.  Kamae undergoes a phonetic change when joined together and becomes Gamae in the compound word.  It means to take your stance and we use it in karate, when we talk about the different opening postures we use.  In the Dojo, when you hear the command kamae everyone knows to go into their fighting stance.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">So all very interesting Greg, but what has any of this got to do with sales?  If I translate kokorogamae as true intention, then perhaps it makes more sense than “spirit stance”.  We have a starting point with our intention in sales.  The infamous Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort’s kokorogamae was to rip off as many people as possible and make himself super rich in the process.  Wikipedia lists him as “an American author, motivational speaker, and former stockbroker”.   They left out the “heinous criminal” descriptor.  After coming to an agreement with the prosecutors to rat out his partners, he spent only 22 months in prison for his fraud scheme.  He now does speeches and runs training clinics on sales. </p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">As an Aussie, I say to myself, “that is America isn’t it”, where the notorious can still make money regardless of how many people they