―You then went on to build up the company as a managing director, and facilitate its stock listing within a decade of joining it. How did you use your skills as a professional in investment real estate to help the company grow?

It's not that I did anything particularly complex or challenging. Basically, it’s just the result of my consistent approach of using real estate to find solutions for customers’ issues. And it was never a case of only focusing on improving the bottom line; my ultimate aim was to raise customer satisfaction.
Essentially, I concentrated on finding ways to make customers feel they were getting more value from the property than just its price. Then I instilled this approach in my staff, and ensured it was consistently practiced. Rather than doing something out of the ordinary, it’s more important to pay close attention to any issue a customer has, no matter how trifling it may be. You need to carefully follow up on the issue every day, and spare no effort in resolving it. I made sure everyone maintained this stance without exception, and emphasized its importance.
I’m also adopting this approach toward serving customers in Post Lintel. Just the other day, the president of a Malaysian developer asked me to book a restaurant at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel for a reunion banquet for 30 people.
I then learnt that three of the attendees were vegetarian, and another four people were Buddhists, so they don’t eat beef…And I also needed to know who could drink alcohol…there were many such particular requests like this. So although it was a troublesome request that others would usually refuse, I gladly accepted the task knowing I could be of some assistance to the customer. I want to do everything I can to be useful and support my customers, and to please them with my efforts. I still consistently follow that approach today.

―How did that approach tie in with the know how you have of the real estate industry?

Take the iPhone or the Toyota Corolla; you get the same quality and type of product no matter where you buy it.
Real estate is also actually quite similar, especially in Japan where there is a mature real estate market. It doesn’t really matter where you buy the same property from; the basic product doesn’t really change. Basically, there’s not much of a price difference among sellers.でBut what happens when you add quality into the mix?
The worth of a product is a balance of its price and quality, but the way quality is experienced varies from one person to the next. For instance, some people may feel a property priced at 20 million yen is actually worth 40 million yen, while others may think it’s only really worth 10 million yen. So the way value is perceived really depends on the person. That’s why I’ve made it our mission at Post Lintel to find ways we can add this value to the properties we sell.
My aim is to make investors feel “If I leave it to Bando, everything will be fine”; and I’ve been dedicated to actually providing such a service. Providing this sense of reassurance is one way to add definite value to real estate.
One customer said to me, “I didn’t know if 50 million yen was too much or too little to pay for this apartment. But by working with you on the purchase, I felt it was worth more than 50 million yen in terms of the value it will add to my life. So I bought the property.”
I believe this process of providing each customer with the best service possible, and without exception, is a part of providing them with the ultimate value of reassurance.