My Rakuten Experience: Yuichi
Yuichi is a Manager in the New Business Development Department at LinkShare Japan
Current Job
As a Manager in the New Business Development Department at LinkShare Japan K.K. (LinkShare), I oversee sales activities for prospective clients. My responsibilities encompass the complete sales lifecycle, from developing sales strategies, targeting new clients, securing and conducting initial business meetings, delivering presentations, concluding contracts, preparing for operations, and launching services.
New business development goes beyond selling products; it fundamentally involves deep understanding of client challenges and proposing effective solutions. While the moment an order is placed brings great joy, the true fulfillment extends beyond that. I feel a strong sense of purpose as a salesperson when a campaign goes live, and yields positive results, that make clients glad to have they entrusted us. Furthermore, when my team members secure deals and achieve results, I feel a sense of pride that surpasses my own accomplishments.
Why I Joined Rakuten
After graduating from my university’s faculty of arts, I began my career as a designer at a design firm. Subsequently, I worked at a production company, handling both new business development and production. At that time, one pf my clients had a store on Rakuten Ichiba, which gave me the opportunity to propose sales growth strategies on the platform. Lacking prior knowledge in this area, my initial proposals were not always successful, leading to moments of frustration. However, I was drawn to the challenge of entering a new field, and in 2015, I joined Rakuten.
The Appeal and Rewards of Working at Rakuten
At Rakuten, you have the opportunity to take on a wide range of challenges, depending on your aspirations. While fulfilling assigned responsibilities is a given, I feel that this proactive attitude leads to new opportunities for growth. Moreover, there is a deeply ingrained culture where the entire department actively listens to new project proposals, and the organization supports their realization. It is this culture that allows me to maintain high motivation and dedicate myself to my work every day.
This supportive environment has enabled me to resolve organizational challenges and drive business growth in my own work.
My role in new business development involves everything from initial client meetings to proposal acceptance, operational preparation, and launch. After launch, the project is handed over to the existing sales department. However, there were cases where projects concluded without achieving desired results before this handover. I recognized the need for a dedicated department to nurture new launch projects from scratch and proposed the idea. With the support of other department heads, we successfully established this department. This not only enhanced operational efficiency through increased specialization but also contributed significantly to improving customer satisfaction, empowering our new business development team to make proposals with greater confidence.
Projects I Led
Among the projects I have led, one in particular stands out: the planning and implementation of an advertising distribution initiative utilizing Rakuten’s proprietary performance measurement system. This initiative required indispensable collaboration not only within LinkShare but also with other business divisions. To secure the cooperation of other divisions, I worked closely with my superiors, negotiated with key personnel in each department, and enlisted the support of numerous stakeholders to advance the project. It was a challenging process that I could not have completed alone, but I embraced it as an excellent opportunity for self-growth.
As a result, this initiative generated approximately 100 million yen in annual profit. We are currently working on establishing a system for further expansion.
Additionally, I led a project to reorganize our new sales structure to enhance overall team productivity and maximize group-wide results. Traditionally, a single sales representative handled the entire process from appointment setting to closing. To pursue higher specialization at each phase of the sales process, we introduced a division of labor. Specifically, we restructured the system so that inside sales handles appointment setting, and field sales manages everything from the initial client meeting to launch.
Rather than issuing top-down directives I consciously involved each team member in discussions about roles and responsibilities, engaging them throughout the process. I believed that giving members a sense of ownership would spark a motivation for change and drive proactive actions.
This organizational change resulted in a significant improvement in operational efficiency as each department enhanced its specialization. Moreover, it contributed greatly to increasing customer satisfaction, and our new sales team members gained greater confidence in making proposals.
Future Goals
I aim to launch and accelerate the growth of new businesses within LinkShare. I believe that the market for B2B sales support will grow significantly in the future, and my goal is to challenge myself to create innovative businesses that leverage Rakuten’s assets. While planning new businesses is a fresh challenge for me, I am actively exploring new initiatives by proactively utilizing cutting-edge technologies like AI and continuously learning. Surrounded by many inspiring colleagues who serve as role models, I am dedicated to a daily routine of learning and challenging myself.
*The content and affiliation presented in this article are accurate as of the time of the interview.
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