Aisatsu-mawari: The best of customer centricity

In the many years that I worked with Japanese clients, one business custom always fascinated me: Aisatsu-mawari.

Let me tell you more about it. Courtesy and gratitude are an intrinsic part of Japanese business. Add to that humility, and sometimes even servitude. When a client gives you his business, you are obligated to him for the favour of choosing to do business with you, in preference over others he could have assigned it to. So, in Japan, you are perpetually and perennially grateful to your patron, the client. Hence, at the end of the year, it is time for you to visit your client to formally thank him for his business and his patronage. So, like everything else in Japan, this “thanking” of the client is a business custom for all corporations, big or small. And done with much ceremony, and gravitas.

Come December, department stores in Japan are packed with o-seibo (year-end gift) shoppers, mostly businessmen headed to the end-of-the-year aisatsu-mawari. The Japanese word aisatsu is “greeting” in English and mawari is a noun form of the verb mawaru (meaning “walking around”). As its name indicates, aisatsu-mawari is to walk around to greet someone. In this case, the client.

What are the gifts that are usually carried? Typically, seasonal foods and/or alcohol, maybe a carton of beer cans or a big bottle of sake. I have had the privilege of joining quite many groups from Dentsu going out on these aisatsu-mawari rounds in Tokyo over the many years that I was associated with the Japanese advertising behemoth. So, for example when the servicing group handling Canon visited the client’s marketing head and brand team, the Dentsu team’s senior most member handed over the gift to the Canon client saying, “O-seibo [no shina]o okurasete-itadakimasu”— I would be honoured if you let me give you this year-end gift. Then most imp­or­tantly, he added, “Kotoshi mo o-sewa ni narimashita”— thank you for taking care of us (meaning Dentsu) this year, bowing in gratitude and humility.“Go-teinei ni arigatô gozaimasu” — “Thank you for your thou­ghtful gift”, replied the client, bowing in response. “Tsumaranai mono desu ga” — “This is just a little thing”, responded the Dentsu gentleman with another bow. Equally courteous and polite, the Canon chief replied, “E, arigatô gozaimasu, ureshii desu,” — “What?! Thank you very much, I’m so happy”. And unwrapped the elaborately packed big sake bottle we had brought.

The custom of visiting a client at the end of the year to thank him is really very touching. It is recognition of the fact that without the client’s continued patronage and business, you may not have existed as an enterprise. Saying “thank-you”, and that too formally by taking a gift and actually personally handing it over to the client, certainly cements and strengthens the relationship. In Japan it shows gratitude, and appreciation. And the gravitas, as I said before, with which the ceremony is conducted, adds to its charm.

I have often wondered why other cultures do not think it is worth their while to emulate this simple Japanese business custom. The intent is simple, and meaningful. The gift is symbolic. The thanking in itself carries much significance. It doesn’t take much time, money or effort. But delights the client, for sure. It is customer-centricity at its simplest best.

The problem arises, I think, from the Western thinking that business is purely transactional, largely empirical, and driven by competence and knowledge. That is what gives a business its edge and its competitive advantage. The Japanese too perhaps endorse all of the above, but they layer it on top with a human dimension, which is that of one-to-one relationships. Which is why, Japanese companies continue to work with each other for generations, over decades, ironing out ups and downs as they surface, without the need for constant pitching or re-bidding.

What is even more interesting is that most businesses in Japan close for the San-ga-nichi holidays, the first three days of the New Year. On the first Monday after that, business teams set out to do aisatsu-mawari once more! Why and whereto, you would surely ask? Well, this time too they are back at the same client’s office to once again thank him for his business of the year gone by, and to now request continued patronage and business in the New Year! The same courtesy, the same bowing, the same ceremony from the meeting a few days ago is repeated. And so is the warmth.

Do the Japanese over-do this politeness and courtesy routine? Is it more ritual and ceremony than sincere gratitude? Over the last 25 years that I have seen all these interactions up-close, my view is that there is much sincerity in all that goes on. These simple business drills, done over and over again in corporate Japan, without demur or debate, carry deep-rooted messaging: Only if my client giveth, I liveth.

The writer is an advertising and media veteran