Answer first: hire someone who can test the growth thesis, not merely someone who 'knows Japan'
A network and a well-known employer name are not enough for the first commercial hire. The leader must form testable assumptions about target customers, value, route to market, pricing and adoption barriers, then revise them through customer conversations and data. A Tokyo-led Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong remit still requires localised execution by market.
Do not merge Sales and Marketing by accident
- Sales owns account selection, qualification, proposal, negotiation, closing and forecast
- Marketing owns market insight, message, demand, content, channels and lead quality
- One person may cover both early on, but keep separate KPIs and time allocation
- For technology and engineering services, define the hand-off to pre-sales and delivery leadership
Use an outcome scorecard in interview
- Customer segments and assumptions to test in the first 90 days
- Self-created pipeline versus revenue inherited from a strong brand
- Sales cycle, win rate, loss reasons and forecast accuracy
- Product, pricing, proof and technical support required from headquarters
- Internal and customer alignment across Japanese, English and other relevant languages
Design the first market-entry team
Check the entity or branch route for sustained sales, customer support, after-sales service, hiring and employment operations in parallel. If only a revenue target is defined, the first salesperson often becomes the unofficial owner of localisation, contracting and hiring as well.
Expected outputs in the first 90 days
- Defined ideal-customer profile and target accounts
- Local-language value proposition, FAQ, proof and proposal templates
- Weekly pipeline and loss-learning cadence
- A fixed decision route with product, delivery and leadership
- Evidence for the next hiring or channel-investment decision
How TAC supports commercial search
TAC connects searches for Sales Managers, Business Development, Marketing Managers, Country Managers and pre-sales talent with Tokyo-led market design across Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. We can structure role ownership, target-company mapping and assessment—not only send CVs.