Deliberately Choosing Places Where You Think You “Can’t Win” — Sales and Marketing That Changed the Way We Think | Employee Interview: Rina Goto

What made you decide to join the company?

What challenges did you face in your previous job?

I started my career as an intern and gained practical experience while learning the ins and outs of affiliate marketing and sales from my senior colleagues.

It wasn’t that I had any major complaints, but I was seriously considering where I could truly grow.

On the other hand, I also had the feeling that if I simply continued on my current path, I might not have the opportunity to significantly change my way of thinking or my work standards.

What made you choose KK?

I deliberately chose an environment with such high standards that I couldn’t even imagine myself succeeding there.

I believed that working with opponents I felt I couldn’t beat at all right now was exactly what would help me grow the most.

I felt that choosing a place where I couldn’t easily win as I am now—rather than a place where I could likely excel—would ultimately lead to the most growth.

What do you find rewarding about your current job?

What kind of work are you responsible for?

In the field of digital marketing, I am responsible for the entire process—from acquiring new clients to conducting sales negotiations and preparing proposals.

We are involved in improving the entire customer acquisition process from both a sales and marketing perspective—from designing which industries and companies to target, to refining lead generation methods, and even standardizing the content of sales pitches.

This role goes beyond mere sales activities; it requires moving back and forth between understanding customers, analyzing data, and refining strategies to create systems that drive results.

What’s an experience that stands out to you?

This is an affiliate marketing project we worked on as a team of three.

We devised a strategy and made all the necessary preparations to secure the unit price we were aiming for, and then went into the negotiations.

The moments when things went according to plan, sales grew, and we achieved results as a team have laid the foundation for where we are today.

How did you overcome the challenge of this contradiction?

What kind of contradictions did you face?

At first, I had no idea what I was even doing.

What was even harder, though, was being forced to change the very way we approached our work.

Approaches like just muddling through, relying on past experience, or moving forward with only 80% understanding simply didn’t get me to the level that was expected.

How did you deal with it?

First, I made a point of imitating thoroughly and visualizing my responses to the output in advance.

And above all, I made sure to clearly communicate what I knew and what I didn’t know up front, and stopped moving forward without understanding.

Rather than moving forward while leaving my level of understanding vague, I made a conscious effort to articulate exactly what I understood at that moment and where my understanding ended.

“It felt like I was using parts of my brain I’d never used before. Since I couldn’t just proceed based on a vague sense of things, I started taking action only after understanding everything 100%, and that changed the very way I think.”

What did you learn?

I’ve started moving forward only after fully understanding things, and my way of thinking has changed completely.

I also learned that results aren’t achieved through individual effort alone; rather, it is by working as a strong team that we are able to achieve consistency.

Instead of trying to handle everything on my own, I was able to raise the bar for my work by learning, observing, and thinking things through as part of a strong team.

What are the prospects for the future?

What are your short-term (1–2 years) goals?

We will further refine everything from approach design to standardizing sales pitches, and continue to improve the customer acquisition process from both sales and marketing perspectives.

First, I want to further enhance my business acumen and hone my ability to identify the right customers and industries to target.

With that in mind, rather than relying on individual effort, we aim to establish a sales and marketing framework that ensures consistent, high-quality results regardless of who is in charge.

While delivering results on the projects right in front of me, I want to focus more on actions that also contribute to the team’s overall success.

What do you want to accomplish in the medium to long term?

I aim to build a strong team that can consistently achieve results in a reproducible manner, while continuously enhancing the capabilities of my own business and taking on the responsibility of mentoring the next generation.

In the medium to long term, just as I have experienced myself, I want to be on the side that creates an environment where the next generation of team members can raise the bar for their work.

I want to be someone who can convey not only the challenges, but also the thrill of achieving results and the feeling of winning as part of a strong team.

We will contribute to business growth from both sales and marketing perspectives and take on the challenge of building a team that can consistently deliver results.