The passion to "want to do it" draws people in.
~Eagle Industry Co., Ltd. Interview~

The Eagle Industry corporate website production project we introduced last time . Sales representative Sakamoto says that out of all the B2B projects he has worked on, this one is one that has stayed in his heart.

"We felt that we were able to share a common passion that went beyond a simple ordering relationship.
I feel that this relationship continues to grow even stronger."

What kind of "passion" was behind the success of such a major project as a website renewal? This time, we spoke with the two people at Eagle Industry Co., Ltd. and looked back on the project at that time.

To give shape to something, the first thing you need is an idea of "what you want to do."

Monosus Yasuo Sakamoto (hereinafter, Sakamoto): When they asked me for advice saying, "I want to change the website...", I listened carefully to their thoughts on the direction of the website. At that time, we were still in the orientation stage, but we both saw something in each other.

Eagle Industry's Fujimoto (hereinafter referred to as E. Fujimoto): I remember that we were shown one example after another on the spot, and we were all excited as we shared our ideas. I guess you could say we had an image, but we were able to vaguely picture the shape of the site. And then, Mr. Sakamoto's character fit the bill nicely (laughs).

Eagle Industry's Yamamoto (hereinafter referred to as E. Yamamoto): That's what it was, in simple terms. We got along well. Mr. Sakamoto was able to put into words what I was thinking and output it well.

Sakamoto : I felt a sense of passion from the two of you. I myself go to various companies to make proposals, but I feel like I don't know what to do with customers who are not enthusiastic. If the customer doesn't know what they want to do, it won't be possible to put it into shape. If they don't have any passion, we can't propose something like "Why don't you do this?"
What was great about it was that I could really sense from them how much they wanted to do something like this, and how much they wanted to try doing it. It's a presentation that I still remember fondly.

E. Fujimoto : I remember it well too. My first impression of Mr. Sakamoto was that he was a surfer guy (laughs). He was a completely different breed from the contractors I had dealt with up until then, so I was a little surprised at first (laughs).
But when we started talking, we found that he was very easy to talk to, he spoke quickly, and we got along really well.

The E. Yamamoto Monosas website was also a very pop site, so I had the impression that it was a design company or something.

E. Fujimoto: We wanted to bring in a new wind. Working with Monosus was a challenge for us.

Identify problems from a business perspective.
Reassess what you need

Proposal materials

E. Yamamoto : It had been some time since we changed our company website, so we had been considering a renewal little by little. October 1, 2014 was our 50th anniversary, so we decided to renew our company website to coincide with that, in May of that year. We were in a very tight spot, as we had to do something about it in just four months, but at that time we had a connection with Monosus, and decided to ask them to renew the website.

Our company's general affairs department is in charge of managing the entire website, and the content to be posted is reviewed by each department depending on the content. In particular, we focused on product information in this renewal. Our products are used in a variety of fields, so each product has its own specialty, and the features and areas we want to promote are completely different. On the other hand, when posting that information on the site, it needs to be organized and displayed within a single framework called "product information." For this reason, we narrowed down several points, such as the page design, the volume of content to be posted, and the frequency of updates after the renewal, and presented them to the sales department staff for each product, listened to their opinions, and tried to create a common "framework" for product information. Fujimoto-san was very helpful in this regard, as he looked at things from an overall perspective, not just the specialized aspects of each product.

E. Fujimoto: Actually, I had always personally thought about how we could improve this part of our previous website, or how we could make the page easier to read by changing this part. In particular, I thought that if we put more effort into the product introduction page, we could get more inquiries and get new business opportunities. At the same time, I was faced with the dilemma of not being able to open up technical information carelessly.

Still, I thought it would be a waste not to use the web as a tool. At that time, Yamamoto-san asked me for advice on how to introduce the product, and I thought, "This is my chance" (laughs). I told him a lot of things that I was thinking.

Top page before renewal

Sakamoto : Fujimoto-san's precise advice on what he wanted to do was very helpful.

E. Fujimoto: The European sales office sent me a letter of opinion asking me to change things in this way. There were specific suggestions about the design and presentation, and I was in 100% agreement with them. Using that as a reference, I looked at the websites of various countries and did my own research.

So I started to think that maybe we should introduce more of the technology we have. However, there were concerns within the company that publishing technical information on the web, which anyone can access, carries the risk of information leaks. So we came to a consensus on how much we could make public and still be able to promote our products, and we tried to create a page that properly introduced the main features and explained what kind of product it was.

Sakamoto: That's truly a sales perspective, and as someone who is in charge of sales, you knew the importance of getting the word out to the outside world.

E. Fujimoto : It's easier to do business if you have a good catalogue. It's much more persuasive than a single A4 sheet of paper. So I was especially happy when the site was completed just as I had envisioned. We even received praise from our European sales office, who sent us a letter of opinion on the design change, saying, "It's wonderful!" (laughs)

By publishing products that had not been listed before, we started receiving inquiries from customers who we did not do business with, and inquiries from overseas increased tenfold. The number of visitors changed just by changing the homepage. It really made me realize the power of the web.

By improving the “entrance” area, the entrance has definitely been widened.


The renewed Eagle Industry Co., Ltd. top page

E. Fujimoto: I really wanted to include a product introduction page for automobiles and construction machinery (EKK Auto Products Explorer) that uses illustrations of vehicles to make our products easier to understand. We wanted our customers, as well as our employees, to know more about our products. Our company is involved in a wide range of fields, including automobiles, ships, aircraft, rockets, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment parts, so many people say that they know the products they are in charge of well, but don't know much about products outside of their area of expertise. I thought that was a waste.

That's the case for me as well, and since I started working on this website, I've learned that there are many products like this out there. I tried to present them in a way that was as simple and easy to understand as possible, so that people overseas could learn about them too.

The top page of EKK Auto Products Explorer . It is a diagram showing what parts are used in cars and how they are used. The original idea was by Mr. Fujimoto. It was designed so that anyone can understand it at a glance.

Changing with the times.
To do this, we need to bring in some fresh air.

E. Fujimoto: Actually, I'm a total liberal arts student (laughs). Maybe because my father was a mechanical engineer, I had the image of "work = machines" in my mind since I was little. I was particularly attracted to parts, which are the "behind the scenes" of things, so in my job hunting I only applied to parts manufacturers.

Even now, I regret that I should have studied mathematics and physics a little harder. But there are things I can do as a salesperson, not as an engineer. One of those things is to widely communicate the appeal of our company's products to customers in Japan and overseas. I want to cherish the things that I can do now because I am who I am now.

E. Yamamoto: It has been about 10 years since I joined the company, and in that time the company has expanded its business as a whole group, and the number of bases around the world has increased. In this way, with the size of the company and the trends of the world changing dramatically, Monosus worked with me to think about how to use the website as an entry point for people to learn about our company, and their proposal matched well with what we were thinking.
In other words, I think Monosas' perspective was something fresh for our company.


List of offices . The business operations of the entire group are expanding, and the number of bases in various countries around the world is increasing.

Sakamoto: I heard that working with us was a new challenge, and I feel humbled.

E. Yamamoto: It was a new request, and the project was done with limited time, so in that sense it may have been quite a challenging undertaking. But looking back, we all shared the same core idea of creating something new and the small details of the work, so rather than feeling like it was a challenge, I think we were able to proceed without worrying.

After the conversation

Through this project, our B2B business grew and our team also grew.
I remember preparing the materials even before the presentation, thinking that if we could win this project, our fate might change. The designer had also been decided from the beginning. It was a very bold composition, with a BtoB feel... I had a clear image in mind, so I just had to convey it well.

And above all, the presence of the two people from Eagle Industry was a big factor. They have outstanding "passions" and make decisions when they need to. I think that's why we were able to move forward with the renewal in a good way.

Even after the website is completed, it makes me happy as a salesperson to be able to deepen our relationship in this way. I realized that the key to a project is "people." I would like to continue to maintain a good distance and be of help to them.

Monosus Yasuo Sakamoto