Top Message

Presidentʼs Message

We aim to be a partner to our clients,
providing advice from a bird's eye view ofthe overall situation of property.
As needs for property succession, operation, and business succession continue to expand, the demands
placed on us as consultants are growing increasingly diverse and complex.
To support these needs, we have adopted a vision of "becoming a leader in the wealth management business,"
and are working to train our consultants and improve their productivity, strengthen our relationships withclients, and diversify our marketing strategies, among other measures.

A robust domestic economy and increasingly
uncertain global situation—How do you envision changes in social trends andthe business environment?
I think there’s a sense that society is finally moving backto normal. Although the COVID-19 pandemic swept theworld for several years, more and more people seem to befeeling brighter about the future of the Japanese economy, as
symbolized by the record-high Nikkei Stock Average. Wagelevels are trending upward and the real estate market is strong.
Against the backdrop of rising asset prices, the needs ofhigh-net-worth individuals in regard to property succession,business succession, and asset management are increasing.
By 2024, all baby boomers will reach the age of 75. Over the
next 10 to 15 years, demand will peak.
With regard to business succession, we are seeing
remarkable diversification of needs as well as an increasing
number of cases. Many of our clients are family businessowners. These are people who started their businesses
during Japan’s era of strong economic growth, and who
have protected and grown these businesses over many
years. However, industrial structures and the businessenvironment have changed dramatically in recent years,
and some companies have been severely damaged by the
lingering effects of the pandemic over the last few years.
Given these circumstances, an increasing number of owners
are unable to find a successor and are instead opting forthird-party M&A.
Turning from Japan to the world, several factors are
driving instability, including wars and conflicts, intensifying
competition between the US and China, and the slowdownof the Chinese economy. Compared to a few years ago,

President

Masazumi Hasumi
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Transitions in numbers of clients and property consulting sales
Property consulting sales (Unit: Million yen)

Numbers of clients (Unit: Individuals)
7,082

5,806

5,564

1,823

2019

6,204

1,905

2020

5,545

2,076

2021

uncertainty is definitely on the rise. We need to continue tomonitor the potential negative impact on Japan of this global
situation. More and more high-net-worth individuals believethat they need to be ready and prepare themselves for any
eventuality.

Third Medium-Term Management Plan andmedium- to long-term vision—2024 is the final year of the Third Medium-Term
Management Plan. Could you give an overview of recent
business performance?
In our Third Medium-Term Management Plan, these three
years were positioned as a period of expansion and growth.
As mentioned earlier in reference to expanding needs, ourrecent performance has been good, due in part to a favorable
business environment. For example, the number of clientreferrals from financial institutions increased significantly
from approximately 1,000 in 2022 to approximately 1,300 in
2023. The number of clients who have entered into contracts
also increased from about 300 to about 400.
Property consulting revenues are also growing. One major
factor is an increase in unit contract price. This is due in partto the rise of the real estate market, as well as the improved
capabilities of individual consultants. In 2023, productivity
per consultant saw a year-on-year increase of approximately
10%. However, this does not match the rate of increase inunit contract price over the same period.
This demonstrates a challenge in regard to the qualityof consultants, who are being hired in increasing numbers
as our business expands—or in other words, the need to
improve their consulting skills. To respond to diversifying
needs as the number of consultations increases, we needto further improve the productivity of our consultants. We will
discuss this point in greater detail later.
Our Third Medium-Term Management Plan calls for thestrengthening of strategic individualized services. Thesecomprise eight services, including Advantage Club, a real

2,377

2022

2,780

2023

2024 (forecast)estate joint ownership system, as well as purchase consulting
and consulting on effective utilization of land, in which we
provide comprehensive support from real estate selection to
post-purchase management, operations, and sale. These
services are gradually growing and contributing to earnings.
We believe that further growth can be expected in the future.
Moreover, changes in society and in the businessenvironment are accelerating. In order for our business togrow, we need to keep abreast of changes in the environmentand continue to develop services that meet the needs of thetimes. In addition to expanding these eight services, we arealso carefully considering our next move.
—Could you tell us about your vision and the kind ofcompany Aoyama Zaisan aspires to be?
Our mid- to long-term goal is to "becoming a leader inthe wealth management business." We aim to build longterm relationships of trust with high-net-worth individuals,
such as owners of real estate and financial assets, as wellas corporate owners, and provide optimal advice basedon a bird's-eye view of our clients' overall wealth. We seek
to consult with the most people and help solve the mostproblems in Japan. As your partner, this is the kind of wealthadvisor we aspire to be.
To realize this vision, it is essential that we increase
productivity. As we proceeded with our Third Medium-Term
Management Plan, three issues emerged: "We do not haveenough consultants to handle increasingly diverse clientneeds and complex projects," "There is still scope to improve
relationships with our clients," and "We need to enhance ourmarketing methods."
First is the need for consultants who can handle
increasingly diverse and complex projects. When passing
on property and business, a wide range of knowledge isrequired, including tax law, corporate law, civil law, and otherlaws, as well as business and other areas of knowledge.
Client needs are becoming more diverse and complex. We
need to increase the number of consultants who can reliably
be entrusted with any project.

Aoyama Zaisan Networks ｜ Integrated Report 2024

13

Top Message Presidentʼs Message

Property consulting revenue per consultant
Number of consultants (Unit: persons)
Revenue per consultant (Units: thousands of yen)
33,31734,15330,301 30,562

167

170

183

2019

2020

2021

33,564

203

211

2022

2023

34,782 (forecast)

230 (planned)2024

We need to increase the number of consultants who canreliably be entrusted with any project.
The next thing is improving our relationships with clients.
If we build a relationship where we’re able to offer clientssolid advice on any kind of property matter, they will feelable to contact us immediately with any problem. We needto address the issue of how to establish, maintain, andstrengthen these relationships.
Finally, marketing. Referrals from financial institutions are
extremely important as a gateway to accessing high-networth individuals. We are currently looking at ways to further
strengthen cooperation with financial institutions, but othermeans of access could also be considered. As one way, we
have been actively engaged in direct marketing to individual
clients since 2023, and we are starting to utilize the data tothis end. In 2024, we are expanding those efforts to include
corporate owners and are working on initiatives to achieve
greater contact with more clients.

Themes that need to be addressed to realize thevision—What do you think it will take to realize this vision?
Our three goals are to "improve interpersonal skills,""create a supportive environment for consultants," and"realize a pleasant and rewarding workplace."
The single most important thing for a consultant is having
interpersonal skills. We tend to think we can solve problems
with our own knowledge and skills, but is that really true?
Clients will not entrust important work to someone without
a sense of trust and reliability—and not only in matters ofproperty.
They need to know that consultant will not lie, will not

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Aoyama Zaisan Networks ｜ Integrated Report 2024

cheat, and will be sincere. This is absolutely necessary for aclient to select a consultant as a partner. On the other hand,even if the consultant is intelligent and handles his or her job
with ease, if any doubt exists as to whether he or she will be
there for the client when some problem arises, the client will
not bring important matters to the consultant.
That is why over and over again, I emphasize theimportance of "interpersonal skills" within our company.
Another way to look at "interpersonal skills" is about
contributing to others and having a sense of care for them.
We need to have an altruistic mindset, and work on building
virtue. Such a state of mind is evident in our demeanor, evenin our smallest actions. I am certain that this is conveyed toour clients too.
It is not easy to incorporate the development ofinterpersonal skills into our educational program, but as wework on devising new approaches, we seek to strengthen
our efforts in interpersonal skills.
Of course, interpersonal skills alone are not enough.
Consultants need to develop interpersonal skills in tandemwith their capacity for action. To enhance training andenvironment in order to improve the capacity for action of
our consultants, we have established a DX Promotion Unit
and are promoting DX, including the use of AI, to create
an environment that supports our consultants in their work.
As is often the case with consulting firms, expertise andknowledge gained through work tends to be accumulated
by consultants individually. I think that even in our company,
there has been a lot of reliance on individual abilities. Thishasn’t been a huge problem for us, because we know whoto ask if we have any problems with work.
However, as the number of consultants increases andremote working becomes more commonplace, oldfashioned "analog" exchange of information becomes
more difficult. The ways in which we communicate internallyalso need to change. We are working to establish anenvironment conducive to such change.
In other words, we’re designing an environment that
ensures the expertise of individual consultants is stored in thesystem, enabling the necessary information to be retrievedat any time. If we can organize expertise across different
fields systematically, this will enhance the capabilities of all
our consultants. For example, a consultant may be asked
to advise a client who wants to create a will. At that time,
the consultant must be able to properly explain the typesof wills and all the procedures involved. Previously, junioremployees learned by asking senior employees, but if therelevant information is organized and stored in the system,
it can be accessed even from outside the office, enabling
consultants to make recommendations to customers more
rapidly.
Various measures such as creating a digital environment
and a pleasant workplace helps us improve the capabilities

and productivity of our consultants and other employees.
—What exactly is your approach to creating apleasant workplace?
Well, specifically, it is about creating a workplace that isboth easy and rewarding to work in. Ease of work meansthat each individual can work according to his or her
circumstances. Everyone works as permitted by their own
circumstances, including raising children, caring for theirparents, or managing their own health. Ten different people
are sure to have ten different sets of circumstances. We needto create an organizational culture that fully understands
and accepts every aspect of individual circumstances. For
example, let’s say someone wants to take a day off to care
for a child. We need to create a workplace atmospherein which he or she can just say, "I want to take a leave
day on this date," and also create a system in which workcolleagues can cover for each other. I believe we need tofocus on these initiatives as well.
It is also important to create a rewarding workplace.
When consultants feel they have made a client happy, or feelthat they have contributed meaningfully, they feel rewarded
and motivated to work. Also important are factors suchas a sense of growth through daily work, education andtraining opportunities, and promotion and compensationcommensurate with ability.
It is not easy to make a workplace both highly pleasantand rewarding, respectively. We are sure to face manydifficulties along the way, but we hope to make steadyprogress toward creating a better workplace.

Provide unwavering leadership without
departure from core policies—Will creating a workplace that is both pleasantand rewarding to work in have a positive impact on
recruitment? It’s also linked to growth of our employees.
Many industries are suffering from a shortage of human

Our efforts to becomea leader in the wealthmanagement business from2024 onward

resources, and the situation can be expected to remainchallenging. Given this environment, how to recruit talented
employees is a major challenge. While we do hope that abetter work environment will have a positive impact, weshould be wary of expecting too much.
As I mentioned earlier, the number of consultants withadequate ability has increased only slightly, and improving
their quality remains an issue, but we must assume that
increasing the number of consultants significantly will bedifficult. However, I believe that increasing the skills andproductivity of each individual is essential for our sustainablegrowth as a company. This is in line with the concept ofhuman capital management, which has been gaining more
attention recently.
One major factor in this regard is active roles for women.
We have a growing number of female consultants, and in
2024 we welcome our first female executive director. Her
particular work ethic, which sees her take good care not onlyof her clients but also her partners, makes her a role model
for female employees. We also welcomed a female outside
director with a wealth of expertise in health management
and other areas. As we benefit from their perspectives, wehope to create a pleasant workplace in which everyone canwork with ease. Creating a workplace that takes advantageof women's perspectives is also crucial for empowering
governance.
—How would you describe your own role as company
president?
The policies I have outlined above were determined throughconsensus after gathering opinions across the company.
My role is to provide unwavering leadership so that theentire organization can move forward without departingfrom those policies. Of course, another important roleis checking the progress of each department in terms ofplanning, and devise countermeasures in case of any delay.
However, I believe the core aspect is honing and enhancing
my own interpersonal skills.

1

Thoroughly train consultants to build personalvirtue,centered on altruism, in order to enhance theirinterpersonal skills

a supportive environment for consultants
2 Creating
through application of DX, AI, etc.

3 Creating a pleasant and rewarding workplace4

Beyond our eight individual services, providing
new services
capable of meeting diversifying customer needs

Aoyama Zaisan Networks ｜ Integrated Report 202415