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We will call back if unavailable.
Thank you for your interest and continued support.
This is Takahashi from the Marketing Plan Research Laboratory.
The other day, the president of a client company asked me, “Take a look at this document,”
and was shown a proposal for system implementation
.
It was a single A4 landscape-oriented page
and “dotted with circles”
—a description that fits perfectly—
It was an incredibly simple diagram.
In the bottom right corner of the diagram, in a style reminiscent of the “Special Sale!” text often found on supermarket flyers,
"3.5 million"
was written there.
The price was “3.5 million” in yellow text on a red background, like a speech bubble in a manga.
The print quality was quite good, so I assumed it had been produced on a color laser printer.
I was so surprised by the eccentric design—even more than the content itself—
and I couldn’t help but say, “That’s a unique-looking, high-impact flyer.”
It was a slip of the tongue.
In any case, the amount of text has been reduced to the absolute minimum (?).
The part that felt the most substantial was the section in the top-left title
“Proposal for the Introduction of the ○○ System to ○○,”
and the fact that only that part is in bold Mincho type really catches the eye (the rest is Gothic).
Other than that, it really just looked like a "quick sketch."
Design aside, the content of the document is what matters.
The idea that “as long as the text is easy to read, it doesn’t matter if the design is tacky”
aligns with our own policy.
With that in mind, I pulled myself together
and read the text, but the content was
"It will cost 3.5 million yen to implement this system."
That was all it said. Incidentally, the back was completely blank.
I wondered if this was a system that had already been reviewed and approved,
so I asked the president about it, but he said, “We haven’t even discussed the details yet.”
I smiled and said, “Maybe we should just pass on this,”
and I returned the materials to the president.
I think cases this extreme are rare, but
but I imagine many of you can relate to the feeling of being caught off guard
I’m sure many of you can relate.
When evaluating a system, you need a substantial amount of information—enough to make a sound decision, if not everything.
If you find yourself in such a situation, even if you haven’t actually read it,
you should request a separate document outlining the details and supporting evidence.
If they say something like, “No, no, just leave the details to us,” you should be wary.
I think you should consider consulting another systems vendor as part of your evaluation.
That's all, Thank you for reading.
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