The Sales Japan Series

Regional Differences When Selling In Japan   Japan is a big small place. It is about the same size as the UK, but is covered in mountains, the latter making up 70% of the land area. We have very few of those horizon stretching field vistas like they have in England.  This mountainous aspect has led to quite strong sub-regional differences here, especially reflected in language, customs and cuisine...

What Is Kokorogamae And Why Does It Matter In Sales In Japan?   Intention in life is key. Are we living an intentional life or are we a buffeted bystander of what is happening around us?  We have our personal vision, aspirations, goals, targets or maybe not.  Sales is one area of professional pursuit where intention is everything.  Assertion is key in sales, but it is assertion with a Smiley Face...

What Is Different About Selling In Japan?   This is a pretty big subject, so I will pick up a few of the more noteworthy differences.  In the West, salespeople, for the most part, are involved in an occupation for which they have received no training.  They are thrown into sales, to sink or swim.  If they don't sell, they don't eat, because of the sales commission structures.  Total commission bas...

"Send It To Me" – Uh Oh!   How I hate those four words – "send it to me".  I get that heavy feeling in my stomach and around my shoulders.  I know we are now on the path to sale's hell.  I particularly hate it when I hear that request after I have tried for the second time to secure a meeting to go through things face to face.  After you have requested the meeting and they push back, you can go ba...

Busy Bosses You Need To Go With Your Salespeople To See Clients   Many of us are player/managers.  We run the sales team and we also do our own sales.  This means we are pretty busy bees, buzzing around trying to cook up some deals for ourselves, as well as keep the various sales team noses to their respective grindstones.  One of the dangers though is we start to leave the business of sales to th...

No Pain, No Gain In Sales Baby   When you contemplate this title you are probably thinking about heroic sales efforts, massive privations, sacrifice, striving, discipline, patience and forbearance.  Actually I am not talking about any of that mighty stuff. I am talking about your client. The really irritating thing about sales is trying to get someone to buy who doesn't need what you are offering....

Pitch Request Recovery   Stony motherless silence unleavened by a stony face.  That was the reaction to my questions from this Japanese buyer and other subsequent buyers. I had studied the American sales guru's sales techniques.  I was a devotee of "consultative sales" and here I was in Japan trying to sell stuff and failing.  In those days back in the early nineties, I was primed to ask my questi...

Follow Up In Business In Japan   There are two elements of follow up in Japan.  One is when you have concluded the deal and it is time to effect the delivery of the service or product.  Prior to that, there has usually been a long drawn out process going on, where the buyer side have "been thinking about it".  Actually they have been thinking about it because they need to get consensus internally...

Closing Sales In Business In Japan   You would think that asking for the order would be the simplest thing in a sales job.  Not the case here in Japan.  Surprisingly a lot of salespeople here in Japan never ask directly for the order.  They get to the point where they should ask but they choose not to.  One of the reasons is they fear rejection, getting a "no". They job of sales is an emotional ro...

Handling Buyer Objections In Business In Japan   You would expect that salespeople would hear a lot of objections from buyers, particularly the same objections and therefore would be pretty good at handling them?  Well that actually isn't the case.  In some cases, the salespeople imagine they can drive the process by force of will and by pushing the buyer to change their mind. This is ridiculous a...

Explaining The Application Of The Benefits To Buyers In Business In Japan   Japan loves data and detail. All good, but it can be a trap when you are here trying to make sales in Japan.  In a Western sales model there is a defined process to go through and the buyer is also trained on how that works as well.  In the Japanese case there is a love of detail bias.  This will take you down the  wrong p...

Buyer Personality Styles In Business In Japan   We usually think in terms of cultural differences with the West when we are dealing with Japan.  In fact, personality style differences of the buyer are much more important.  Cultural factors form a base and on top of that are the idiosyncratic differences between Japanese buyers and ourselves.  This becomes very key in communication terms.  We won't...

Asking Buyers Questions When Doing Business In Japan   In the West, we have all been trained in consultative selling for many decades. The buyers are used to salespeople turning up and asking a lot of questions to find out if there is some way they can help the buyer, through providing their solution to solve buyer problems.  The act of asking questions is never even thought about, because that is...

Respect In Business In Japan   Respect in Japan may be more similar to concepts in European countries rather than new world countries like the USA, Canada or Australia.  Age and stage probably carry more weight in older civilisations than in these bold new upstarts.  In Japan, a low ranking minion in a big company can have more status than the President of a small company.  The President will show...

Formality In Doing Business In Japan   Formality in Japan is linked very closely to what is perceived as being polite.  European countries may feel more familiar with Japanese style formality, but for countries like the US, Australia, Canada etc., this level of formality is not the usual.  There is a sense of formality here in Japan that is unexpected and sometimes hard to fathom for most foreigne...

Nemawashi Or Groundwork In Business In Japan   Nemawashi is a very important word in Japanese.  It is made up of two words "ne" which means root and "mawashi" which means to wrap around. Or wrapping up the root. A good translation however is "groundwork", usually associated with a decision or a meeting.  In Japan they can move 15-20 meters trees from one location to another.  They dig down, cut th...

Networking When Doing Business In Japan   There are two varieties of networks here for me - the Japanese speaking and the English speaking. With regards to the Japanese speaking groups, there are a few things which are a bit different.  Japanese people are raised not to talk to strangers and guess what, they carry this idea over to networking events as well.  In a typical Japanese event, it goes l...

Gaining Buyer Trust When Doing Business In Japan Trust is a big issue in Japan. The people we deal with in companies are salaried employees, who have probably been with that same company their whole career.  There is an escalator system here that carries you upward over the many years of your career.  "Steady as she goes" is the mantra.  They are primarily interested in gradually moving up inside...

Customer Service When Doing Business In Japan   Japan is probably the leading country in the world for customer service.  These are seriously picky, picky consumers here.  If you are dealing with consumers then you had better have your quality act together.  They will not tolerate poor quality.   Their expectations are extremely high and they will complain vigorously if those standards are not bei...

Networks For Doing Business In Japan   In business the ability to develop a strong network is critical.  There is nothing better than getting to know buyers through these networks and establish a personal connection. Japan is the premier nation on the planet for networks.  When I first came here in 1979, I was taken to a ryokan- a traditional inn with a hot spring bath.  That evening we could hear...

Getting Paid In Business In Japan Nothing happens in commerce without a sale being made. Great to know that, but what about being paid for the sale? Now, in some countries this can be an issue.  We find ourselves swimming with sharks who are transactional in their thinking and have no hesitation in ripping us off.  Fortunately, Japan isn't in that category.   We have rule of law here in Japan, plu...

Salespeople, Money and Motivation In Japan   Salespeople are motivated by money and the more money they can make the more motivated they become. Except in Japan. Here salespeople are looking for stability, regular income, without the trials and tribulations of a commission sales life. Actually, what they really want is a steady salary regardless of how much they sell. The next preference is for a...

Educate Yourself In Sales   There are almost no sales courses at Universities.  Maybe, in the USA somewhere, a University is offering something on selling, but it would be a rare bird amongst the academic ivory towers.  By the way, who would be teaching this course and what do they know about the real world of sales? We can graduate with a bachelor degree, a masters degree or a Ph. D. in a wide ra...

Where You Sit Determines How You Buy In Japan   Every role in a company has its own priorities, perspectives and functions. When we are selling to individuals inside the company we need to make sure we really understand who we are talking to. When we are out networking at events, we meet a broad sway of people from different industries, companies and functions within the companies. Fortunately wit...