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 …

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…

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 …

“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 particular…

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 aro…

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.  …

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 s…

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…

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 Japa…

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 h…

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 …

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 ar…

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 o…

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 …

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 fo…

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 …

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 f…

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 …

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 con…