The Sales Japan Series

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 per…

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 f…

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 stab…

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 aca…

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 …

Selling To Buying Teams

In Japan it is rare to be selling to one person.  Even if we only meet one person, there will be others who have to be consulted and have an influence over the buying decisi…

No Sale’s Questions Please, We Are Japanese

I was visiting the office of one of my multinational corporate clients and we were talking about the issues he was facing with his Japanese sales team.  …

Totally Ineffective Sales

The phone rings and a magazine wants to interview me for a series where they feature companies located in suburb of Minato-ku, in central Tokyo. I had never heard of this …

Do Your Homework When Selling

I take the phone call and I noted they were asking for me in particular, rather than to speak to the boss. That tells me they know who I am, but I don’t recognise the …

Sell The Sizzle Not the Steak

I recently saw a documentary sponsored by Salesforce called The Story of Sales. There were 8 chapters in this documentary: What is sales; the evolution of sales; educa…

Business Contracts In Japan Aren’t Worth The Paper They Are Written On

A friend of my mine has started his own consulting business recently and does Facebook Live updates to his growing band of dev…

Most Difficult Part Of Business? People!

Cash flow, market movements, competitor pricing, buyer budgets, seasonality, etc., there are many things which making business hard. I was listening to a po…

Handling Sale's Meltdowns

Sales is a tough gig. Sometimes the whole sale's meeting turns out to be a disaster. I had one of those today. The majority of my personal sale’s leads come directly throu…

Growing Existing Account Sales

You call on your client at their downtown office and you are ushered into one of those typical Japanese meeting rooms. The client joins you and together you enjoy a c…

Extracting The Truth From Buyers

Sales as a profession requires the skills of the sleuth. There is no information, false information, incomplete information, low value information and actual stuff …

In Sales Don’t Soldier On Sick

We are experiencing the highest outbreak of influenza in Japan this year. The winter daytime temperatures have dropped well below zero in Tokyo which is pretty unusua…

Sale’s Case Studies

Getting client cooperation to create sale’s case studies in Japan is tough. Japanese companies are very careful about how much information they let outside of the firm. When you…

Story San, We’ll Think About It

In Japan, this “We’ll think about it” response is often the result at the second meeting with the client. In the first meeting, the salesperson is establishing trust…

Admitting Wrong In Customer Service

Sometimes things go wrong. Mistakes are made, errors pop up, best laid plans are laid low. Stuff happens. How we deal with these incidents makes the big differen…