『The Sales Japan Series』のカバーアート

The Sales Japan Series

The Sales Japan Series

著者： Dale Carnegie Japan
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The vast majority of salespeople are just pitching the features of their solutions and doing it the hard way. They are throwing mud up against the wall and hoping it will stick. Hope by the way is not much of a strategy. They do it this way because they are untrained. Even if their company won't invest in training for them, this podcast provides hundreds of episodes with information, insights and techniques all based on solid real world experience selling in Japan. Trying to work it out by yourself is possible but why take the slow and difficult route to sales success? Tap into the structure, methodologies, tips and techniques needed to be successful in sales in Japan. In addition to the podcast the best selling book Japan Sales Mastery and its Japanese translation Za Eigyo are also available as well.Copyright 2022 マネジメント マネジメント・リーダーシップ 経済学
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  • Reducing Friction In The Sales In Japan

    Reducing Friction In The Sales In Japan
    2026/09/29
    Inertia is one of the most powerful forces slowing sales in Japan. The buyer may already have a regular supplier. Or we may be introducing a solution they have never used before. In either case, buying from us requires change on their side. And in many Japanese buying situations, change is viewed first as risk, not opportunity. Doing nothing is easy. Staying with the existing supplier is easy. Changing systems, processes, vendors, internal responsibilities, budgets or routines is much harder. That is why salespeople in Japan need to stop thinking only about getting the first deal done. A better mindset is to think about the re-order. If we concentrate only on winning the initial sale, the slow pace and internal obstacles can become enormously frustrating. If we concentrate on creating a relationship that will generate repeated business, we are more likely to do the patient work required to reduce friction and make the first purchase successful. Why is buyer inertia such a major issue in Japanese sales? Buyer inertia is powerful in Japan because remaining with the familiar option usually feels safer than introducing change. The salesperson therefore has to overcome not only competitors, but also the buyer's preference for avoiding unnecessary risk. If the client already has a supplier, switching to us means disrupting an established arrangement. Someone has to approve the change. Someone may have to explain why the existing supplier is no longer sufficient. Processes may need to change. People may need to learn something new. Other divisions may be affected. If our solution is completely new, the uncertainty becomes even greater because the buyer has no internal history to rely on. The current situation may not be ideal, but at least it is known. That is a powerful psychological advantage. This is why the familiar expression, "better the Devil you know than the Angel you don't", applies particularly well to sales. We are the Angel they don't know. Our job is therefore not merely to prove that our solution is better. We have to make changing to our solution feel manageable, practical and sufficiently low risk. Do now: Before your next proposal, ask yourself: "What changes will the buyer have to make internally if they say yes to us?" Why can trying to speed up a Japanese sales process actually slow it down? Speed is not always interpreted positively in Japanese B2B sales. If the buyer believes a decision is being rushed before all risks have been examined, moving quickly can make the proposal feel more dangerous rather than more attractive. Salespeople naturally want momentum. We have targets. We have forecasts. We have reporting deadlines. We want the client to make the decision now. The buyer does not care about our schedule. As I remind myself, the buyer in Japan is never on your schedule. The buyer is concerned with what happens inside their organisation after they make the purchase. The salesperson may be talking to one section, but the consequences of that buying decision can spread across multiple divisions. Operations may be affected. Finance may need to alter payment arrangements. IT may have integration issues. Procurement may have procedures to follow. Managers may need to explain the change to employees. The faster we push, the more uncomfortable the buyer may become if those internal questions have not been resolved. Do now: Instead of asking, "How can I make them decide faster?", ask, "What is making this decision difficult to progress?" How can salespeople identify the internal stakeholders creating friction? The salesperson needs to use the client contact to map which sections will be affected by the change and which stakeholders are likely to support or resist the proposal. This is not always easy. We may never meet the people in the other sections. We may never hear their objections directly. Our contact therefore becomes enormously important. We need to ask them for the lay of the land inside their organisation. One useful question is: "I really appreciate all of your guidance and I understand that buying from us would be a new thing inside the company. I am sure there are many sections which would be directly impacted by making this change and based on your expert knowledge of the organisation, who would you say would be those most affected?" Then stop talking. This is important. Salespeople often ruin good questions because they become uncomfortable with silence and start talking again. Do not dilute the power of the question. Ask it. Then shut up. Give the buyer time to think. Their answer starts giving us a map of the internal decision-making landscape. Do now: Identify the sections most affected by the purchase, not just the people formally approving it. What should salespeople ask about each stakeholder's concerns? Once the affected sections have been identified, the salesperson should explore what each group is worried about and what information could reduce those concerns...
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    14 分
  • Pitching Preferred In The Japanese Sales Call

    Pitching Preferred In The Japanese Sales Call
    2026/09/22
    In most modern sales environments, asking the buyer questions to understand their needs would be considered one of the most basic skills a professional salesperson should possess. Yet in Japan, questioning the buyer is often far less common than you might expect. Instead, many salespeople launch straight into the pitch. They explain the company, introduce the product, run through the features and hope something catches the buyer's interest. Why? It isn't simply poor technique. There are cultural, organisational and training reasons why pitching can feel safer than questioning in Japanese sales. Here are six of the biggest reasons. Why do Japanese salespeople often pitch instead of asking questions? Many Japanese salespeople pitch because they have never been systematically trained to conduct a consultative sales conversation. Pitching feels familiar, predictable and socially safer. Most salespeople everywhere receive far less professional sales training than they should. Japan has traditionally relied heavily on OJT — On-the-Job Training. In theory, that sounds reasonable. The experienced boss takes the younger salesperson along, demonstrates how professional selling works and gradually develops their skills. The problem is that today's managers are busy. OJT can easily become a couple of accompanied sales calls followed by, "Off you go." That model only works if the manager is already an excellent salesperson. Often, they aren't. From what we see in our own sales training programmes with Japanese employees, and from my own experience as a buyer, sophisticated needs-based questioning is not consistently well developed. The default is often feature pitching. Do now: Don't assume your salespeople know how to ask good questions simply because they have been selling for years. Observe their actual sales conversations and coach the questioning process deliberately. Does Japanese buyer-seller hierarchy discourage sales questions? Yes. The traditional power imbalance between buyer and seller in Japan can make questioning feel presumptuous, while pitching feels consistent with the salesperson's expected role. There is a saying in Japanese business that the customer is not King. The customer is God. That mindset changes the sales conversation. A relatively junior employee working for a huge corporation may be treated with tremendous deference by the President of a much smaller supplier. Company size matters. Rank matters. That is one reason business cards are so important in Japan. You need to understand who the other person is and where they sit in the hierarchy. Within that mindset, the roles can become very clear. The salesperson's job is to explain the offer. The buyer's job is to examine it, challenge it and eliminate risk. The idea that the salesperson should start interrogating "God" with a list of probing questions can therefore feel uncomfortable. Pitching looks safer. Do now: Reframe questioning as professional diagnosis rather than interrogation. You are not challenging the buyer's authority; you are gathering the information required to help them properly. Why are Japanese salespeople worried about embarrassing the buyer? A salesperson may avoid asking questions because the buyer might not know the answer, potentially causing embarrassment or loss of face. This is a genuine concern. Senior people don't always have detailed operational information. Ask them a question they cannot answer in front of colleagues and you may unintentionally put them in an awkward position. I have experienced this myself. We deal with many HR professionals who are sourcing training programmes on behalf of line managers. On one occasion, I asked the HR team my very first needs-based question. Silence. And Japanese silence can be impressively long. It became obvious they didn't know the answer. Then they abruptly asked me to give them my "pitch". What they actually wanted was vendor pricing. I innocently asked whether I could speak directly with the line manager whose people would receive the training. That didn't go well. I was bundled straight out of the opportunity. Goodbye sale. Do now: Ask questions in ways that allow the buyer to answer comfortably. If detailed information may sit elsewhere, ask, "Who would be best placed to help us understand that aspect?" Are direct sales questions too confrontational for Japan? They can be. Highly specific questions about problems, failures and weaknesses may clash with Japan's preference for indirect communication and social harmony. Consultative sales questions can sound brutally direct. "What is going wrong?" "Where are you failing?" "Why haven't you fixed the problem?" "What are the consequences?" In some sales cultures, those questions may be perfectly acceptable. In Japan, communication is often more indirect. Ambiguity can be deliberate. People may communicate difficult messages through nuance, implication and context rather than blunt statements. Direct questioning can...
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    15 分
  • Boosting Our Champions In The Sale

    Boosting Our Champions In The Sale
    2026/09/15
    Getting a buyer interested in our solution is only the beginning of a B2B sale. In many organisations — and particularly in Japan — the person sitting across from us may have very little authority to make the final decision. Instead, we need that person to become our internal champion. They have to take our idea back into their organisation, explain it, defend it, overcome resistance and put their own reputation behind recommending us. That creates an important responsibility for salespeople. We are not merely asking someone to help us win a deal. We are asking them to take a professional risk on our behalf. What is an internal champion in B2B sales? An internal champion is someone inside the buyer organisation who believes in your solution strongly enough to advocate for it when you are not in the room. Usually, we meet our initial contact through a cold call, referral or networking. We explain what we do, perhaps mention another client we have helped and then ask permission to explore their situation. If we are doing professional consultative selling, we ask questions and go deeply into the issues facing the organisation. Eventually, we start suggesting solutions matched to those needs. That is often when reality appears. Our contact may be enthusiastic about solving the problem but discover that managers, executives, Finance, Procurement or other divisions are not nearly as enthusiastic. We cannot personally attend every internal conversation. Our contact therefore becomes our representative. They have to carry the sale forward for us. Do now: Identify who inside the client genuinely wants the change to happen. Interest alone isn't enough — you need someone willing to advocate internally. Why are internal champions particularly important when selling in Japan? Japanese corporate buying often involves multiple stakeholders, so the salesperson's original contact may be only one participant in a much larger decision-making process. In traditional Japanese organisations, a proposal can move through several layers of internal review. Divisions affected by the purchase may conduct their own due diligence. Section Heads may approve the proposal before it moves to Division Heads. Depending on the scale and nature of the decision, senior executives may then become involved. The traditional ringi process illustrates why internal consensus matters so much in Japan. That can mean a tremendous number of people are involved. Meanwhile, we may only know one of them. The person sitting opposite us may not even have final approval authority, yet we depend upon them to help navigate the proposal through the organisation. This is why Japanese B2B selling cannot simply be about persuading one individual. We need to help that individual persuade everyone else. Do now: Ask, "Who else will be involved in evaluating or approving this decision?" Then help your champion prepare for each stakeholder's concerns. What risk does an internal champion take when recommending a supplier? Your champion puts their credibility and sometimes their career reputation behind your solution, because if your company fails, they may be blamed for recommending you. This is something salespeople can easily underestimate. We naturally think about our own risk. Will we win the contract? Will we achieve our sales target? Will we earn the commission? The buyer's champion is considering something completely different. "If I recommend these people and it goes badly, what happens to me?" Their colleagues are unlikely to say, "Well, that supplier made an unfortunate operational decision." They may say: "Why did you choose them?" That makes trust central to the sale. Our champion has to believe we are credible, reliable and capable of delivering what we promise. They also need confidence that supporting us won't make them look foolish in front of senior management. When viewed from their perspective, choosing a new supplier can be a significant personal risk. Do now: Before asking a champion to advocate for you, ask yourself, "What professional risk am I asking this person to accept?" What can go wrong when a salesperson fails to protect the champion? If the supplier fails after an internal champion has fought to get the deal approved, the damage can extend far beyond the contract — it can damage the champion's standing inside the organisation. I learned this lesson painfully while selling imported mobile telephone antenna steel towers in Japan. The towers were sourced from Australia, and we could install them for around 30% of the price being offered by local suppliers. Imported towers were new, however, so getting agreement wasn't straightforward. The buyer was a joint venture whose executives had come from several shareholder companies. Some arrived with relationships with preferred Japanese suppliers. My champions had to fight internally to get the Australian solution accepted. There was even resistance from the local supplier group, ...
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    12 分
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