『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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  • Secrets Of The Japanese Sales Call

    Secrets Of The Japanese Sales Call
    2026/10/13
    Selling successfully to Japanese companies requires more than a persuasive presentation, an impressive product or an internationally recognised brand. Japanese B2B sales depend on understanding the buyer's needs, establishing trust, reducing perceived risk and navigating a decision-making process that can take years. Foreign salespeople often struggle because they approach Japanese buyers with expectations developed in Australia, the United States or Europe. They want quick decisions, clear commitments and rapid sales conversions. Japanese corporate buyers may operate on a very different timetable. The secret is not to copy traditional Japanese sales techniques. It is to combine consultative selling with a deep understanding of how Japanese organisations make purchasing decisions. Why do Japanese salespeople often focus on product features instead of asking questions? Many Japanese salespeople begin by explaining product features because they have received limited formal consultative sales training and buyers have become accustomed to this approach. A new salesperson may accompany a senior colleague on a couple of client visits and then be expected to sell. That is hardly a comprehensive sales education. Yet this apprenticeship-style approach remains familiar in parts of Japan's business-to-business sales environment. The problem is that features do not establish why a Japanese company should buy. Buyers must justify the commercial benefits to colleagues in purchasing, finance, operations and senior management. Foreign suppliers who copy a features-first approach risk becoming just another vendor presenting technical specifications. Instead, we need to understand the client's business challenges before proposing solutions. What salespeople should do now: Stop leading with product specifications. Identify the business outcomes that matter to the buyer and connect your solution directly to those priorities. How should foreign salespeople ask Japanese buyers questions? Ask permission before launching into discovery questions, because the buyer–seller status relationship and the absence of established trust can make direct questioning uncomfortable. In Western consultative selling, we often assume we have the right to ask questions. In Japan, that assumption can create resistance. Think about the buyer's perspective. We have just walked into the meeting. They barely know us. Why should they reveal internal weaknesses, commercial frustrations or sensitive operational problems to a complete stranger? This is particularly important for foreign suppliers who may not share the buyer's language or cultural background. A better approach is to explain why the questions matter and request permission. For example: "To make sure we don't waste your time presenting something irrelevant, would it be alright if I asked a few questions about your current situation?" Now we have established a legitimate reason for the discussion. What salespeople should do now: Earn the right to ask questions. Explain the benefit to the buyer before beginning your needs analysis. How can foreign suppliers build trust with Japanese corporate buyers? Build trust through relevant Japanese client examples, consistent behaviour and small commitments that demonstrate reliability before requesting substantial business. Trust is a central challenge for unfamiliar foreign suppliers entering the Japanese market. International credentials can help, but impressive results from American or European clients may not convince a Japanese purchasing team. The buyer may believe Japan's operating environment is sufficiently different that overseas success offers little reassurance. This is where local case studies become powerful. Evidence from Japanese companies, or organisations with comparable operating conditions, makes the proposed solution easier to defend internally. We also need to understand the buyer's preference for established suppliers. Their existing vendor may not be brilliant, but at least they know what to expect. The unfamiliar foreign supplier represents additional uncertainty. What salespeople should do now: Build a library of Japan-relevant case studies, testimonials and measurable client outcomes. Demonstrate reliability before expecting major commitments. Why does the Japanese B2B sales process take so long? Japanese corporate purchasing decisions can take years because multiple stakeholders must evaluate the proposal, establish consensus and minimise the risks of making the wrong decision. Foreign salespeople often assume that a compelling return on investment will accelerate the purchase. Unfortunately, the argument about lost opportunity costs frequently fails to generate urgency. Japanese buyers may place greater importance on avoiding a bad decision than on capturing a potential gain immediately. Consider Toyota's long-term approach to developing the Prius, launched in Japan in 1997. Its eventual commercial success ...
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    12 分
  • Hope Is Not A Strategy In Sales

    Hope Is Not A Strategy In Sales
    2026/10/06
    Every sales organisation has targets. The uncomfortable truth is that many of those targets contain a fair amount of hope disguised as strategy. Sales leaders work with imperfect information, incomplete data and assumptions about what customers, competitors and markets will do next. Then something changes. The economy slows, budgets are frozen, decision-making takes longer or an unexpected global event completely rewrites the commercial landscape. We cannot eliminate uncertainty from sales. What we can do is reduce our dependence on hope by increasing the quality, speed and intensity of the actions we control. Why is hope dangerous in a sales strategy? Hope becomes dangerous when sales targets depend on assumptions that the sales team cannot influence or validate. Forecasting is necessary, but a forecast is not the same thing as a strategy. Every sales organisation has incomplete information. We extrapolate from previous results, pipeline data, market conditions and what customers tell us. Unfortunately, circumstances can change very quickly. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated how suddenly established assumptions could become irrelevant. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 created another major shock affecting supply chains, energy costs and business confidence. The problem isn't having assumptions. We cannot run a business without them. The danger comes when assumptions quietly become expectations and expectations become targets without enough attention being paid to what could derail them. Do now: Identify which parts of your sales target are supported by evidence and which depend mainly on favourable assumptions. What should sales leaders focus on when external conditions cannot be controlled? Sales leaders should concentrate less on telling people to "focus on what you can control" and more on identifying the specific activities that can still influence revenue. Salespeople need practical direction, not motivational slogans. Revenue targets don't disappear because the economy becomes difficult. Numbers still have to be generated even when buyers become cautious, budgets shrink or approval processes lengthen. This creates a psychological problem. Set targets that salespeople regard as completely unrealistic and they may mentally check out. They probably won't announce, "I have given up". Instead, activity gradually declines. Prospecting falls, follow-up becomes less persistent and fewer new conversations are created. The salesperson starts protecting themselves psychologically from a target they no longer believe is achievable. Sales management therefore has to connect targets with credible actions: number of prospecting conversations, dormant clients contacted, proposals advanced and decision-makers reached. Do now: Translate the revenue target into measurable weekly sales activities that people believe can actually influence the outcome. How should sales teams respond when deals are taking longer to close? When sales cycles slow down, sales teams should search aggressively for sectors, clients and opportunities where purchasing decisions can still happen faster. The objective is to improve deal velocity rather than simply adding more opportunities to the pipeline. Not every industry is affected equally by an economic downturn, geopolitical disruption or changing market conditions. Some sectors continue spending while others freeze budgets. Some companies make decisions quickly; others introduce additional approval layers. This distinction matters because sales teams often run out of time rather than opportunities. A deal sitting in the pipeline for six months may look reassuring in the CRM, but it contributes nothing to this quarter's revenue. Sales managers therefore need to examine the pipeline for velocity as well as value. Where are customers still investing? Which problems have become more urgent? Which opportunities have fewer approval hurdles? Which prospects have budgets that must be used within the current financial year? Do now: Review the pipeline by both probability and speed. Prioritise opportunities where genuine customer urgency can shorten the sales cycle. Should sales managers increase supervision when sales results decline? Yes, but the answer is more coaching and information-sharing rather than simply more pressure. Difficult markets expose experience gaps that can remain hidden when business conditions are strong. When targets are being achieved, experienced salespeople can often be given considerable freedom. When results deteriorate, managers need greater visibility into what is happening in prospecting, customer conversations, proposals and follow-up. Smaller teams, more frequent roundtables and structured coaching sessions can help. Salespeople can compare what customers are saying, identify emerging objections and share approaches that are working. Experience becomes especially valuable during difficult periods. Salespeople who have previously worked through severe...
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    12 分
  • 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
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