Why Selling To Japanese Buyers Is So Hard And What To Do About It

The buyer is King.  This is a very common concept in modern Western economies.  We construct our service approach around this idea and try to keep elevating our engagement with royalty. After living in Japan for 36 years and selling to a broad range of industries, I have found in Japan, the buyer is not King. In Nippon the buyer is God. This difference unleashes a whole raft of difficulties and problems. My perspective is based on an amalgam of experiences over many decades and I am generalising of course. Not every buyer in Japan is the same, but those foreigners who know Japan will be nodding their heads in agreement.

The most intelligent sales approach the West has come up with is “consultative sales”.  This basic term gets bandied about, in different ways and at different times, but the fundamental concept is to uncover the buyer’s needs through asking insightful questions and then determine if you can satisfy that need or not. 

By definition, if you use this methodology, you are intelligent.  If you were going to sell to buyers from the world’s third largest economy, where 50% of young people are University educated and is known for its advanced technology, then intelligent consultative selling is bound to be your “go to” model.  You will fail because GOD doesn’t approve of your funky Western ways.

Pitch Momentum Predominates In Japan

In Japan, GOD expects a pitchfest.  GOD does not brook questions from low life salespeople.  Instead give your pitch, put it up, so that the buyer can slam closed the two barrels on the shotgun and then blast your pitch to pieces.  Japan is a very conservative business climate where failure is not accepted and mistakes are not allowed.  The Western CFO sharpening the pencil and working out that a 5% defect rate is the most profitable construct, will get a big bonus and a promotion.  Going to a zero defect rate is deemed too expensive and unnecessary.  GOD doesn’t accept any defects or mistakes in Japan and to achieve that the science of risk aversion has been taken to the ultimate heights of human possibility.

The Japanese buyer wants to hear your pitch, then viciously attack it to satisfy themselves that they are eliminating any possibility of future problems from this supplier.  I was working with a company exporting bark to Japan as part of the gardening boom.  It had to be clean - no pebbles, sand or twigs, just pure bark.  The foreign supplier breezily rang to tell me the shipment had missed the boat, but “no problems, it will be on the next one”. 

GOD was apoplectic.  Storage costs in Japan are expensive, so the “just in time” idea of holding little in the way of stock and delivering at the right moment, is well accepted.  Our buyer had just burned all of his buyers down the food chain, because the foreign supplier had missed the boat.  The Japanese buyer’s trust, built up over many years with his client base, had been broken. In Japan that trust is almost impossible to rebuild.

You Need A GOD Approving Credibility Statement

Pitching is a daft idea.  How on earth do you know what to pitch?  Imagine your favourite colour was blue and I turn up to sell you my awesome range of pink.  I am warbling away like a morning lark about the wonder of my pink and you haven’t the slightest interest, because you want blue.  If I had asked you a question about your colour preferences, then knowing you wanted blue, I would have only spoken about our range in blue.

This is pretty simple.  So, why don’t Japanese salespeople ask GOD some questions about what is needed?  Well GOD is a deity too high for that type of inappropriate familiarity and base rudeness.  Consequently, everyone is pitching into the void.  The cunning antidote to this GOD induced pitch problem is to have a well crafted credibility statement.  For example, “We are experts in soft skills training for adult learners.  We recently helped a client’s Tokyo leadership team raise their Japanese staff engagement scores by 30% and their New York headquarters was very happy to see that rapid improvement.  Maybe we could do the same thing for you.  I have no idea if that is possible or not, but if you would allow me to ask a few questions, I will soon know if it is a viable option or not”.

Switch From The Pitch To Consultative Sales

Once GOD acquiesces and allows us to ask questions, then we are out of the pitch business and now immersed in the consultative sales flow.  When asked this way GOD does allow questions in most cases.  Sometimes we will get a stern GOD who says “just give me your pitch”.  We comply because you cannot deny GOD, but mentally we know we should down the lukewarm, cheap, bitter green tea and head for the door, because there won’t be any sale here today.

Knowing what a client needs is the key enabler to craft a sales presentation tailored to that particular buyer which resonates, excites and satisfies.  GOD just needs some nudging to get religion about consultative sales.  When you have your next sales meeting with a Japanese buyer, mentally picture you are sitting down with GOD and act accordingly.  Be comfortable with formality, silence, hierarchy and sit up straight. 

Politely pull the velvet curtain back on your beautifully polished and well practiced credibility statement and wait for “yes, you may ask me some questions”.  Don’t say one word after you ask your question, even if it is killing you.  Sit there in silence until you get an answer.  GOD likes to think about it and is in no hurry.