359 The Sales Trap Crippling Japanese Business
The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show By Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo Japan
Release Date: 07/13/2025
377 Curiosity, Then Context: The Smart Short Pitch
The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show By Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo Japan
Why use a one-minute pitch when you dislike pitching? Answer: In settings with almost no face-to-face time—especially networking—you cannot ask deep questions to uncover needs. A one-minute pitch becomes a bridge to a follow-up meeting rather than a full sales push, avoiding the “bludgeon with data” approach. Mini-summary: Use a short bridge pitch when time is scarce; aim for the meeting, not the sale. When is a one-minute pitch most useful? Answer: At events where you are filtering many brief conversations to find prospects worth a longer office meeting. You do not want...
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376 In Japan, Should Presenters Recycle Content Between Talks?
The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show By Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo Japan
Yes—recycling is iteration, not repetition. Each audience, venue and timing change what lands, so a second delivery becomes an upgrade: trim what dragged, expand what sparked questions, and replace weaker examples. The result is safer and stronger than untested, wholly new content. Mini-summary: Recycle to refine—familiar structure, higher quality. How can you create opportunities to repeat a talk? Answer: Negotiate for tailoring rather than exclusivity. Many hosts want “unique” content; offer contextualised examples, revised emphasis and organisation-specific language...
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375 Mentoring Under Pressure: How Bosses in Japan Make Change Work
The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show By Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo Japan
In Japan, why is “capable and loyal” no longer enough? Answer: Technology, the post-1990 restructuring of management layers, and globalisation have reshaped how work moves in Japan. Because hierarchies compressed and expectations widened, teams now face faster cycles and more frequent transitions. AI will add further disruption, so stability must be created by leadership rather than assumed from tenure. Mini-summary: Hierarchy compression + globalisation + AI = persistent change; leadership provides the rhythm that tenure used to provide. In Japan, what should managers do first...
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374 Selling in Japan: Why Two Out of Six Is a Win
The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show By Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo Japan
Salespeople worldwide use frameworks to measure meeting success, but Japan’s unique business culture challenges many Western methods. Let’s explore the BANTER model—Budget, Authority, Need, Timing, Engagement, Request—and see how it fits into Japan’s sales environment. 1. What is the BANTER model in sales? BANTER is a simple six-point scoring system for sales calls. Each letter stands for a key factor: Budget, Authority, Need, Timing, Engagement, and Request. A salesperson assigns one point for each element successfully confirmed. A perfect score means six out of six, showing a...
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373 From Scripted to Authentic- How Leaders Win on Stage
The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show By Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo Japan
In high-stakes business events, especially in Japan, executives are often forced to deliver presentations crafted by others. This creates a dangerous disconnect between speaker and message. Let’s explore how leaders can reclaim authenticity and impact, even when the material is not their own. Why is speaking from a borrowed script so risky? Executives frequently inherit content from PR or marketing teams. These materials may be polished, but they are rarely authentic. Japan’s perfection-driven corporate culture magnifies the stress, where even a small misstep can harm reputations. When...
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372 From Ritz-Carlton to Pasona: What Leaders Can Learn About Mood Making
The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show By Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo Japan
What does it mean for a leader to be the “mood maker”? A mood maker is someone who sets the emotional tone of the team. When leaders stay isolated in plush executive offices, they risk losing contact with their people. Research and experience show that a leader’s visibility directly affects engagement, loyalty, and performance. Leaders who project energy and conviction, day after day, create the emotional climate that shapes culture. Mini-summary: Leaders set the emotional temperature—visibility and energy are non-negotiable. Why does visibility matter so much? Japanese business...
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371 Why Clients in Japan Rarely Call Back – And What Salespeople Can Do About It?
The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show By Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo Japan
Why don’t clients in Japan return sales calls? Because the gatekeepers are trained to block access. In Japan, the lowest ranked staff often answer the phones, but without proper training. Their mission is to protect managers from outside callers—especially salespeople. Instead of being helpful, they come across as cold, suspicious, even hostile. This is your client’s first impression of your business. If you test it by calling your own company, you’ll likely hear the same problem. Mini-summary: Gatekeepers in Japan are defensive, not welcoming. This blocks callbacks from the very...
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370 Why New Salespeople Struggle In Japan – And How To Fix It
The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show By Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo Japan
Why New Salespeople Struggle New hires, whether they are brand-new to sales or just new to the company, almost always take time before they start delivering results. Yet leaders in Japan often expect immediate miracles. The reality is that ramp-up takes time, especially in a culture where relationships drive business. Even experienced people entering a new organisation need months to learn internal systems, client expectations, and industry nuances. When unrealistic expectations are placed on them from day one, they start their career already on the back foot. Mini Summary: Unrealistic day-one...
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369 Corporate Ninjas of Concealment: How Leaders Lose Control
The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show By Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo Japan
Why Japanese Corporate Scandals Keep Happening — And What Leaders Must Do To Prevent Them Why do corporate scandals keep repeating in Japan? Japan has been hit again and again by revelations of non-compliance — from Nissan’s faulty vehicle inspections in 2017 to Kobe Steel’s falsified data and beyond. In some cases, these practices stretched on for decades before discovery. On the surface, companies chase the mantra: “reduce costs, increase revenue.” The Board applauds, shareholders smile, and quarterly reports look sharp. But behind the curtain,...
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368 The Cure for Corporate Cancer: Rethinking Sales Outreach
The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show By Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo Japan
Let’s talk about sales, and why the new year always feels like a repeat performance. Greek myths rarely have happy endings. They are mostly cautionary tales, reminders of how the Gods treated humans like toys. One myth, in particular, perfectly captures the life of a salesperson: the story of Sisyphus. He was condemned to push a massive rock up a hill, only to watch it roll back down again, forever. That is exactly what we face in sales. We push that giant rock—the annual budget—up the hill every year. We grind, we hustle, we celebrate the results at year’s end, and then what happens?...
info_outlineWe see Japan as a modern, high tech country very advanced in so many sectors. Sales is not one of them. Consultative selling is very passé in the West, yet it has hardly swum ashore here as yet. There are some cultural traits in Japan that work against sales success, such as not initiating a conversation with strangers. This makes networking a bit tricky to say the least. We train salespeople here in Japan and the following list is made up of the most common complaints companies have about their salespeople’s failings and why they are sending them to us for professional training.
- Only talk to existing customers because you are scared of finding new buyers
Japanese people are risk averse and everyone here prefers the devil they know to the angel they don’t know. Staying in the comfort zone of the known customer is preferred to trying to create a new relationship with a buyer they don’t know. Measurements systems and incentive schemes definitely need to include the number of new clients achieved as well as the overall revenues, if you want to grow the business.
- Pitch your product range, without having any idea about what the buyer needs
Diving straight into the company brochure or the product catalogue, the nitty gritty details is a big favourite here. The trouble is they want blue, we don’t know that because we haven’t asked what they want and we keep showing them yellow.
- Don’t seek permission to ask questions
Why don’t Japanese salespeople ask the buyer questions, to find out what they need, like the rest of the universe? It is considered rude by the buyer, also known as GOD. That is a cultural aspect that can be overcome if permission to ask questions is asked for first. Why don't they do that? Because they are trained by their seniors who never asked questions and who just went straight into the detail of the spec. The salespeople need training to learn how to craft the permission request.
- Let the buyer control the sales conversation
In Japan the buyer is not a lowly King but as I mentioned, an almighty GOD, whose penchant is to destroy pesky salespeople’s presentations. Salespeople here don’t know how to control the sales conversation, because they don’t know how to get permission to ask questions and control the direction of the conversation.
5. Don’t uncover the buyer need at all
It is almost impossible to hit a target you cannot ascertain. If the questions to ask need are not there, it is impossible to work out whether you have what the client needs or not.
- Only talk about the spec and maybe the benefits of the spec, but never talk about how to apply the benefit, show evidence where this has worked before and then go for a trial close.
When salespeople dive into the detail, they get stuck there. We don’t buy the spec. We buy the things the spec does for us. We need to draw out what are the benefits the spec delivers but much more than that. Few Japanese salespeople even get to the benefit explanations stage. We need to show how the benefit when applied in their business will improve their business and we back that up with evidence of where this has worked before.
- Don’t have any clue how to properly handle objections
Japanese salespeople suffer the same objections as everyone else, “your price is too high” etc., but they have no way of dealing with them. On the job training as an instructional methodology taps out pretty quickly when we get down to the finer points of sales ability. The simple answer is professional training because this is the difference between the pro and the mug.
- Always drop the price to gain the sale
It is shocking to think how much money is being left on the table by salespeople when they get price objections. Just dropping the price by 20% is common and it doesn’t have to be like this. If you know how to handle these types of pushback, then you can do a deal and either defend your value or reduce the amount of discounting.
- Don’t ever ask for the order
So many meetings end with a big fat nothing. The salesperson left the client “buy or won’t buy” bit quite vague and not clarified. Always ask for the order. The worst that can happen is you are told “no” or “we will think about it” but always ask. Don’t make the client do all the hard work, ask for the business.
Sales is not complex. It is a serious of basics that need to be performed professionally. Take a good look at what your Japanese colleagues are doing and see how many of these nine you can uncover.