Episode #171: Just In Time Is Bad In Sales

Toyota is famous for its JIT or Just In Time system of logistics when building cars. Parts arrive exactly when needed, so have vast space for item storage isn’t necessary, saving time and money. When we are selling we sometimes stray into this territory too, but this is a bad move. In the case of salespeople they are doing their background research into the company in the taxi or on the subway, as they head to the client’s site. They begin thinking about the buyer needs only once they get into the meeting. The come with nothing for the buyer because they haven’t prepared anything.

In a perfect world, the salesperson will bring some information or insight for the buyer that they will value. This enables them to differentiate themselves from all of the other salespeople out there selling the exact same thing. This is the beauty of sales, if you spend the time to research what is happening in the industry, to make the effort to collect data that is relevant, to showcase likely trends for the buyer, to bring forth some best practise they may not be aware of, then you can stand far above the crowd,

If the aim is to partner with buyer then this is what a good partner will do. If you are looking beyond the initial sale to the reorder and to a lifetime relationship with the buyer, then these pieces of the puzzle become worth investing in. You cannot do this in the subway car On the way there, trying to be JIT efficient with your time. In fact this is totally inefficient and counter productive.

In the sales meeting we don’t want to be cutting corners. The typical Japanese salesperson will leap straight into the product catalogue or the product flyers and start expounding on the virtues of the company’s line up. They are waxing lyrical over their pink range not knowing that the buyer wants blue. This is totally inefficient and ineffective, yet this is what 99% of Japanese salespeople are doing everyday – running around giving their pitch before they know what the buyer needs.

Does the buyer believe what the salesperson is telling them in a first meeting, where there has been no precedent of supply and no track record of reliability? Of course the answer in Japan is a big fat “no”. There is no trust, so no matter how glorious the photos in the catalogue and how flashy the flyers, they won’t go for it. Out first job is to build trust. Part of that process is to break the ice wall with the suspicious buyer, to find out what they need by asking questions. It sounds the simplest thing in the world but buyers in Japan have been trained by lousy salespeople to expect a pitch and not to have answer questions. After all, the buyer is God and God shouldn’t have to do anything for the seller.

This is how hard getting permission to ask questions is in Japan: “We have a very big line up of solutions, so it makes it very hard for me to know what will serve you best. In order for me to really pinpoint only the best solutions for you, from this big line-up, would you mind if I asked you a few questions?”. This process can’t be short-circuited in Japan, if you want to make sales.

When we are asking our questions we are searching for the size of the gap between where they are now and where they want to be. I was meeting the new President of this firm after having failed for eight years to interest his predecessor in our training solutions. During the course of the questioning I realised that the gap between their current position and where they wanted to be, was small enough that they felt they could bridge it themselves without outside help. That meant we had no hope of making a sale. Unless there is a big enough gap, our ability to get involved in providing solutions is removed.

Trying to cut corners and save time, by going straight into solutions is a waste of time, because we just don’t know enough about what the buyer actually needs and whether we are the ones to provide that solution. So we should research well beforehand, come armed with insights, get permission to ask questions upfront and try and widen the buyer’s perception of where they are now and where they want to be.