Episode #311: Reducing Friction In The Sale In Japan

Inertia is a powerful retardant to getting deals done in Japan. Either they already have a regular supplier or this is a new solution with which they have no experience and they don’t want to risk anything. Buying from you represents a number of changes which must take place on their side. Change equals risk in the Japanese buyer’s mind rather than opportunity. Doing nothing with the new solution is an easy decision. Sticking with the existing supplier is an easy decision. When we are trying to create a new client we must have the right mindset. If we are focused on getting a deal done then we will have trouble, because the whole process can be so frustrating and take such a long time. We are more inclined to give up altogether. If we are focused on the re-order, we will be in a better place mentally to do what is needed to get the deal done.

Speed is usually seen as a positive but not always in sales in Japan. Rushing into something which might blow up in your face, doesn’t enthuse the buyer to move things along at a brisk pace. As I like to remind myself, “the buyer in Japan is never on your schedule”. To get things moving a bit faster than otherwise, requires us to understand what is slowing down the process. We are usually talking to one section in the company but the post buying decision flow-ons will affect many sections within the organisation. Some will be much more affected than others and our job is to try and find out who that would be and what would be worrying them.

This is not that easy because we may never have the opportunity to meet that section and hear directly their concerns. Nevertheless, we need to ask our contacts for the lay of the land regarding who is pro and who is anti the new buying initiative. We can say, “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?”. The key at this point is to not dilute the power of the question by adding anything or by speaking. Don’t say anything and let them answer you.

After they have given you some hints on who will be most affected then we need to ask what would their particular concerns be? We can ask, “It is natural for the key sections you have nominated to take this change seriously and for them to investigate all angles involved. Often I have found that we have information which may not be known to these sections, which would change their perception of the ease of making the change. What would you say would be the major concerns of the ABC section?”. Again, we shut up and do not speak after asking the question.

It is important to keep digging. They may tell us some information about ABC section’s concerns, but we need to get more information. We should say, “Thank you for mentioning that. Apart from this concern can you think of other major hesitations which we may need to work on solving for them?”. It is often surprising that the key information doesn’t emerge, until we have dug down two or three levels. This makes sense though. The longer we give them to consider the question, the deeper they can go with their thinking, rather than just giving the first answer that pops into their mind, when we first bridge the subject. We should do the same for the other key sections which are most likely to be impacted by the change we are proposing.

At this point, we have built up a picture of the obstacles facing us to get this deal across the line and also regarding what we need to do to turn this deal into constant re-orders. The process will have revealed points of friction on their side to make the necessary new arrangements. We have to think about what we can do to remove or reduce those friction points. Perhaps we have to slow the process down to allow them the required time to make the adjustments. Maybe we have to eliminate some aspects of the deal in the first run and see if we can add these back in later, once things settle down. Maybe we have to adjust the payments schedule to fit in with their budgeting cycle or their current cash flow situation. Maybe we need to run a pilot test to help them fully understand what they need to do to make this solution work best for them. This is a low risk formula and once the option is proven, then ramping up the delivery of the solution gets faster and easier.

We are all creatures of habit and we prefer the Devil we know to the Angel we don’t. In the sales context we are the Angel they don’t know and we have to work out how we can make the change we are proposing as friction free as possible by fully understanding what they need to go through to implement it. To do this we need to be full professionals and ask intelligent, carefully constructed questions to unearth the information we will need. There are no shortcuts, it takes time and it is necessary if we are going to create the opportunity to get the re-orders.