Episode #90: Buyer Personality Styles in Business In Japan

We usually think in terms of cultural differences with the West when we are dealing with Japan. In fact, personality style differences of the buyer are much more important. Cultural factors form a base and on top of that are the idiosyncratic differences between Japanese buyers and ourselves. This becomes very key in communication terms. We won’t be changing our personality style or that of the buyer any time soon, but we can vary our communication style.

For example, imagine a horizontal axis. On the far left are people we would understand are low in assertion terms. They do not state their opinion openly, they keep a low profile and they are spending much of their time watching others doing, rather than doing themselves. The right side of the axis are people who are highly assertive. They state their opinion and seem to have an opinion on everything. They can be pushy, loud and aggressive. When we meet someone for the first time we can pretty much pick where they fall on this horizontal axis.

Now picture a vertical axis cutting through the horizontal axis. The top of the axis are individuals with a strong people focus. They are very much interested in helping other, they are concerned with how people feel. They often refer to the importance of people issues. At the other end, the bottom of that axis are people who are outcome, result, KPI focused. They don’t care that much about the people as they care more for the results. They are totally focused on the numbers and getting the numbers is all that counts.

If the buyer is in the high end of assertion and outcome driven we call them a Driver personality type. This style transcends their Japanese cultural traits. They are much more direct than other Japanese. They are often the founder/owner of their own business. They are “time is money” types, who don’t care much about having as cup of tea with you and want to get straight down to business, because they are always time poor and super busy.

When we are communicating with this type of person, we need to raise our voice loudness levels and pump up our energy levels in our body language. We can get straight to the point with them, telling what they should do and the three good reasons that makes sense. They are interested in how you can deliver results for them and little else. They don’t want a relationship with you, they want outcomes. They will make a decision on the spot without consulting anyone and will then want to move on. This cuts through a lot of typical time wasting to get to a consensus so they can make a decision in Japan. The down side is they will just say no and that is it, there is no going back to revisit the decision.

Their opposite number drives them nuts. The low in assertion/people orientated style are called Amiables – a sort of everyman type. As the name suggests they want to have a cup of tea and get to know you before they will be happy to get into a business relationship with you. They are people who speak quietly, display small amounts of energy or body language and who like to listen rather than do all the talking. They are slow to make a decision, because they need to make sure everyone is happy with what is going to happen. They are often the glue on the organization, going around to those who got sunburn from the Driver types in the meeting, to make sure they are okay. Drop your voice and energy when you speak with them and emphasise how people will feel really good about the decision you are asking them to take.

The other assertive personality style is the Expressive who is similar to the driver, but has a greater people orientation. They tell jokes, smile a lot, have a lot of energy, like to party. They are often salespeople, trainers, actors. They like being around people and they love the macro, big picture. They grab the marker pen and are brainstorming on the whiteboard in a flash. They are thinking about the future, the vision, the great things that are to come. Increase your energy when with them and expect to be invited to parties, dinners and events. They hate worrying about petty detail and just about all detail qualifies as petty for them. The typical salesperson hates filling out the CRM after the sale’s call, even though the marketing department is tonguing for the detail and data. Talk big picture with them and spare them the data and evidence – they don’t have much interest.

Their opposite number is the Analytical. They are fine with three decimal places when dealing with numbers. They love detail, clarity, precision, evidence, testimonials, data, statistics, numbers, proof etc. They are often accountants, engineers, scientists, lawyers. Come armed with detail for them. They cannot get enough of it so don’t ever worry you will be maxing them out with data. They don’t like unsupported statements by salespeople and all they believe is what they can see which can be proven. They are not interested in all that fluffy vision stuff and projections based on no reality, what they consider to be just wishful thinking. Don’t be bombastic, loud or aggressive with them – they don’t respect or like that. They are not rapid decision makers. They really need to analyse all the possibilities before they come to a determination.

We can pretty much place people into one of these four personality styles. When we do we need to start switching our usual communication style. If we just keep doing what we lie we will be a hit with one in four buyers and not such a hit with the other three. If we want to get four out of four, then we need to be able to speak four different personality style languages. If we can do that then we will be very successful in sales in Japan.