Episode #253: Japan Doesn't Change In Sales

Why do Western sales methods keep “evolving,” while Japan seems stuck?

In the West, sales frameworks like SPIN Selling, Consultative Selling, and Challenger Selling have risen in waves because markets, buyers, and competitive pressure changed. But in Japan, many organizations still rely on a feature-heavy pitch-first approach that looks almost identical to decades ago.

That doesn’t mean Japan is behind intellectually. It means the environment of selling in Japan is structurally different, so Western-style “new eras of selling” haven’t taken root the same way.

Mini-summary: Western sales changed because the context changed; Japan hasn’t shifted because its sales context rewards different behaviors.

The biggest gap is decision making. In many Western contexts, the person you’re selling to is a direct decision maker. That’s why Western sales training stresses “overcoming objections” and closing tactics.

In Japan, most buyers are salaried employees who act as influencers, not final decision makers. Decisions move through a bottom-up consensus system often described as ringi (稟議, “consensus approval process”) and nemawashi (根回し, “informal stakeholder alignment before decisions”).

So even if you meet the company President, the proposal usually travels downward to someone who does due diligence and consults multiple Division or Section Heads you may never meet. You’re not in a one-on-one match — you’re facing a team of invisible decision makers.

Mini-summary: Japan’s consensus culture means selling is rarely “buyer vs. seller”; it’s “seller vs. many unseen stakeholders.”

Because the influencer you speak with can’t be forced into a “yes.” If you push hard, you don’t accelerate the sale — you create risk for them.

Your contact must defend your proposal internally to people with different priorities. If you pressure them prematurely, they lose trust in you and lose confidence that they can safely champion you inside their organization.

Mini-summary: In Japan, a hard close creates internal risk for your buyer, so it slows the deal instead of speeding it.

In the West, champion building happens sometimes. In Japan, it happens almost always.

Your key contact must become your internal advocate, ready for objections from stakeholders you never see. That means your job is to proactively support them with:

• clear logic, credibility, and evidence

• answers to likely objections

• materials they can share internally

• a safe, low-risk narrative for why your solution should be chosen

You’re not just persuading one buyer; you’re equipping your champion to persuade their system.

Mini-summary: Success in Japan depends on enabling your champion to win internal consensus for you.

Many buyers in Japan expect a pitch first. When salespeople try consultative questioning, they get ignored — not because buyers hate questions, but because the market has been trained for decades to expect features and price upfront.

This creates a strange loop:

• salespeople pitch because buyers expect it

• buyers expect pitches because salespeople keep giving them

Even today, many sales calls involve zero needs-discovery questions.
Mini-summary: Japan’s market norms reward pitching, so consultative selling hasn’t become standard — yet.

What’s the problem with pitching without discovery?

Pitching features before understanding needs is inefficient and expensive.

If you don’t know the buyer’s priorities, pain points, or desired future state, you can’t know which features matter or how to frame benefits, applied benefits, and proof.

Dale Carnegie introduced public sales training in 1939 emphasizing questions-first selling. Over 80 years later, much of Japan is still operating in pitch-only mode.
Mini-summary: Pitching without discovery is guesswork — and guesswork kills relevance and trust.

What is the updated Japan-fit sales process we should adopt now?

To bring selling in Japan into the modern era, the process is simple, human, and low-risk:

1. Ask permission to ask questions — build psychological safety and respect.

2. Ask the questions — uncover needs, barriers, and success definitions.

3. Decide the best solution — based on what you learned, not what you assumed.

4. Present that solution — clearly tied to their needs and internal logic.

5. Handle hesitations or objections — especially the invisible stakeholders’ concerns.

6. Ask for the order — at the right time, with consensus support.

If your team isn’t doing this, the right question is not “Why won’t Japan change?” but “Why are we still selling like it’s 1980?”
Mini-summary: Japan needs a permission-based, question-driven process that supports consensus decisions.

Dale Carnegie Tokyo (デール・カーネギー東京, “Dale Carnegie Tokyo”) trains sales teams to succeed in Japan’s real buying environment — consensus-driven, stakeholder-heavy, and relationship-sensitive.

Our programs help salespeople:

• shift from pitch-only to consultative discovery

• build champions inside 日本企業 (“Japanese companies”) and 外資系企業 (“multinational companies”)

• present solutions that survive internal due diligence

• create trust across long decision cycles

• close naturally without pressure tactics

Backed by over 100 years of global expertise and more than 60 years in 東京 (“Tokyo”), we combine proven Carnegie principles with Japan-specific selling realities.

Mini-summary: We help sales teams in Japan sell in ways that match how Japan actually buys.

• Japan’s sales “stagnation” is caused by decision structure, not lack of talent.

• Selling here means equipping an internal champion for ringi (稟議, “consensus approval”).

• Pitch-first habits persist, but they’re no longer competitive.

• A permission-based, question-driven process is the path forward.

Founded in the U.S. in 1912, Dale Carnegie Training has supported individuals and companies worldwide for over a century in leadership, sales, presentation, executive coaching, and DEI. Our Tokyo office, established in 1963, has been empowering both Japanese and multinational corporate clients ever since.