Episode #262: Don't Sell The Prez

What happens after you finally meet the President—and still don’t get the sale?

You win the meeting. The President nods. Maybe they even tell HR to follow up. Then… silence. If you sell into big Japanese corporates—especially listed firms—you’ve probably felt this whiplash. The issue isn’t your pitch. It’s the decision-making system, and it works differently from the West.

Mini-summary: In Japan, a Presidential meeting can be a strong signal, but it rarely guarantees a purchase unless you understand how internal approvals actually move.

In many Western contexts, access to the CEO or President usually means access to the ultimate decision-maker. In Japan, that’s only true in a specific kind of company: the wan man shachō (ワンマン社長 / “dictatorial one-man President”) firm, where a single leader decides everything. Convert that person and the sale often follows.

But in larger companies or listed enterprises, the President is typically not the owner and does not push deals through personally. Their role is more symbolic and directional than operational.

Mini-summary: Unless you’re dealing with a wan man shachō (ワンマン社長 / dictatorial one-man President), Presidential access is not the same as decision control.

Imagine meeting a major Japanese company President at a business event. You exchange cards, discuss staff issues, and they invite you in for a formal meeting. In the office, the conversation goes well. So well that the President phones in two HR heads and instructs them—right in front of you—to follow up on buying your training services.

You leave convinced a sale is close. You contact HR. They never respond. No calls back. No replies. The President’s instruction seems ignored.

This isn’t rare. It’s a predictable outcome of the system.

Mini-summary: Even explicit instructions from a President can dissolve after the meeting because the real decision path sits elsewhere in the organization.

Japanese decision-making is consensus-driven and bottom-up, not top-down. After your meeting:

1. The President casually tells a direct report to “look into it.”

2. That message travels down the hierarchy.

3. A very junior staff member in the relevant division performs the due diligence.

4. Their findings go to a section head.

5. If the section head dislikes the offer, the deal ends quietly.

6. If they see value, they stamp approval with a hankō (判子 / personal seal) on a ringishō (稟議書 / internal approval document).

7. The ringishō moves upward and sideways across other affected divisions, each repeating due diligence independently.

8. Only when all relevant division heads seal it does the lead division contact you again.

Any change to the proposal restarts the ringishō cycle.

Mini-summary: The ringishō (稟議書 / internal approval document) process means decisions emerge through multiple layers of junior review and cross-division consensus.

What does “we’ll think about it” really mean in Japan?

Western sales culture often treats “We’ll think about it” as stalling. In Japan, it usually means they must formally process the decision, gather internal agreement, and de-risk the choice. This can take weeks or months, depending on company size and complexity.

Meanwhile, you often cannot influence the internal ringishō pathway, nor can you identify who holds veto power. Assuming the President is still shepherding your deal is the most common sales illusion in Japan.

Mini-summary: “We’ll think about it” is not a brush-off; it’s a sign the internal consensus machine has started.

To succeed with major Japanese corporates (日本企業 / Japanese companies), you need to sell to the system, not just the top.

Practical adaptations:

• Map stakeholders early. Don’t rely on the President meeting alone.

• Equip the junior evaluator. Your materials must help a young staffer justify you internally.

• Expect slow cycles. Build patience and cadence into your pipeline.

• Reduce proposal churn. Every revision triggers a new ringishō (稟議書 / internal approval document) loop.

• Work multi-level relationships. Parallel trust across divisions prevents silent vetoes.

These approaches are especially vital for multinational clients (外資系企業 / foreign-affiliated companies) and large Tokyo-based enterprises (東京 / Tokyo).

Mini-summary: Winning in Japan requires enabling bottom-up internal advocacy and pacing for long consensus timelines.

• Presidential access in Japan is valuable, but rarely decisive in large firms.

• The ringishō (稟議書 / internal approval document) system shifts real power to multi-layer consensus.

• Junior due diligence is a critical gate—sell to the evaluator, not just the executive.

• Patience and multi-stakeholder engagement are essential for enterprise sales in Japan.

Founded in the U.S. in 1912, Dale Carnegie Training has supported individuals and companies worldwide for over a century in leadership (リーダーシップ研修 / leadership training), sales (営業研修 / sales training), presentation (プレゼンテーション研修 / presentation training), executive coaching (エグゼクティブ・コーチング / executive coaching), and DEI (DEI研修 / DEI training). Our Tokyo office, established in 1963, has been empowering both Japanese and multinational corporate clients ever since.