Thought Leadership

How Sales Teams in Japan Can Adapt to Organizational Change

In many organisations, strategic decisions are made in quiet, polished C-suites far removed from the realities...

Episode #230: The Care Factor In Sales In Japan

Why do Japanese salespeople often prioritize clients over their own firm? Japanese salespeople are famously de...

Episode #231: Selling Through Telling Micro Stories

Why is selling both telling and asking questions? In modern consultative selling, success comes from a balance...

Episode #232: We Buy From People We Like And Trust

Why do buyers “buy from people they like and trust,” and what changes online? In any market, purchases flow to...

Episode #233: Confidence And Truth In Selling

Confidence sells—but in Japan’s business environment, how you show confidence matters just as much as what you...

Episode #234: Why Selling To Japanese Buyers Is So Hard And What To Do About It

Why do Western sales models struggle in Japan? In many Western markets, sales is built on the idea that “the b...

Episode #235: Dealing with Bad News

Why do buyers punish sellers who hide the “ugly numbers”? Because buyers always find out. If a seller tries to...

Episode #236: The Big Myth of the Sales A Players

Small and mid-sized firms in Tokyo and across Japan face a hard question: how do you raise performance when yo...

Episode #237: Do You Have Enough Grey Hairs In The Sales Team In Japan

Why does hierarchy in Japan shape who can credibly train or sell to clients? In Japan, business culture is dee...

Episode #238: Create Reference Points For Clients

Why is finding new corporate clients in Japan harder during the pandemic? The pandemic has made new client dev...

Episode #239: The Three Barbers Of Minato

Why do even great Tokyo service businesses sometimes lose loyal customers? Tokyo, especially Minato-ku (港区 — “...

Episode #240: Nemawashi Is Gold When Selling In Japan

Why do smart ideas stall in Japanese companies even when they seem “obviously right”? If you’ve ever walked ou...

Episode #241: Bringing More Marketing Into Sales Calls

Sales teams in Japan and global markets rely on flyers, catalogs, slide decks, proposals, quotations, and invo...

Episode #242: I Like It, It Sounds Really Good, But I Am Not Going To Buy It

Why do well-run sales meetings still end with no deal? Even when you win the appointment and ask smart discove...

Episode #243: We Need More Formality On Line When Selling To Japanese Buyers

Selling face-to-face to a Japanese buyer and selling to that same buyer online are completely different games....

Episode #244: The Craziness Of Sales In Japan

Why do many highly capable Japanese teams still underperform in sales by Western benchmarks? Japan is world-cl...

Episode #245: That Sounds Pricey

When a buyer in Japan says, “That sounds pricey,” most salespeople feel a spike of pressure to defend the numb...

Episode #246: How To Sell From The Stage

Why do audiences resist sales pitches at events — and how can you prevent it? Most event presentations follow ...

Episode #247: Four Client Focus Areas For Salespeople

Why do buyers still say “no” even when your solution is strong? Many sales conversations fail not because the ...

Episode #248: Selling As A Team

Business leaders in Japan often ask: Why do capable sales teams still miss growth targets even when everyone i...