Thought Leadership

Episode #224: Gamification Makes Sales Role Play Fun

Why do most sales teams struggle to stay sharp—even when they’re experienced? Sales professionals in Japan and...

Episode #225: Buyers Remember Our Stories When We Are Selling

Why do strong client relationships and great needs discovery still end in “no decision” or lost deals? Many sa...

Episode #226: Handling Client Objections When Online

Why do clients hesitate or object in remote sales conversations? Client hesitation or objections are usually s...

Episode #227: Selling Online Forever

Online selling isn’t a temporary phase. It’s the new operating system for sales. The real question for leaders...

Episode #228: How To Sell On Clubhouse For The Japan Market

Why does “hard selling” fail in Japan, and what works instead? Japan is a high-context, trust-first business c...

Episode #229: The Seven Lucky Stars Of Selling

Sales can feel like a game of chance, but top performers know something different: luck is often the result of...

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...