Asking Buyers Questions When Doing Business In Japan

Asking Buyers Questions When Doing Business In Japan

In the West we have all been trained in consultative selling for many decades. The buyers are used to salespeople turning up and asking a lot of questions to find out if there is some way they can help the buyer, through providing their solution to solve buyer problems.  The act of asking of questions is never even thought about, because that is how it is done.

In Japan, they don’t really have professional salespeople, because here they have pitchpeople instead. They ask no questions, just turn up and give their pitch.  They roll out the flyers or the brochures and go straight into the nitty gritty of the detail and the spec.  They want to throw enough mud at the wall to see if any of it sticks. This is what the buyers have been trained to expect as well – no questions, just a pitchfest.

If you are coming out of the Western sales environment, you are going to be using consultative sales techniques and start asking the buyer a number of questions.  This is a problem.  In the West, we say the buyer is King.  In Japan, the buyer is not King but God.  By the way, God doesn’t answer questions from impertinent salespeople. They are insulted to be asked questions. God gets the sales pitch and then destroys it, to make sure the risk factor has been fully minimized.

You can ask questions of the buyer in Japan, but you can’t just blunder your way in there and start blasting forth with probing questions.  You need to set it up first.  Here is how you set it up.  You begin with a bit of chit chat to break the ice at the start of the meeting. Next you describe what it is that you do.  Then give an example of a similar company’s case where you have helped them improve their results.  Suggest that “maybe”, you could do the same for them.  Then say, in order for you to know of that is a possibility or not, could you ask a few questions?  

For example, “Dale Carnegie Training is a global specialist soft skills training company.  We help people to develop in their careers and develop businesses to get the outcomes they are after. An example of this would be XYZ company where we trained all of their Hotel staff and they found the client feedback really got a lift and repeat booking definitely improved. Maybe we could do the same for you.  I am not sure, but in order for me to know if this is possible or not, would you mind if I asked you a few questions?”.  There is your request for permission to ask questions, as opposed to going straight into the questioning format.

You will notice we say “maybe” rather than we can definitely do that for you.  In the West, we might say “we can definitely do this for you” as a statement.  We say “maybe” however in Japan and we do this to make it soft and less aggressive.  We only ask for permission to ask a few questions. If there is no match, well there won’t be many questions, but if it is a match and there is interest, there may be many questions – we won’t know that until we ask the first few questions of the buyer.

We ask well designed questions of the buyer and are simultaneously mentally running  through our library of solutions we have, to see if we can help them.  If we can’t, we shouldn’t be wasting anyone’s time.  We should off finding a buyer we can actually help.  

When it comes to the solution provision part, we know what they were after, so we can link our product or service to the solution provision they need.  In Japan, it doesn’t work like that.  The pitchperson here turns up and skips straight past the questioning stage plunging headlong into the detail of the solution. They do this, not even knowing if it is the appropriate solution for the needs of the buyer or not.  The buyer has been trained by these pitchpeople and are simply not able to encompass the concept of questions for God.  

You turn up with your professional Western sales approach and start asking questions.  What you get then from the buyer is total silence, they just don’t respond. This is because they can’t accept God getting questioned by a nobody.  They will just change the subject and be asking for your pitch.  Trust me, you don’t want to go there.

You have to set it up and get permission to ask questions.  If you do that you will be successful in Japan.  If you want to be pitchperson instead, let me know how that is working out for you. I don’t think it will go too well.  Much better to be a professional salesperson and ask well designed questions to uncover where you can be of service to the buyer. Remember, with questioning buyers in Japan, get permission first.

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About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

Author of Japan Sales Mastery, the Amazon #1 Bestseller on selling in Japan and the first book on the subject in the last thirty years.

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.