Remembering my Meetings in Japan

Today is Sunday and having Leisure time in Tokyo. I thought of capturing some of my experiences and learnings while being in Japan and meeting with Japanese customers for last several years.

I thought of writing on the difficulties and challenges I personally felt while doing business in Japan. Even being bilingual Business Leader, I often think of overseas professionals who make an effort to initiate a business deal in Japan with Japanese business houses. Have you ever been to a business meeting in Japan?

Well, I remember some of my meetings in early 90's and early 2000 and even now, my experience during the meetings that the potential Japanese business partners or customers were very polite and seemed reasonably interested in our products or Services , but sometimes it was extremely difficult to enter into a successful business deal discussion right away as they are used to in other markets like India or in US.

Oh! the way they share their concerns and challenges with dignity and with the degree of politeness was amazing. Unless you are dealing with a charismatic top executive at a large global company or a managing director of a family owned business, you will not get your sales contract signed just after your first or second or third meeting. In fact, simply setting up the first meeting can be extremely difficult in Japan. Do you know Why?

Because in Japan, the executives really spends time on things that are thought over and over, they collect and collate data, analyse and based upon it, a perception is built which will then be presented to their colleagues who are to be convinced for the meetings. And once the meeting is successful the executives will need to take responsibility for the success or the failure of it. This is a time-consuming process.

Initially it was very frustrating for me during the sales process, thinking the reason why I could not hear from the Japanese companies And I realised it was because the Japanese were too polite to say no and just waiting for me to lose interest (which can also be the case). However, in my case, the Japanese contact person actually kept doing his research on the project feasibility and providing other groups in the company with information, a procedure which was repeated for months.

Therefore, silence could actually also be a good sign. It means that the Japanese are taking the offer from us seriously. They include and consult with everyone who will have to agree on the need to purchase the service offerings.

Once the consensus has been made, actions are immediately taken and things start moving very quickly as all involved groups of the organisation are already onboard and ready to carry out what has been decided. And thats how we used to receive the good news of winning a deal.

In the Process I learnt that The Japanese do not feel comfortable with taking risks in making decisions.

I also understood that Risk and return assessment in Japan is different from other markets. Generally, there are very few incentives for your Japanese counterpart (or their business unit) for success, but failure brings shame and sometimes leads to punishment.

Therefore, as conclusion,I can say that, to begin with, the Japanese accepting meeting you, means they have basic interest in your product or Services. That means again they must have pain, and your offer could be a solution. In such a case you should be able to point out the gaps and pain points in their current situation/product. Additionally, we all must understand that the business world is quickly changing. Like it or not, they need to change their decision-making style and move quicker sooner or later - and they very well know the fact that world is changing and hence they too have to change.