How to build strong sales in Japan even if you have no customers and no brand recognition

Tim Romero is a Tokyo-based innovator, author, and entrepreneur who has started several companies since coming to Japan more than 20 years ago. He is deeply involved in Japan’s startup community as an investor, founder, and mentor, and believes that a new wave of entrepreneurship is already beginning to fundamentally change Japan for the better. Tim is currently Representative Director of Engine Yard, K.K., writes a bilingual blog, and hosts the Disrupting Japan podcast.

Selling to Japanese businesses is no harder than selling to businesses anywhere else in the world. It’s different, certainly, but it is not harder.

I’ve built several companies in Japan over the past 20 years. I’ve sold hardware, software, building materials, jewelry, and even entire companies. I’ve trained Western staff to effectively sell to Japanese customers, and I’ve trained Japanese staff to effectively sell to Japanese customers.

I am not telling you this to brag. I need to establish some baseline credentials because every year millions of dollars and thousands of consulting hours are spent to convince you that sales in Japan is complicated and arcane. It’s not.

Sales in Japan is unique in the sense that all cultures and markets are unique, but it is not uniquely unique. The differences are worth understanding, but the similarities are more important. Unfortunately, there is a tendency to fixate on these differences and inflate them to mythic proportions.

The most pervasive myths about selling in Japan center on absurdly long sales cycles and the extraordinary lengths to which salesmen must go to in order to build personal relationships and gain their client’s trust.

Like most myths, they are based on a few core truths. Sales cycles really are longer in Japan than they are in Western countries, and this is largely due to the fact that Japanese really do place a great deal of importance on being able to trust both the people and the companies they do business with.

It’s worth noting that the long sales cycle is not really a negative. In fact, it is almost perfectly canceled out by higher rates of customer retention. This is only natural since it takes your customers just as much time and effort to choose a new vendor as it did for them to choose you.

Although the cycle is longer, there is nothing mysterious or novel about the sales process. Sales funnels in Japan move forward in logical, measurable fashion just as they do everywhere else. Unfortunately, there seems to be a cottage industry focused on trying to make Japan seem more complicated than it really is.

The literature that focuses on teaching foreigners to sell in Japan is filled with stories of dedicated salesmen who spend years building a prospect’s trust. You read of salesmen picking up their clients’ children from school, arranging their wives’ shopping trips, and spending years quietly attending social events fawning over their targets. In this fantasy world, business is not discussed directly, but one day a deal suddenly closes.

Those who spin these yarns are probably not lying. Sales do occasionally happen this way. The absurdity is in thinking that such tactics are an effective or reliable way to either build trust or build a business.

The truth of the matter is that trust based solely on physical proximity or obsequious servitude is the weakest and most unstable form of trust in a Japanese business relationship. If you have a strong brand behind you and literally nothing else to offer, this strategy might work for you. You might occasionally make a sale out of pity, but you won’t build a business.

The key to selling in Japan is building high-quality trust, and the key to building high-quality trust is being trustworthy, I admit that sounds flip, so let me outline a simple strategy that will enable you to start selling in Japan even if you have no customers and no brand recognition. It’s certainly not the only way to do it, but it’s a solid approach if you are starting form zero.

The most effective way to build high-quality trust is to participate in the community. Whatever your business, there are trade shows, industry groups, charities, and open seminars in which you are welcome to participate. These are the arenas in which you can demonstrate both your competency and your commitment to the market.