Episodios

  • 372 From Ritz-Carlton to Pasona: What Leaders Can Learn About Mood Making

    372 From Ritz-Carlton to Pasona: What Leaders Can Learn About Mood Making
    Oct 12 2025

    What does it mean for a leader to be the “mood maker”?
    A mood maker is someone who sets the emotional tone of the team. When leaders stay isolated in plush executive offices, they risk losing contact with their people. Research and experience show that a leader’s visibility directly affects engagement, loyalty, and performance. Leaders who project energy and conviction, day after day, create the emotional climate that shapes culture.
    Mini-summary: Leaders set the emotional temperature—visibility and energy are non-negotiable.

    Why does visibility matter so much?
    Japanese business leader Yasuyuki Nambu of Pasona insisted his executives work in open-plan spaces. Employees saw him move through the office daily, reinforcing approachability and connection. Management thinker Tom Peters called this MBWA—Management by Wandering Around. Leaders who are visible influence more effectively than those hidden behind doors.
    Mini-summary: Visibility breaks down barriers and makes leadership influence real.

    How do rituals reinforce leadership mood?
    The Ritz-Carlton perfected daily rituals to unite staff worldwide. Every shift, in every location, employees review the same service principles. Even CEOs attend and sometimes junior staff lead. This proves that culture is driven by daily repetition, not occasional slogans. Leaders who commit to rituals demonstrate that mood-making is everyone’s responsibility.
    Mini-summary: Daily rituals anchor culture and sustain a leader’s influence.

    What can Japanese leaders learn from this?
    In Japan, the chorei morning huddle serves the same purpose. At Shinsei Retail Bank, leaders ran daily principle reviews at every branch. At Dale Carnegie Training Japan, the “Daily Dale” ritual uses 30 human relations and 30 stress management principles. These routines turn abstract values into lived behaviours, shaping mood across teams.
    Mini-summary: Daily huddles transform values into lived culture.

    Isn’t it exhausting for leaders to always project positivity?
    Yes—but that’s the job. Leadership isn’t about how you feel in the moment; it’s about what the team needs. Even on bad days, leaders must rise above personal moods and radiate passion, commitment, and belief in the “why.” Energy is contagious. Without it, teams drift into disengagement.
    Mini-summary: Leaders must project energy even when they don’t feel it.

    What is the ultimate impact of leaders as mood makers?
    When leaders step forward and embody visibility, energy, and conviction, they inspire trust and engagement. They don’t just manage—they infect their teams with purpose. In contrast, leaders who retreat into offices create distance and apathy. The leader’s mood becomes the team’s culture.
    Mini-summary: Leadership mood directly becomes organisational culture.

    Great leaders are always mood makers. By staying visible, leading rituals, and projecting energy, they set the culture in motion and inspire teams to perform at their best.
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    11 m
  • 371 Why Clients in Japan Rarely Call Back – And What Salespeople Can Do About It?

    371 Why Clients in Japan Rarely Call Back – And What Salespeople Can Do About It?
    Oct 5 2025

    Why don’t clients in Japan return sales calls?
    Because the gatekeepers are trained to block access. In Japan, the lowest ranked staff often answer the phones, but without proper training. Their mission is to protect managers from outside callers—especially salespeople. Instead of being helpful, they come across as cold, suspicious, even hostile. This is your client’s first impression of your business. If you test it by calling your own company, you’ll likely hear the same problem.
    Mini-summary: Gatekeepers in Japan are defensive, not welcoming. This blocks callbacks from the very beginning.

    How do cultural habits make it worse?
    Risk aversion dominates Japanese business. Staff avoid giving their names when answering phones to eliminate accountability. For a salesperson, that means you’re dealing with an anonymous voice, reluctant to help. Courtesy in the West often means offering to take a message. In Japan, you usually just hear “they’re not at their desk.” The expectation is you’ll go away quietly.
    Mini-summary: In Japan, anonymity and risk aversion fuel resistance to helping salespeople.

    Why don’t messages ever get returned?
    Clients are swamped. The Age of Distraction means their days are full of meetings, emails, and digital overload. Even if a message does get written down, it often ends up buried under papers or lost in an overcrowded inbox. By the time they notice, it’s too late—or it looks like clutter. Sales feels personal, but the silence is rarely about you.
    Mini-summary: Messages don’t get returned because clients are distracted, not because they dislike you.

    What should salespeople do instead of waiting?
    Persistence. Leave messages every time. Follow up with email. Send physical mail. Try visiting, if you can get through building security. The salesperson’s job is to keep making contact, not to give up. When you finally reach them, never complain about how hard they were to contact. Courtesy has changed, and callbacks are no longer part of the business culture.
    Mini-summary: Keep contacting, without complaint. Courtesy norms have changed—adapt or fail.

    What if clients complain about too many calls?
    Stay calm. Never get defensive. Apologise lightly: “You’re right, I have been calling a lot, haven’t I?” Then pivot: “The reason is what we have is so valuable, I would be failing my duty not to share it.” This shows professionalism and positions you as a value creator, not a nuisance.
    Mini-summary: Deflect complaints with humour and reframe persistence as professionalism.

    How can persistence win respect?
    Remind clients that they expect their own salespeople to show persistence. They know follow-up builds results. Deep down, they respect salespeople who push through obstacles, even if they never admit it aloud. In Japan, patience and professionalism eventually break through. The wall will crack if you stay consistent.
    Mini-summary: Persistence earns respect, even when unspoken.

    ✅ Final Takeaway: Silence from clients is not rejection. It is an invitation to stay persistent, professional, and patient until the door opens.
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    12 m
  • 370 Why New Salespeople Struggle In Japan – And How To Fix It

    370 Why New Salespeople Struggle In Japan – And How To Fix It
    Sep 28 2025
    Why New Salespeople Struggle New hires, whether they are brand-new to sales or just new to the company, almost always take time before they start delivering results. Yet leaders in Japan often expect immediate miracles. The reality is that ramp-up takes time, especially in a culture where relationships drive business. Even experienced people entering a new organisation need months to learn internal systems, client expectations, and industry nuances. When unrealistic expectations are placed on them from day one, they start their career already on the back foot. Mini Summary: Unrealistic day-one expectations ignore how sales in Japan actually work — relationships and systems take time to build. What Makes Recruitment So Expensive? Recruiting salespeople in Japan is costly, partly because talent is scarce. Agencies often charge fees of around 35–40% of the first year’s base salary. Add to that the salary itself — especially for English-speaking salespeople, who can command 20–30% higher compensation — and the initial outflow of money is massive. The problem is that while expenses flood out from day one, revenue from the new hire trickles in slowly. This creates enormous pressure on sales leaders, who then expect results too quickly. It becomes a vicious cycle: high cost, unrealistic demands, early disappointment. Mini Summary: With recruiting fees and salaries high, companies demand too much, too soon, from new sales hires. Why Superficial Training Fails Many firms assume salespeople “already know how to sell” and restrict onboarding to product knowledge. The new hire is shown the catalogue, given a few manager-accompanied visits, and then sent off to perform. But very few Japanese salespeople have ever received professional sales training. Most only get a thin slice of OJT — On the Job Training — and are left to figure the rest out. Without proper skills, they default to pitching randomly, relying on brochures and luck. Professional training, by contrast, teaches how to ask powerful questions, design solutions that match real needs, handle objections, and close the sale. A new hire with these skills instantly outperforms the average local salesperson who never learned them. Mini Summary: Superficial onboarding wastes money. Proper sales training equips new hires with skills that immediately lift performance. What’s Wrong with Sales Targets? Target-setting in Japan is often based more on fantasy than fact. Leaders pluck numbers from thin air, with no real data behind them, and then demand the newcomer hits them. For someone in their first year, these inflated targets crush confidence rather than inspire effort. In our firm, we took a different approach. We built a spreadsheet tracking each salesperson’s revenue quarter by quarter from their day one. By analysing averages, we could see what was truly realistic for year one, year two, and beyond. This gives a scientific base for setting expectations, avoiding the destructive guesswork that drives people away. Mini Summary: Data-driven targets build confidence and realism; fantasy numbers only drive frustration and turnover. Why Retention is the Real Battle Recruiting a salesperson is only half the job. Keeping them is the other half, and arguably the harder one. When we pile too much pressure on in the first year, many hires simply give up. The tragedy is that by then, they already have valuable product knowledge, client relationships, and maybe even professional training. Losing them means losing an investment of money, time, and credibility with clients. Worse still, some join competitors. I experienced this personally when a trained and client-connected hire quit and reappeared as our rival. That kind of loss stings and reminds us that retention must be protected at all costs. Mini Summary: Overpressure kills retention. Losing trained, connected hires means losing your investment — sometimes to competitors. So, What’s the Answer? The solution is not revolutionary, but it is often ignored. Start with science in target-setting. Support it with real, professional sales training. Layer encouragement on top so new hires believe they can succeed. The combination builds confidence, reduces turnover, and protects your investment. It also creates a reputation for stability and fairness in the marketplace. Clients notice when your team is consistent and reliable. New hires notice when they are supported rather than crushed. Everyone benefits. The methods are obvious, but the discipline to execute them consistently is what separates sustainable sales teams from revolving-door disasters. Mini Summary: Add science, add training, add encouragement — and you keep talent, protect investment, and win client trust.
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    11 m
  • 369 Corporate Ninjas of Concealment: How Leaders Lose Control

    369 Corporate Ninjas of Concealment: How Leaders Lose Control
    Sep 22 2025
    Why Japanese Corporate Scandals Keep Happening — And What Leaders Must Do To Prevent Them Why do corporate scandals keep repeating in Japan? Japan has been hit again and again by revelations of non-compliance — from Nissan’s faulty vehicle inspections in 2017 to Kobe Steel’s falsified data and beyond. In some cases, these practices stretched on for decades before discovery. On the surface, companies chase the mantra: “reduce costs, increase revenue.” The Board applauds, shareholders smile, and quarterly reports look sharp. But behind the curtain, corners are cut, compliance steps skipped, and procedures quietly subverted. Eventually, everything bursts onto the front page. Newspapers, evening newscasters, and magazines feast on the scandal for months. 👉 Answer Card: Compliance shortcuts always unravel — and in Japan the media monetises the fallout relentlessly. Why doesn’t leadership stop these failures? Executives often assume systems are working. They hope rules are followed. But hope is not a system. As Australians say after doing something incredibly foolish, often after a few drinks: “it seemed like a good idea at the time.” That sums up many Japanese compliance lapses. After the damage is done, leaders promise reforms, but the cycle repeats. 👉 Answer Card: Leaders who rely on assumptions, not verification, set themselves up for failure. Why is Japan a particularly tough environment for leaders? In Japan, the fear of failure is severe. Mistakes invite shame, career damage, even social ostracism. So employees hide them. They withhold information, they keep bosses in the dark, they become “corporate ninjas” skilled at concealment. The Nissan case made this visible. President Hiroto Saikawa asked why the misconduct wasn’t reported sooner. The answer? Workers believed that even if they spoke up, “the issue would not be resolved.” 👉 Answer Card: Cultural fear of failure in Japan fuels concealment, blinding leaders to reality. Can leaders ever really know what is happening? No leader can see everything. Once an organisation scales, personal control is lost. You cannot monitor every sales pitch or back-office process. By the time you know about a major failure, it is usually too late. But this does not mean surrender. It means shifting from blind trust to active verification. True leadership is not only about giving direction; it is about constantly checking what is really happening. 👉 Answer Card: Leaders must balance delegation with vigilance. What practical steps should leaders take? To prevent scandal, leaders need to act before the fire starts. Some proven steps: Talk to customers directly. Ask them about service, follow-up, and delivery quality.Talk to suppliers. They often know about problems before you do.Check the systems yourself. Do not rely on assumptions — test them.Audit workflows and quality processes. Do not stop at the financials. One client discovered they were paying $1,500 for a single social media post because no one verified the process. 👉 Answer Card: Regular audits and direct conversations uncover hidden risks before they become crises. Isn’t this too much work for executives already stretched thin? Yes, it takes more time. But prevention is cheaper than rescue. Executives of companies caught in compliance scandals are now overwhelmed with firefighting — holding press conferences, issuing apologies, and trying to salvage brand value. Imagine if half that time had been spent on prevention. 👉 Answer Card: Prevention consumes less time, money, and reputation than crisis management. Who is really in charge? On paper, it is the boss. In practice, culture, systems, and hidden behaviours often dictate outcomes. Leaders cannot control every lever — but they can insist on transparency, demand verification, and build prevention into the corporate DNA. 👉 Answer Card: Leaders are only in charge when they choose prevention over assumption. Next Steps for Leaders If you want to stay in charge: Stop assuming. Start verifying.Talk widely — with customers, suppliers, staff.Audit not just numbers but workflows and service quality.Treat prevention as leadership’s highest-value activity. Because in Japan, or anywhere, the truth is the same: hope is not a system. Prevention is.
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    12 m
  • 368 The Cure for Corporate Cancer: Rethinking Sales Outreach

    368 The Cure for Corporate Cancer: Rethinking Sales Outreach
    Sep 14 2025
    Let’s talk about sales, and why the new year always feels like a repeat performance. Greek myths rarely have happy endings. They are mostly cautionary tales, reminders of how the Gods treated humans like toys. One myth, in particular, perfectly captures the life of a salesperson: the story of Sisyphus. He was condemned to push a massive rock up a hill, only to watch it roll back down again, forever. That is exactly what we face in sales. We push that giant rock—the annual budget—up the hill every year. We grind, we hustle, we celebrate the results at year’s end, and then what happens? The rock rolls back to zero. Every January, or whenever your company decides the fiscal year begins, you stand at the bottom of the hill again, staring at the same heavy stone. And your sales manager will always say: “Don’t tell me about your last deal, tell me about your next deal.” That has been the universal sales manager mantra since the role was invented. The tension, pressure, uncertainty, and foreboding in sales never let up. Maybe you had a great year last year. You made President’s Club, you stood on stage at the convention, you pocketed a fat bonus. Congratulations—but so what? That was then. This year is a brand-new race. Or maybe last year was a disaster. You barely scraped by, you nearly got fired, and you made little money. Tough luck—but again, so what? That was then. This year, the rock is waiting, regardless. So, here is the real question: how are you going to roll that stone this year? Deals are always out there. The business exists. The only question is: will it come to you? If your strategy is to sit by the phone, hoping for an email enquiry to arrive or for marketing to deliver a steady stream of leads, then you are fooling yourself. That is not sales. That is passivity. And to be blunt, that is what the losers do. Winners know they must take action, not wait for lightning to strike. This is where Grant Cardone’s idea of the 10X Rule comes in. Grant is a sales trainer in the US, and his book has had a big influence on how we think. In our office, we even put a huge signboard on the wall: 10X Your Thoughts and Actions.Why? Because the truth is, most of us fall into the rhythm of rock rolling. We get used to small, incremental gains—classic kaizen thinking. Kaizen has its place, but let’s be honest: small steps will not vault us ahead of our rivals. They are also improving incrementally. If we want to leapfrog them, we must think exponentially. That is the essence of 10X thinking. The mindset that got you last year’s results will not take you much further. If we want to reach a higher level, we must break out of that cycle and think ten times bigger. And then, crucially, we must act ten times bigger. Genius ideas sitting in your head, unexecuted, are worthless. Of course, it sounds easy. For the first thirty seconds, it is easy. But then the discipline required to sustain it kicks in. And that is where most of us fall short. Sales managers have a critical role here: they need to drive this thinking every single day. That means looking at every angle of the rock-rolling exercise. Ask yourself: who bought from us recently? What similar companies have the same needs but do not yet know us? Why are we not calling them? Are we avoiding it because we are afraid of rejection? Do we think the low success rate makes the effort not worth it? If so, we are making excuses, not sales. Let’s flip the thinking. Imagine we had the cure for cancer. If your family or friends were suffering, would you be shy about picking up the phone to tell them? Of course not. You would feel an obligation to reach out. Well, our firms may not cure personal cancer, but they do cure corporate cancers—the inefficiencies, the gaps, the problems that drag companies down. If we do not believe that, then we should not even be in business. But if we do believe it, then there is no reason to hesitate in contacting companies who have not yet heard of us. We owe it to them to let them know we have the solution. This is how we overcome the fear of rejection. We remember that we are not intruding; we are helping. We are bringing the cure. And if we approach sales with that conviction, the fear evaporates. So, how do we put 10X into practice? Start with mindset, but do not stop there. Take massive action. Ten times the calls. Ten times the meetings. Ten times the follow-ups. Activity drives opportunity, and opportunity drives results. The more buyers we see, the more business we win. That is the math of sales. Yes, the rock rolled last year. It is rolling again this year. But we do not have to repeat the same tired rhythm. Let’s ask ourselves: how can we 10X every stage of this process? From the first call, to the first meeting, to the proposal, to the close. That is how we roll the stone not just up the hill, but higher than ever before. So, let’s do it. Let’s roll the rock 10X harder, 10X faster, and 10X ...
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    12 m
  • 367 How to Give Your First Major Presentation With Confidence

    367 How to Give Your First Major Presentation With Confidence
    Sep 7 2025
    At some stage in every career, the moment arrives: you’re asked to give a presentation. Early on, it may be a straightforward project update delivered to colleagues or a report shared with your manager. But as you advance, the scope expands. Suddenly you’re addressing a whole-company kickoff, an executive offsite, or even speaking on behalf of your firm or industry at a public event. That leap — from small team updates to high-stakes presentations — is steep. And so are the nerves that come with it. Why Presentations Trigger Nerves In front of colleagues, we often feel confident. But standing before the Board, or a large public audience, the pressure intensifies dramatically. Under the spotlight, it can feel less like support and more like interrogation. Your heart pounds, your palms sweat, your throat goes dry, and your stomach turns. These symptoms are the fight-or-flight response in action. Adrenaline surges through the body, shunting blood to large muscle groups and away from the stomach, leaving it unsettled. Your pulse races as your system prepares for action — even though you’re not about to sprint offstage or wrestle with the Board. And this nervousness isn’t unique to beginners. Frank Sinatra famously admitted he was always nervous before stepping on stage. Nerves, in other words, are normal. How to Calm the Body While you can’t prevent adrenaline entirely, you can manage it. Two simple techniques help: Deep breathing slows the heart rate and steadies your voice.Purposeful movement — pacing, stretching, walking privately — burns off nervous energy. These physical resets won’t eliminate the reaction, but they make it manageable. Why Preparation Matters More Than Slides The second, and often overlooked, antidote to nervousness is solid preparation. Yet many presenters make the same mistake: they obsess over perfecting the slide deck and neglect rehearsals. This imbalance undermines confidence and delivery. True preparation rests on three cornerstones: Know your audience. What do they want, and why are they there? A senior executive once gave a polished talk on personal branding, but the audience was almost entirely small-business staff. The mismatch meant her message fell flat.Define one clear message. Every strong presentation can be distilled into a single sentence. That sentence becomes your anchor, guiding the structure, supporting points, and conclusion.Plan your opening and closing. A compelling opening draws people in. A strong conclusion ensures your message sticks, even after the Q&A. You Are the Boss, Not the Slides Slides should support you, not control you. Too often, presenters become servants to their decks, filling them with text and losing the audience’s attention. I coached a senior Japanese auto executive preparing for an international car show. His PR team had created a detailed English script for each slide. It looked professional — but it was impossible for him to memorise and still deliver naturally. The solution was simple: we reduced each slide to one word. Each word acted as a trigger. He could then speak authentically, in his own voice, without being trapped by a memorised script. The difference was dramatic. From Fear to Focus The encouraging truth is that once you start speaking, adrenaline begins to subside. The spotlight feels less harsh, and your focus shifts away from your nerves and onto the audience. You begin to notice whether they’re engaged, nodding, or leaning in. With rehearsal and repetition, this transition happens faster. Over time, presentations lose their fear factor. They become opportunities to persuade, inspire, and lead. Key Takeaways How can you deliver your first major presentation with confidence? Accept that nerves are normal and manageable.Use breathing and movement to calm the body.Prepare with audience needs in mind.Build your talk around one clear message.Take control of your slides — don’t let them control you.Rehearse until delivery feels natural. By following these steps, presentations stop being ordeals to survive and become moments to make a genuine impact.
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    10 m
  • 366 Win the Deal: Negotiating in Japan Without Losing the Relationship (Part Two)

    366 Win the Deal: Negotiating in Japan Without Losing the Relationship (Part Two)
    Aug 31 2025
    Negotiating in Japan is never just about numbers on a contract. It is about trust, credibility, and ensuring that the relationship remains intact long after the ink is dry. Unlike in Western business settings, where aggressive tactics or rapid deals are often admired, in Japan negotiations unfold slowly, with harmony and continuity as the guiding principles. The key is to combine negotiation frameworks such as BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement) with cultural sensitivity. By doing so, foreign executives and domestic leaders alike can win deals without damaging vital long-term partnerships. Q1: Why is preparation the secret weapon in Japanese business negotiations? Preparation is the sharpest tool in the negotiation kit. Before talks begin, we must clearly define what is negotiable, what is off-limits, and what represents both our ideal and realistic outcomes. Most importantly, we must set our fallback position — the minimum acceptable deal before we consider walking away. In Japan, this process must also include anticipating the other side’s goals. What would they see as their ideal outcome? What is their fallback or “exit strategy”? By mapping both sides in advance, we avoid being blindsided during discussions. Unlike the United States, where executives may improvise and pivot quickly in meetings, Japanese negotiators value deep preparation and expect the same from us. Mini-summary: Success in Japan starts with preparation — knowing both sides’ fallback positions makes us credible and ready. Q2: What is BATNA and why is it critical in Japanese negotiations? BATNA — Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement — defines the point where we walk away. It is our exit strategy, our fallback, our protection against endless concessions. Without BATNA, we risk chasing the deal at any cost, eroding trust and weakening future negotiations. In Japan, patience is prized. If the buyer senses desperation, they may push harder. By quietly knowing our walk-away line, we project confidence. This is not about issuing ultimatums; it is about ensuring we never undermine our long-term credibility in the market. Companies in industries such as pharmaceuticals, finance, and manufacturing use BATNA as a discipline to negotiate firmly while still respecting relationships. Mini-summary: A clear BATNA prevents over-conceding and signals quiet strength to Japanese counterparts. Q3: Why does silence carry so much power in Japanese business culture? Silence is a natural rhythm in Japanese communication, but it is often unnerving for Western negotiators. In the U.S. or Europe, gaps in conversation create anxiety, prompting businesspeople to rush in with concessions, discounts, or extra details. In Japan, however, silence conveys thoughtfulness, patience, and respect. By sitting calmly in the silence, we allow the other side to feel the weight of the pause. They may reveal information, shift position, or even concede. Silence, when embraced as a tactic, is a strategic advantage. This is not empty stillness — it is strategic patience, and it is one of the most overlooked tools in Japanese business negotiations. Mini-summary: Silence in Japan is not a void — it is a negotiation tool that rewards patience and composure. Q4: How does decision-making authority work inside Japanese companies? In Western firms, the person across the table often has authority to close the deal. In Japan, authority is distributed. Decisions require ringi-sho consensus documents, hanko seals, and alignment across departments. The person negotiating may not have final authority but instead acts as a bridge inside their organisation. We can mirror this by using the “higher authority” tactic ourselves. Saying, “I need to check with senior management,” is not seen as weak here. It reflects the reality of collective approval. This delay can buy time, cool heated discussions, and adapt to the slower, deliberate pace of Japanese corporate decision-making. Mini-summary: Authority in Japan is collective — deferring upwards is normal and effective in negotiations. Q5: What negotiation tactics are most common in Japan? Japanese negotiations often feature specific tactics that foreign executives must anticipate: Ultimatums — final deal-or-no-deal conditions that must be defused with alternatives.Persuasion through value-adds — sweeteners, incentives, or extras that cost us little but feel significant to the client.Time pressure — deadlines that push for faster decisions.Delays or inactivity — slowing responses to build pressure on us.Add-ons at the end — last-minute requests after the main “yes” is agreed, which are often easier to accept than renegotiate. Recognising these tactics helps us avoid being cornered. More importantly, by preparing our own “value-add concessions” and “low-cost, high-value incentives,” we can shape the flow of the negotiation rather than react to it....
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    11 m
  • 365 Win the Deal In Japan Without Losing the Relationship Part One

    365 Win the Deal In Japan Without Losing the Relationship Part One
    Aug 24 2025
    Our image of negotiating tends to be highly influenced by the winner takes all model. This is the transactional process where one side outwits the other and receives the majority of the value. Think about your own business? How many business partners do you have where this would apply? For the vast majority of cases we are not after a single sale. We are thinking about LTV – the life time value of the customer. We are focused on the proportion of our time spent hunting for new business as opposed to farming the existing business. Where do you think the trust barometer would be located, if we started “outwitting” our clients in our negotiations? Especially in Japan, where trust is such a crucial element and everyone is focused on long term relationships. So success in negotiating in Japan will be very different and it will definitely be a win-win approach. Fine, but do you have a consistent process to apply to your negotiations? Often we do it the hard way without a roadmap or we forget parts of the process. We are all rank amateurs anyway, because the amount of negotiating we do is limited and the size of the deals are usually modest. Have we got the basics covered? Here are four steps we need to cover: Analysis We begin by clarifying our own position. What is it we want to achieve and then we identify alternatives we can live with, if we can’t achieve all that we wish. We also look for ways to add value in areas other than price. Price is only one lever in a negotiation although most people get stuck on the idea it is the only lever. We want to understand the client’s positions and interests and the background reasons driving their approach. This is especially useful when looking for alternative solutions, as we might have something that is valuable to them, but not a great impost to us. We also should look to reframe the conversation to avoid confrontation. There are trigger words which can rapidly inject emotion into a logical discussion and we need to know what those words are for the opposite party. We can then phrase things in ways which is not incendiary. Presentation When we do public speaking we know that if we rehearse what we are going to say, it will go much better. When the American political leaders have their famous televised debates, they practice taking difficult questions so that they will appear unruffled and credible in their answers. Doing the same thing before a negotiation makes sense doesn’t it. Have well prepared what you are going to say and how you will say it. Have a colleague hit you with “toughies” – questions you would rather not have to face thank you very much. “More sweat in rehearsal, less blood in negotiating” should be the mantra. Like lawyers do when getting ready to go to court, we should also prepare the opposite sides case, the client’s case, as though it were our own. This gives us an insight into the likely approach they will take and we are then much better prepared to deal with it. Price isn’t the only thing so we should be ready to present added value alternatives to simple numbers. Because we have rehearsed their position, we can more effectively link our solution to the client’s positions and interests. Bargaining At some point there will be a gap between offer and acceptance and this is when we start trading things we want, for things they want. Bargaining down at the bazaar, in the souk, at the local flea market and in the B2B business world are entirely different. Our object is a sale with a nice regular, perpetual re-order attached to it, rather than “a one and done” outcome. So at the start we decide our ideal, realistic and fallback positions. We do this through the prism of our current demand, local and global business conditions, future business trends, price point profitability and our cash burn through rate. Negotiating tactics will be applied to us but the key is to respond logically rather than react emotionally. Easier said than done! However if we did our preparation well then we should be rock solid. We should be looking for win-win so we are trying to make it easy to agree with us and hard to disagree. Agreement Japan isn't much for legal contracts compared to the West. Most of our business is done without any contracts, as we agree verbally and then carry out our word and they carry out theirs. If we are talking about huge amounts of money however, then absolutely contacts will be needed. So even if a formal contract is not involved, we need some specification of all points of agreement. Put every key item in writing, be it the form of a quotation, invoice or just an email capturing the joint understanding of what is going to happen going forward and how much money is involved. To make it very clear, create a checklist and schedule for fulfillment. These four steps are not rocket science, but remember we are mostly ...
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    12 m