I was chatting with a prospective client about a proposal I had submitted and he offered this feedback from one of his colleagues from the senior management team, “we don’t need to bring in trainers, we can use LinkedIn Learning instead”. I was shocked to hear that from the lips of a senior leader. Is this guy really a leader? I have used LinkedIn Learning myself and is cheap, but I found the quality is also quite various. Individuals can shoot some training video content and LinkedIn Learning uploads it on to their platform. The main problem is that self-paced online courses have a tremendously low completion rate of only 3%. This leader may sign people up for online courses, be they LinkedIn Learning or from other online providers, but the outcomes won’t be there. This is magnified in the case of sales training, because of the nature of the beast.
We teach Leadership, Communication, Presentations, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Sales. Sales is by far the hardest subject to teach. The content isn’t the issue, it is the attitude of the people in the class. It seems to me very few people in sales have ever had any formal training or even read a book on the subject. They are in sales and have cobbled together a sales methodology from their bosses or colleagues or through trial and error and they are fixed on their way of doing things.
This results in a patchwork of sorts, where they get certain parts of the sales process to work for them but there are big gaps still, because they are doing things in a hit and miss fashion. In Japan, we find there are key parts of the sales process skill set, which are severely underdone.
Having said that, generally speaking, building rapport is well executed because that is a component of the culture. There is also a strong tendency to use referrals, which is good. However, there is a bad tendency to rely on the brand too much to do the selling for you. Japan is a risk averse nation and dealing with big brands is considered a safe option. That isn't so great if you are selling for a company which isn't a big brand though.
Let’s explore some of the areas we have noticed are weaknesses for Japanese salespeople entering our classes. Asking questions of the buyer is a major flaw in the sales technique of most Japanese salespeople. Part of the issue is cultural and part is ignorance about how to ask. Culturally, the buyer is seen as GOD and you are just there to tell GOD all the details about your widget and GOD will decide what happens next. In this format, the buyer controls the sales call not the seller. That is a bad idea if you want to make any sales. The salesperson’s job is to guide the buyer to a “yes” decision, if that is the best outcome for the buyer’s business. The problem is neither the buyer nor the seller have any idea whether that is possible or not, until some basic questions have been covered off. We need permission to ask GOD a few questions.
Here is the five part “Permission From GOD Formula” salespeople need:
1. Explain who you are
2. Explain what you do
3. Explain who else you have done this for and what were the results
4. Suggest “maybe” you can do the same for them
5. Ask, “in order to know if that is possible or not may I ask a few questions?”.
Once we have received permission from GOD, we can explore what they want to achieve with their business and why they are not where they need to be.
This is a four part formula:
1. As is – where are you now?
2. Should be – where do you want to be in three to five years?
3. Barrier – what is stopping you from getting there fast enough?
4. What will success mean for you personally?
Asking these questions will tell us if what we have will be what they need. If we don’t have it, then we should stop wasting everyone’s time and go find someone who does need our solution.
Getting pushback in Japan often triggers an automatic twenty percent discount, which is an extremely bad idea from every perspective. Why is there pushback in the first place? This comes from a poor effort explaining what difference your solution will make to their business. A proper explanation formula has five elements:
1. Explain the facts, details, spec, etc., of the solution
2. Link these to the benefits your solution provides to the buyer
3. Extrapolate these benefits into how it will make their organisation more effective
4. Reference a similar client and the results they achieved using your solution
5. Do a trial close (“How does that sound so far?”) to flush out any questions or resistance.
When getting resistance, we don’t argue the toss with the buyer and use our magnificent force of will to overcome them. The first thing out of our mouth has to be, “may I ask you why you say that?”. Now the locus of accountability has swung back to the buyer, who has to justify why they are saying the price is too high etc. We are no longer on the backfoot trying to argue the point. We immediately get more insight and information on why and how this objection is a problem for them and this helps us in framing our answer.
Asking for the order is avoided by many salespeople, because it allows them to fail with their ego and dignity intact. A “no” is confronting and Japanese society has learnt to avoid that type of outcome, by leaving everything vague. It doesn’t have to be like that! This is a how hard it is to ask for the order - “shall we go ahead?”.
Proper sales coaching and training refines all of these steps and turns the salesperson into a competent professional. What we know is that a small percentage increase in sales outcomes immediately pays for the investment and keeps producing substantial revenue growth into the future. Investing in real sales training for the team is a no brainer!
