In sales in Japan we chill, cruise and take the foot off the pedal. We get lazy. We start cutting corners. We get off our game. The temptation is when we get to a certain level of success we think well, we have done enough. We have to facedown “average is good enough” self-talk. We need to make sure we are doing the basics like a demon on fire.
The pipeline tells no lies. We need good basics in play to stuff that pipeline full of qualified clients. I should be sifting, hunting and corralling those buyers who need my solution. I should be shelving those who don’t, because time is the main currency of a sales life.
There are basics in sales we quickly try to short circuit. We are fooling ourselves. We need to have time allocation every day for prospecting. In the process of doing that, we should be polishing our pitch until it is tight and has a massive hook attached to it. We have to be well schooled in cold calling techniques to be successful in sales in Japan and most salespeople here in this regard are sad, sad, sad.
We need to be parsimonious with the words to explain why they need us. We need to be eloquent with the explanation of the hook, as to why the person answering the phone should bother to connect us with the line manager we wish to speak with.
At networking events, when people are making their first kinesthetic contact with your meishi or business card and trying to fathom what it is you do, you helpfully jump in and concisely explain how you are saving mankind. You will set up an appointment to meet right there and then. If they don’t agree, go back to the hunt for an actual buyer.
We need to treat every lead coming in from our website, be it from an SEO enquiry or a paid click though from our ads like it was on fire. If we don’t get in touch with that potential buyer right now, the lead will combust further and become a burnt, unrecognisable cinder.
We have to fight complacency. The enemy of great is good.
