You Can’t Cold Call in Japan. Really?
The pressure for increasing results is not constant. It is just keeps surging “higher, faster, further”. We in the sales team do work hard. We are polite, conscientious, quite customer focused. Great! So why can’t we grow sales fast enough to meet our targets. What is the problem?
There are some simple reasons. Current customer numbers are too few. Current customer volumes are not growing. Current customer share of wallet is not changing. As sales we will often blame marketing for not generating new leads for our sales team to go after. We can be surprisingly terrific advocates for all the reasons the customer puts on the table about not being able to buy at all, buy now, or buy more. Blaming everyone else for insufficient sales volumes is a well developed skill here in Japan (and everywhere else salespeople walk the earth) .
Helpfully, your boss pipes up with a shiny idea: “what about going after new customers?” At this point marketing’s lack of lead generation gets recycled as our excuse. Innocently, your boss mention the “C” word! Shock, horror and pity drains the blood from the Sales Director’s face. “Don’t you know boss, this is Japan, you can’t do cold calling here”. Case closed.
Having been through this scenario a number of times here as the boss and having also seen plenty of cold calling getting done, “skeptical” doesn’t even come close to describing my reaction to this useful intervention to explain the finer points of Japan to me. Walking into a new organization with a crystal clear recollection of salespeople in the previous company, phones taped to their wrists so they get through their cold calls, always concentrates the mind in these circumstances.
What is usually meant is not that you can’t physically cold call companies here, but just the effectiveness is so low, it a major waste of time. This is too true, when the cold calling is done poorly.
Curiously, the same “experts” who tell you that you can’t cold call by phone, accept the tobikomi eigyo technique of just dropping in unexpectedly. Why suddenly turning up at a couple of companies and dropping off some business cards and literature in a day is thought to be more effective than sitting at desk and calling 100 prospects a day is a quaint curiosity.
This always reminds me of the same arguments you hear about you can’t get referrals in Japan. “Do you know anybody who might be interested in our widget?” must be one of the most criminal statements to ever escape from a salesperson’s lips. The problem is when the way you ask is rubbish, don’t be surprised with a pathetic result. Design is critical to increasing the success rate for cold calling and referrals. Amazingly, hardly any sales people ever plan their conversations. They just sashay from one failure to another wondering, why this approach doesn’t work.
Cold calling works much better when we are very clear about the outcome we can expect to achieve. There are products and services you can sell over the phone, however these are very, very, very few. The main aim should be securing a face-to-face appointment. That means you are only selling a date and time over the phone – nothing more.
Before you even get to that point, you need to be able to speak to the person who has the diary spot you want a piece of. There are armies of hapless young Japanese women occupying the bottom rungs of the machine, whose only joy in life is getting rid of salespeople like us trying to see the decision maker.
If you are persistent then they have this great technique of passing you over to the next most senior male in their section. Usually some spotty faced, no authority nobody completely afraid of their own shadow, and seemingly able to go to retirement, without ever having had to make a decision in their entire career.
This is where you need a blockbuster credibility statement that summarises who you are, why you are calling and why speaking to their boss will change the world. Design is everything. By the way, you only have to design the one credibility statement, because you use the same one on their boss when you eventually get through to them.
You might refer to some recent research you would like to share which will be a big help to their business now and into the future. You should mention that you can’t share it over the phone because you need to show it to them, to head off the “Well tell me now!” or “Email it to me!” comebacks.
This phone conversation might sound like this:
“Thank you for your time on the phone, I know you are super busy. We have just received the results of our global survey into the buying perspectives of your buyers. It was a global comparison that included Japan and the results are quite striking, especially for what are the key motivators for making purchasing decisions in Japan.
It also investigated where the buyers believe the industry is moving and this insight is very valuable to make sure we are always keeping in lockstep with the buyers, given business conditions constantly change. I can take you through the results, would this week suit or is next week better?”.
Or you might mention that you recently came across some ideas that seem to be working extremely well for others in their industry. If possible, mention actual numbers that you can later provide as concrete evidence when you meet. You need to refer to the cost of not speaking with you – the opportunity cost – of not investing 30 minutes with you. Fear of loss is a strong driver of action in some, often more so than greed for gain.
For example,
“Thank you for you time today, especially when you are so very busy. In our work, we are speaking with a wide variety of companies in many businesses. As a result we are constantly picking up industry insights and perspectives, which are not widely known or shared. I came across some information recently on key emerging trends, which have the potential to really make a difference in your industry.
The three companies I met have adopted some new approaches which have grown their collective market share by a factor of three times in the last six months. I can see why this is working so well for them and I thought this type of insight might also be of assistance for your business. The early movers are clearly going to take the lions share of the market as the industry changes. On the other hand, it looks like those late to the changes needed to be made will suffer. Is this week open or shall we meet next week?”
Only ever ask for 30 minutes – less sounds flakey and more sounds burdensome. Asking for “18 minutes” or “23 minutes” etc., sounds like you are a total conman, and warning lights and bells will go off in their head. If you can’t convince them face to face in 30 minutes to hear more, stop wasting everyone’s time and get off the phone and on to the next prospect. Often you go in expecting a short meeting because the prospect is super busy and has absolutely no time. They tell you they can hardly even spare 15 minutes and yet you find yourself discussing your solutions for the next 90 minutes!
The reason is simple – you are bringing value to their company to help them succeed. If we always have in our mind that “inside the client’s success is wrapped my own success” then we will be able to build trust and credibility.
What we say and how we say it will be congruent with putting the client’s success ahead of our own.
Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com
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About The Author
Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan
In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.
A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, THE Sales Japan Series and THE Presentations Japan Series, he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.
