Dale Carnegie Training Japan: http://japan.dalecarnegie.com/mainsite/
How To Be Likeable and Trustworthy In Sales
The first few seconds decides all
 
It has always been astonishing to me how hopeless some salespeople are in Japan.  Over the last 20 years, I have been through thousands of job interviews with salespeople.  We teach sales for our clients and so as a training company we see the good, the bad and the ugly - a very broad gamut of salespeople.  We also buy services and products ourselves and so are actively on the receiving end of the sales process.  Well actually that is a blatant exaggeration.  There are almost no salespeople operating in japan using a sales process.  But there are millions of them just winging it (badly). 
 
Why?  On The Job Training (OJT) is the main training pedagogical system in Japan for training the new salesperson.  This works well if your boss has a clue and knows about selling.  Sadly, there are few sales leaders like that populating the Japan sales horizon.  So what you get are hand-me-down “techniques” that are ineffective and then even worse, these techniques are poorly executed in the hands of the newbies.
 
We like to buy, but few of us want to be sold.  We like to do business with people we like and trust.  We will do business with people we don’t like and very, very rarely with people we don’t trust.  Neither is our preference though.  The million dollar question is, “what makes YOU likeable and trustworthy?’
Building rapport in the first meeting with a prospective client is a critical make or break for establishing likeability or trust.  When you think about it, this is just the same as in a sales job interview.  In both cases we enter an unfamiliar environment and greet strangers who are brimming over with preoccupation, doubt, uncertainty, reluctance and skepticism.  If a sales person can’t handle a job interview and build rapport straight away, then it is unlikely they are doing much better out in the field, regardless of what is glowingly written down in the resume.
So what do we need to do?  Strangely, we need to pay attention to our posture!  Huh?  It is common sense really - standing up straight communicates confidence. Also, bowing from a half leaning forward posture, especially while we are still on the move, makes us look weak and unconvincing.  So walk in standing straight and tall, stop and then bow or shake hands depending on the circumstances.  Smiling at the same time would also be good, depending on the situation..
If there is a handshake involved then, at least when dealing with foreigners, drop the dead fish (weak strength) grasp or the double hander (gripping the forearm with the other hand).  The latter, is the classic insincere politician double hand grip. 
Some Japanese businesspeople I have met, have become overly Westernised, in that they apply a bone crusher grip when shaking hands.   Recently I have met a couple of Japanese businesswomen, who are trying to out man the men and are applying massive grip strength when shaking hands.  It sounds very basic advice, but please teach your Japanese team how to shake hands properly.  Too weak or too strong are unforced errors which impinge on building that all important first impression. 
By the way, we probably only have a maximum of 7-10 seconds to get that first impression correct, so very second counts.  We are all so quick to make snap judgments today, we just can’t leave anything to chance.  When you first see the client, make eye contact.  Don’t burn a hole in the recipient’s head, but hold eye contact at the start for around 6 seconds and SMILE.  This conveys consideration, reliability, confidence – all attributes we are looking for in our business partners. We combine this with the greeting, the usual pleasantries – “Thank you for seeing me”, “Thank you for your time today”.  Now, what comes next is very important. 
We segue into establishing rapport through initial light conversation.  Japan has some fairl