Difference in business culture - Approach

By Miki Yuzawa on September 14th, 2009

What is your idea of making a good approach in the business setting? Everyone knows that it’s important to have a good approach shot in golf, but not many people have noticed that there’s a way to make an appropriate approach in the business settings depending on foreign manners and customs.

For example, in the US, people usually start with a good hand shake and a brief introduction with their client then go straight to the point with the business talks and negotiations. Probably the most important approach in this setting would be to give a great presentation to the client. If you are a confident talker, great at public speaking and ace the presentation, you most likely would win over the clients. Of course, the contents of the presentation has to be good too, but often it doesn’t have to be as good as the presentation itself.

On the other hand in Japan, people tend to spend time to find out whether they have chemistry with the client at the very beginning. There’s an expression in Japan that goes: “Maa, ocha demo dozo,” which translates to “Please have some tea first”. The idea is to take time, relax a little bit, and get to know each other. Getting to know the client isn’t necessary related to the business, but you, dealing with a client, must be a likable person first and then you can talk about the business.

Even though the business plan might be perfect, you might not be able to attract the client depending on the performance of your presentation at Japanese corporations. Thus, if you know what the appropriate approach is, you can get most out of it. You could give a good impression to the client and make satisfactory progress of the project with the client, etc.

You cannot ignore interaction with clients anywhere. In order to be successful in the global business, it may be necessary to be not only bilingual, but also knowledgeable about how to make the right approach.

Miki Yuzawa

After having spent a few years at a small start up company specializing in business with Japanese clients, she is currently working at an IT corporation located in the heart of Silicon Valley in the U.S. In spare time, she writes articles and works as a multimedia artist. Her dream is to be a global entrepreneur who can bridge between Asia and the U.S.

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MuGEN Productions