358 How Detailed Should Our Sale’s Proposal Be?

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" xml:lang="EN-AU">In Japan, we meet the client, build the rapport, seek permission to ask questions, ask the questions and then we set the date and time for the next meeting.  Usually, in the first meeting this is where we expect to get to and we know we have to come back with a lot more detail for the second meeting.  What level of detail do we need to go into in the proposal?  Decision-making is done differently in Japan, so the proposal carries a lot of weight here, because so many eyes need to check it.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" xml:lang="EN-AU">Consensus decision-making is favoured here in Japan, because if something goes wrong, no one gets landed with the blame.  We are all responsible, so actually no one individual is responsible. This has proven to be a winner for Japanese companies, when it comes to decision-making.  The due diligence on a purchase decision means that many different sections and divisions will need to take a look at it.  The idea is that section by section, the approval document proceeds upwards, toward executive sanction.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" xml:lang="EN-AU">The individuals meeting with the salesperson won’t be the only decision-makers. The proposal document has to take into consideration that most of the people making the decision will never meet the salesperson.  The proposal document has to mend it way through the buyer organisation on its own.  The level of detail needs to be appropriate to the task.  Generally speaking Japanese buyers are information vultures and have an insatiable appetite for data.  They are all operating on the basis that risk reduction is the key thing to be considered and the antidote to risk is data and information.  So for a Japanese proposal we should go in much heavier than we may do normally.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU" xml:lang="EN-AU">One of the dangers though is that the key points get swamped by the detail and it becomes less clear wha