A strategic customer in Japan
A named Japanese company that has a reason to buy, approached through someone who can put the proposal in front of the right division.
BULGARIA / EUROPE → JAPANEnter Japan through a prepared process,
Enter Japan through a prepared process,
not a sequence of cold introductions
What we control is the preparation: a counterpart who has been briefed, a proposal translated into the terms the other side uses, the right division rather than the front door, and someone who is still there in month three. That is the work we do.
Seven things a Bulgarian company asks us for
Each one goes into the same process: qualification, a shortlist of two or three with reasons, a prepared introduction, a written next step and a ninety-day measurement.
A distributor or channel
A trading house, a specialist distributor or an agent, with the responsibilities written down before anything is signed.
A technology partner
A Japanese company that needs your technology, or has the piece your product is missing.
Research collaboration
A university or national institute group working on the same problem, and the route to a joint proposal.
A Japanese corporate pilot
A paid or co-funded trial inside a Japanese corporation, which is one of the routes by which procurement there begins.
Market entry into Japan
The entity, the regulatory path, the first employee and the first customer, in the order that works rather than the order that is easiest to plan.
An institutional route
A ministry, an agency, a prefecture or a programme, approached properly, with the protocol that makes the approach possible to accept.
What the preparation actually is
- The first meeting is not the decision
- It is the point at which the other side decides whether to spend internal effort on you. The proposal has to be written so that an internal champion can carry it without you in the room.
- Introductions carry the introducer's name
- Whoever introduces you lends you their standing. That is why we qualify before we introduce, and why we do not make introductions to fill a quota.
- Follow-through is the differentiator
- Being present and precise in month three is worth more than anything said in month one, and it is the part we commit to in writing.
- Both sides are briefed in writing
- The same facts, in each side's language, before anyone meets. Nobody is improvising a translation of your business model.
- The next step is written down
- After the meeting both sides receive the same written next steps, with who does what and by when.
- The outcome is measured on day ninety
- Classified and recorded, including when the answer is no. You find out where you stand on a date agreed in advance.
One paragraph is enough to start
State what you need, the constraint that matters most and the timing. We reply within five working days with whether we can take it and who we would approach. If the answer is no, we say so.