Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Sales vs Business Development – clarifying the confusion
• Why skipping business development hurts your results
• The Investor Mindset – why incremental investments matter
• Rethinking KPIs – measuring the right things
• Real-life examples from food & beverage brands in Japan
• Roadmap for successful international expansion
• Conclusion

Introduction

“What is the best way to do sales in Japan?”

This is the question we hear most often from brands that want to grow in the Japanese market. And it usually means: should we hire salespeople, join more trade shows, or push distributors harder?

But here is the problem: more sales activities do not automatically mean more results.

Many brands assume they can replicate their home-market sales approach in Japan. They believe that adding more sales effort will solve the challenge. But without the strategic groundwork of business development (BD) – understanding the market, adapting the offer, and building relationships – more sales is simply more noise.

At home, you have already laid the groundwork – understanding your customers, competitors, and market dynamics. It is understandable that you want to avoid repeating these steps overseas. But entering Japan (or any international market) is not a simple copy-and-paste exercise. The Japanese market is fundamentally different from Western markets, from consumer expectations and demand trends to competitive dynamics and cultural nuances.

Jumping straight into sales activities without adequate business development – the strategic groundwork that identifies opportunities, clarifies positioning, and builds critical relationships – is precisely why many seemingly promising distributor meetings and trade show encounters fail to deliver results.

The same applies to brands already present in Japan but seeking to grow beyond a stalled distributor relationship or reposition for new channels.

Business development is the critical intermediate step between doing sales activities at home and achieving meaningful sales results abroad – a step too many brands leave out entirely.

1. Sales vs Business Development – clarifying the confusion

Many people confuse sales with business development because both involve outreach, meetings, and networking. But they are not the same.

Sales = closing deals and generating orders with an existing product and existing channels.
Business Development = creating opportunities and opening new channels where groundwork does not yet exist.

• Sales (what we call the Trader Mindset):
  • Transaction-focused.
  • Closes deals and generates orders in existing channels.
  • Treated as an operating cost.
  • KPI: revenue and transactions closed.
• Business Development (the Investor Mindset):
  • Opportunity-focused.
  • Creates opportunities and opens new channels.
  • Treated as a growth investment.
  • KPI: readiness, opportunities created, and access gained.

Here is the key difference: your product’s sales are done by the distributors. But they can only sell if you enable them – by adapting your product, clarifying your positioning, creating the right tools, and building trust.

2. Why skipping business development hurts your results

Random sales usually end in random results. Even if you find a distributor, they may not be the right fit for your product, or they may position your brand differently from your expectations. Not understanding the customer base of your distribution partner is one of the most frequent causes of misunderstandings and failed expectations.

Conflicting customer relationships or misaligned priorities can also limit your potential to expand in meaningful ways.

Just like when you found a business opportunity or underserved niche in your home market that led you to invest in it, success abroad also depends on the same level of understanding, strategy, and relationship building.

One of the most critical mistakes brands make when entering a new market is jumping directly into sales and ignoring business development.

3. The Investor Mindset – why incremental investments matter

In very simple terms, sales is a cost item, while business development is an investment item. Yet many exporters want to spend on business development or marketing only after they see meaningful sales. They often say: “We want proof first.”

This logic creates a trap. Sales can only happen if you already have strategy, partners, and demand in place. Many brands expect random distributor candidates to bring sales to them out of thin air. Sometimes a few sales occur – thanks to enthusiasm, bundling with other imports, or the novelty of the product. But the results are rarely satisfactory. The brand refuses to invest, the distributor loses interest, and the opportunity collapses. It becomes a vicious cycle.

Another misconception is that investments must be big and slow. In reality, breaking the process into milestones minimizes risk and provides evidence of whether Japan is right for you.

Much also depends on how you define success. If success means a quick first order, you may achieve it by luck. But if success means sustainable, profitable growth, then incremental business development investments are essential.

Examples of incremental, high-impact BD investments:

• Primary market research and buyer interviews.
• Early localization of packaging and claims.
• Development of a Japan-ready B2B sales kit with localized photos and content.
• Curated tastings or pilot activations with right-fit buyers.

Trader Mindset = chasing transactions.
Investor Mindset = building conditions for growth.

4. Rethinking KPIs – measuring the right things

One of the most common questions I hear from CEOs and export managers exploring new market growth is: “Prove to us how much we can sell.”

The reality is that your sales results in a new market do not depend only on sales activities. You also have to contribute – beyond delivering your existing products. If you are not prepared to adapt to the new market, even the best sales effort may not bring the results you expect.

When entering or expanding in a new market, you often do not even know what product can be sold or who the right buyers are. The product itself was not developed for the local market. So before anything else, you must figure out who could be interested. That is not sales – that is business development, a distinction often overlooked.

Instead of treating short-term revenue as your only metric, BD-focused KPIs can improve your planning process and make your business development more predictable. Think of this as a KPI Pathway – our way of describing how BD metrics build step by step toward the final goal of sustainable sales.

• Product readiness
  • Market feedback from tastings or pilots
  • Compliance checks passed
  • Localizations tested and validated
• Distribution groundwork
  • New partnerships initiated
  • Pipeline potential (scale and quality of future opportunities)
• Sales outcomes
  • Orders generated (as the result of the steps above)

Many brands incorrectly use short-term revenue as their primary KPI. Actual results depend on how well you manage the KPI Pathway that leads to sales.

5. Real-life examples from food & beverage brands in Japan

• Skipping BD: A brand wins a distributor quickly. But the product goes into the channel without any local marketing support. Demand does not follow, and the listing disappears within a year. The brand concludes “Japan is not ready.” The truth: the entry was not ready.
• Staged BD: Another brand invests in research and localization. Feedback sharpens the offer. Additional support is delayed until the economics prove sustainable. The brand grows gradually but securely.

The difference: one treated business development as optional, the other as essential.

6. Roadmap for successful international expansion

Business development is not optional – it is a deliberate step before sales. At TOO International, we structure this through our 4 Pack Roadmap:

1. Targeting Pack – market scanning, interviews, and channel mapping, compliance, and pricing corridor.
2. Positioning Pack – Japan-ready B2B sales kit with localized photos and content, plus a clear positioning plan for buyers.
3. Event Pack – curated tastings or mini-roadshows with right-fit buyers, structured feedback, and sample logistics.
4. Representation Pack – ongoing follow-ups and negotiations, pilot management, and scale plan.

Conclusion

Brands fail in Japan not because sales “does not work,” but because sales is asked to do the job of business development. Treat business development as your foundation, measure the inputs that lead to revenue, and scale only when readiness is proven.

Your product’s sales are done by the distributors. But they can only sell if you have given them the tools, positioning, and strategy to make your products sellable.

At TOO International, our value is not in closing sales. Our value is in creating opportunities – faster, more effectively, and in ways that fit your business. Whether those opportunities turn into sustainable sales depends not only on us, but also on you: your readiness, your capacity, and your ability to deliver.

Jumping directly into sales without strategic groundwork through business development is why so many brands fail. Your success in new markets depends on the quality and clarity of the foundation you lay first.

Since 2013, TOO International has supported 20+ brands and 65+ products in Japan. Whether you are entering for the first time or trying to unlock new growth, the principle is the same: without business development, sales will fail to deliver.