What can Japanese restaurants teach us about sales?

What can Japanese restaurants teach us about sales? A favorite dish in Japan is Okonomiyaki. I suppose a good translation would be 'fried favorites'.  It's essentially a batter into which one fries meats and vegetables. Each region has it's own style, but my favorite is the kind made in Hiroshima, aka Hiroshimayaki. Years ago while studying in Hiroshima, I joined a friend from Hong Kong at an Okonomiyaki restaurant that he heard was "the best". We had a great meal, and pleasant conversation, but something really shocked me that night. Something that took me a while to really appreciate. 

You see, that Okonomiyak restaurant was in a building dedicated to nothing but Okonomiyaki restaurants! My American mind reacted at first by wondering how the Japanese could be so bad at business. Don't they know about Location, Location, Location? How did the shops on the 4th and 5th floors get any business when the first 3 floors of restaurants would surely catch all the customers? I know what you are thinking, and no, there was no significant difference in pricing among the shops. 

I simply had to find out. Maybe I could educate the owner of the shop on how to better position his business for success geographically. After all, we American's have capitalism in our blood. So, I asked the owner to explain how he managed to stay in business while surrounded by competitors. 

He explained that each customer simply has their favorite spots for Okonomiyaki and that they and their friends become regulars of one or two of them. To be honest, it did not seem to be a sufficient answer to me at the time. I realize now that there were things about business that I just didn't appreciate well enough those many years ago. 

I eventually came to realize, perhaps after reading a few good books on sales, what the shop owner was trying to tell me. It's all about relationships! I'm certain that the cooks in those shops know their clients by name and how they like their 'fried favorites' prepared. 

Think about the power of those relationships. They were strong enough to overcome the convenience of stopping at the first floor for dinner, or being in a location where other than individual style, there was little product differentiation. Now also think what it probably took for each shop owner to develop those relationships in the first place, and what they had to do to maintain them. It is true that Japan is culturally a bit more relationship oriented than many Western countries. But the more I study Japan, the more I see underlying commonalities rather than what seems like stark differences initially. 

We know that relationships are important in business. Perhaps you've heard it before: "People don't buy from companies, they buy from people...people they trust." But are we cultivating relationships to such a degree that we could succeed even when theoretically surrounded by a host of competitors that do what we do? Maybe such relationships would carry us through more realistic challenges, such as economic downturns or major shifts in the market that catch us unprepared. 

I'm not suggesting that we neglect honing makes our business different from others, but rather that we should appreciate that there is likely more we can do to nurture reciprocally beneficial relationships with our clients than we are doing now. Do we really treat them, their repeat business, and their referrals as fundamental to our flourishing? Do we listen to them enough? Do we express our gratitude in truly sincere ways?