This Deal Ruined My Christmas

In 2019, I was dealing with a large Japanese company. All set, decision had been made. Great use case, negotiation done, right DMs.

Only thing missing was… Legal & IT review.

SaaS stats confirm that it’s by far the longest stage that many sellers forget in their forecast (my old company was 81 days).

But this was something else, as I would soon find out.

In Japanese culture, it isn’t common to hop on a video call to hash out the last points in the legal and IT paperwork.

Things like:

→ Custom terms (liabilities, SLAs)
→ Data security (e.g. data hosting)
→ Compliance (regulations: GDPR)

In Japan, this could make you look bad. So instead, it’s done async. And EVERY new step goes into a new cue. 🤐

The deal was eventually closed in February, after it had been forecasted for December––still in our fiscal year.

I will never forget the “Any news?” texts from my manager (while calling up friends to find a quick replacement).

So, big fat lesson for you: A verbal Yes doesn’t mean sh’t until you’ve dealt with this step––especially with a different culture.

⤵️ What’s your best story here?