Some projects succeed quietly.
Others succeed loudly.
And then there are the rare ones that succeed somewhere else entirely before anyone realises what you were trying to do in the first place.

Years ago, I worked with a major car manufacturer on redesigning their sales process for the UK market. The brief was clear enough: modernise the customer journey, improve the buying experience, and bring consistency across dealerships.

But the truth was far more complicated.

Car buying at the time was a deeply traditional, heavily dealer-driven process. Customers were expected to adapt to it, not the other way around. The brand wanted change — but parts of the organisation were still holding tight to the past.

I didn’t know it at the time, but this project would teach me one of the most valuable lessons of my entire consulting career:

Innovation is often rejected first locally… then validated globally.

Designing a New Sales Journey

My team and I built a customer journey grounded in simplicity, transparency, and consistency. We introduced:

• a clear, structured sales flow

• improved handover points

• transparent pricing conversations

• experience-first dealership interactions

• a more intuitive test-drive and selection process

• a joined-up approach to vehicle ordering and communication

It wasn’t radical — but it was very different from what the UK operation was used to.

It prioritised customer experience over internal tradition.
It created standardisation where there had been inconsistency.
It required a shift in mindset, not just process.

“We don’t like it.”

When we presented the final design to the UK leadership team, the reaction was… frosty.

Some felt it simplified too much.
Some felt it challenged long-standing dealership practices.
Some felt the customer was being placed “too central” — yes, really.
Some simply didn’t understand why this needed to change at all.

As the meeting went on, it became clear:

They didn’t see what we saw.

And that moment — that sinking sensation of watching work you believed in fall flat — is one every consultant knows well.

The feedback wasn’t hostile.
It was worse.
It was dismissive.

The design was “interesting,” “a bit theoretical,” “not really how we do things here,” and “too different.”

We left the room feeling like the work might never see the light of day.

And Then Japan Saw It

A few weeks later, the UK team presented the same design to the parent company in Japan.

I wasn’t expecting much.
In fact, I was bracing myself for a polite nod and a quiet end to the project.

Instead, I got a phone call that I’ll never forget.

The Japanese leadership loved it.

They didn’t just understand it — they recognised it instantly as the kind of experience-led, structured, customer-first approach they wanted across global markets.

What the UK team saw as “too different,” Japan saw as:

• future-proof

• aligned to their brand heritage

• culturally consistent with their quality-first values

• usable beyond the UK

• and a blueprint for the experience they wanted every customer, in every market, to receive

They endorsed it fully.
And mandated it strategically.

The design that had been dismissed locally had just been validated at the highest possible level.

A Blueprint That Still Exists Today

Over time, elements of that sales process became part of the manufacturer’s broader customer experience strategy — shaping the way vehicles were presented, purchased, and delivered across markets.

That feeling — the one you get when your work finds the right home — is one of the best you can have as a consultant.

Sometimes success isn’t about convincing the room you’re in.
It’s about reaching the room that needed to hear it.

What That Project Taught Me

1. Vision isn’t always appreciated by those closest to the old way of working

The UK team weren’t wrong — they were familiar.
And familiarity fights change harder than anything else.

2. Innovation often needs distance to be recognised

Japan saw the idea without the baggage, politics, or personal bias that existed locally.

3. Consultants don’t design for one meeting — they design for the future

Our work isn’t validated when it is presented.
It is validated when it is adopted.

4. Sometimes your real stakeholder isn’t the one sat in front of you

In global organisations, influence flows in multiple directions.
This was one of my earliest lessons in strategic alignment.

5. The best ideas often feel uncomfortable at first

If everyone likes an idea immediately, it is probably not stretching anything important.

Looking Back

That project taught me resilience in a way no course or qualification ever could.
It taught me that rejection doesn’t always mean failure — sometimes it means you’re early.
And it taught me that designing something meaningful requires conviction, even when the first audience doesn’t appreciate it.

The UK didn’t get it.
Japan did.
And the customer experience that followed became stronger because of it.

As consultants, we don’t always get to see our work land in the way we hoped.
But sometimes — just sometimes — it lands exactly where it was meant to.