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Sales Efficiency

Successfully Achieved Sales Efficiency and Heat Map Strategy Implementation

  • SFA/MA Activation
  • Corporate Attribute Enrichment and Analysis
  • Core System
  • New Sales Prospect List

Hitachi Solutions, Ltd.

Internet-related, System and Software Development, Specialized Trading and Wholesale

INTERVIEWEE

  • Sales Management Division
    Digital Marketing Sales Division, General Manager, Mr. Kazuo Hata
  • Digital Marketing Sales Division, Business Creation Department, Ms. Yuka Yamamoto
  • Digital Marketing Sales Division, Business Creation Department, Ms. Ako Tsuno
  • Sales Planning Division, Sales Strategy Department, General Manager, Mr. Yu Konai
  • Sales Planning Division, Sales Strategy Department, Deputy General Manager, Ms. Yumiko Koizumi
  • IT and DX Promotion Division
    DiCE Promotion Department, Deputy General Manager, Mr. Masahito Naka

Hitachi Solutions, Ltd. is a company primarily engaged in the system integration business, providing support for system implementation ranging from application development and package deployment to infrastructure construction. In 2019, the company implemented uSonar, one of Japan's largest corporate databases, to assist in formulating sales strategies and improving sales efficiency. We spoke with Mr. Hata, Mr. Yamamoto, Mr. Tsuno, Mr. Konoichi, and Mr. Koizumi from the Sales Management Division, as well as Mr. Naka from the IT & DX Promotion Division, regarding the background, benefits, and future prospects of implementing uSonar.

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Challenges Before Implementation

Challenges in Information Sharing and New Customer Acquisition Processes

We asked Hitachi Solutions, Ltd. about the challenges they faced that led to the decision to implement uSonar.

Hata

Previously, each department operated with a high degree of independence, and performance figures were aggregated individually by each department. This resulted in a lack of company-wide coordination and an inefficient state of operations.

Koizumi

From the perspective of sales strategy, we were unable to identify where our white space—potential customers with whom we had no prior contact—actually existed. Specifically, attempting to identify this white space required acquiring external lists and cross-referencing them with our own transaction records and activity history, which was labor-intensive. Furthermore, because analysis was conducted individually, similar analytical data was scattered throughout the company.

The issues of task specialization and the 'black box' nature of operations have been raised across all industries and sectors in recent years. Hitachi Solutions, Ltd. decided that it was time to resolve these issues within their sales department. HTS02.webp

Deciding Factors for Implementation

Streamlining Information Sharing Through Salesforce Utilization

Amidst these challenges, Hitachi Solutions, Ltd. adopted uSonar.

Using LBC, a database of 12.5 million corporate records covering the domestic market built by uSonar (formerly Landscape), they have been organizing and maintaining the corporate information within their existing Salesforce environment using uSonar. Hitachi Solutions, Ltd. was recognized for their achievements in SFA/CRM utilization at the annual Salesforce National Utilization Championship, where they impressively won the title in 2021.

Source: Salesforce "SFUG CUP 2021: The 9th Salesforce National Utilization Championship"

Furthermore, they noted that the effects of SFA/CRM utilization were tangible at the operational level.

Tsuno

"I originally worked in sales, and I felt that the speed of internal information sharing increased significantly as the utilization of SFA/CRM progressed."

In B2B business, it is necessary to manage not only corporate information but also information on individuals within those companies. By utilizing uSonar and Salesforce, they were able to visualize the touchpoints between their company and client companies, which has also had a positive impact on sales activities.

Naka

"Previously, we were unable to effectively link the personal information we acquired with corporate information, so we were not able to utilize the personal information we had collected. Now, all business card information acquired at exhibitions, seminars, and other events can be linked to the corporate information in our SFA/CRM. For example, when we want to conduct sales activities for a specific company, we can now trace connections to see who already has a relationship with that company, allowing us to approach them more efficiently."

Because information sharing has become seamless, it has become possible to improve the efficiency of many business operations.

Hata

"Since both the field staff and the management team can now view information in real time, a significant reduction in the time spent creating reports and attending meetings has been a major achievement. While this represents the overall return on investment including SFA and BI tools, not just uSonar, we are seeing a return four times the investment."

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Results Achieved

Introduction of Heat Map Strategy

Koizumi

"As part of our sales strategy, we have been implementing a heat map strategy since this year. A heat map visualizes which products are being used by which customers by cross-referencing customer segments with business segments, and it also indicates the scale of adoption through color intensity."

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Konai

"For example, when we filter by the manufacturing industry, we can see where and to what extent our solutions for the manufacturing sector are being used, and identify which companies offer opportunities for proposals.
Previously, we could only see information on customers with whom we had actual transactions, but by introducing uSonar, we can now see the white space, making it easier to develop strategies on where to target."

It is said that by creating strategies based on data, each department has been able to act with a greater sense of conviction.

Yamamoto

In our promotion and marketing operations, we conduct seminars and disseminate information based on heat map strategies. Furthermore, since uSonar includes a feature that allows us to identify which companies are viewing our website, we perform daily improvements while verifying whether the pages created based on our strategies are actually being viewed by our target audience.

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Toward Further Challenges

Leveraging Visualized Data More Effectively to Drive Orders

Hitachi Solutions, Ltd. aims to further utilize technology to eliminate reliance on individual expertise in sales activities.

Konai

uSonar has enabled us to achieve visualization. Moving forward, we intend to make improvements so that everyone can conduct sales activities efficiently, for example, by using AI to provide recommendations.

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*Our service and feature names are current as of the time of the interview.

Article Publication Date: September 27, 2022

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