Takara standard, Adopts uSonar to Promote Data-Driven Sales

Ms. Niimi of Takara standard (right) speaking at the Salesforce Japan World Tour Tokyo venue

- Presentation Theme
Corporate Data Management Methodology as Told by the Salesforce National Utilization Champion
- Date and Time
June 12, 2024 (Wed) 12:00 – 12:40
- Speakers
Sayuri Niimi, Manager, Structural Reform & DX Promotion Office and Sales Division, Takara standard Co., Ltd.
Taku Fujisawa, Manager, Planning Group, Sales Division, uSonar Co., Ltd.

Ms. Niimi of Takara standard presenting at the Salesforce Japan World Tour Tokyo venue

Takara standard Co., Ltd., which develops housing equipment centered on system kitchens, boasts top-tier performance in the domestic industry with sales of 234.7 billion yen (fiscal year ending March 2024).
However, the long-term industry trend shows a challenging business environment where housing starts are on a downward trend and renovation demand remains stagnant.

To survive in a market where a downward trend is expected to continue, transformation was essential. The company launched a policy to promote "Data-Driven Sales" to increase revenue. As a means to achieve this, they began using Salesforce SFA in 2019. To realize data-driven sales, it was first necessary to centralize transaction information and visualize whether the company was effectively approaching target enterprises.

Specifically, the plan was to centralize the management of client information—that is, to integrate Salesforce, which manages customer information and sales history, with the core system that manages billing and delivery information.

Although they began moving toward centralizing client information, a challenge regarding information granularity emerged: while Salesforce assigns codes at the 'branch office' level, their core system assigns codes at the 'billing' level.

Continuing in this state would lead to data duplication after centralization. Therefore, it became clear that before aggregating information, they first needed to overcome the significant hurdle of 'data cleansing' for client information.

Mr. Niimi of Takara standard Co., Ltd. speaking at the Salesforce World Tour Tokyo venue

There are two main approaches to data cleansing: developing an in-house corporate code system, or utilizing a corporate code system provided by an external data provider like us.
Takara standard Co., Ltd. chose the latter and proceeded to compare vendors.

At uSonar, we conduct a 'Data Diagnostic Service' to visualize data cleansing accuracy by matching the client's (in this case, Takara standard Co., Ltd.) corporate data against our 'LBC' corporate database to verify the match rate.

In this instance, when we matched the data from their core system's client master against the LBC data, we found that the 300,000 records could be consolidated into 180,000. This result, along with the comprehensive coverage of local small and medium-sized enterprise data—which are key targets for Takara standard Co., Ltd.—and the ability to realize customer management at the branch level, led to the decision to adopt uSonar.

By leveraging LBC to achieve the centralization of customer information, they successfully established the foundation for 'Data-Driven Sales'.Integration diagram between Takara standard Co., Ltd. and uSonar. Finally, the data is visualized using BI tools and provided to internal users.

Having centralized customer information and utilized Salesforce to accelerate 'Data-Driven Sales', Takara standard Co., Ltd. reports success in the following three areas:

　1. Data-Driven Coaching
　2. Data-Driven Sales Strategy
　3. Refinement of Handover Information

By basing their operations on accurate customer data, they are now able to identify targets for development and visualize whether they are approaching them effectively, which has enabled data-driven sales coaching.

Mr. Niimi states, "We are now able to see our next steps and determine what strategies we should implement."

Furthermore, he notes that even when sudden personnel transfers occur, the centralization of information has proven highly effective, allowing for seamless handovers based on refined data.

At the end of the lecture, Mr. Niimi remarked, "Designing is essential for effectively utilizing Salesforce." He emphasized that when designing the data architecture, "It is highly effective to engage a data vendor, as manual processing is extremely labor-intensive. Additionally, it is crucial to manage the data to prevent duplicates as new information accumulates daily. To achieve this, it is indispensable to design the data flow for ongoing operations."

Since our founding in 1912, we have consistently prioritized the lives of our customers, providing housing equipment with the end-user in mind. Starting as a pioneer in enamel products, we now boast the number one market share for kitchens in Japan. We operate approximately 160 community-based showrooms nationwide—the most in the industry—creating an environment where customers can "see, touch, and feel convinced."
Moving forward, we will continue to provide products that make life more comfortable for everyone.

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