Takara standard Adopts uSonar to Promote "Data-Driven Sales"

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

- Presentation Theme
Corporate Data Management Methodology as Told by the Salesforce National Utilization Champion
- Date and Time
Wednesday, June 12, 2024, 12:00 PM – 12:40 PM
- 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.

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

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

To survive in a market where a downward trend is expected to continue, transformation is essential. The company launched a policy to promote "Data-Driven Sales" to increase revenue. As a means to this end, 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 companies.

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 the company began moving toward centralizing client information, a challenge regarding information granularity emerged: Salesforce assigns codes by "sales office unit," while the core system assigns codes by "billing unit."

If left as is, data duplication would occur after centralization. Therefore, it became clear that before consolidating information, the company first needed to overcome the major hurdle of "data cleansing" for client information.

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

There are two main methods for data cleansing: creating an in-house corporate code system to resolve the issue, or utilizing the corporate code system provided by an external data provider like our company.
Takara standard Co., Ltd. chose the latter and proceeded to compare vendors.

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

Once again, when we matched the data within our core system's business partner master with LBC data, we found that the 300,000 records were narrowed down to 180,000. We decided to adopt uSonar because, compared to other companies, it covers data on local small and medium-sized enterprises that are the target of Takara standard Co., Ltd., and it enables customer management at the branch level.

By centralizing customer information through the utilization of LBC, we first succeeded in establishing the foundation for "Data-Driven Sales." Collaboration diagram between Takara standard Co., Ltd. and uSonar. Finally, the data is visualized using BI tools and provided to internal users.

Takara standard Co., Ltd. was able to accelerate "Data-Driven Sales" by utilizing Salesforce after centralizing customer information.
They stated that they succeeded in achieving results in the following three aspects:

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

By basing operations on accurate customer data, we are now able to identify targets that should be developed and visualize whether we are approaching them reliably, which has enabled data-based sales coaching.

Furthermore, Mr. Niimi stated, "We are now able to see what kind of strategies we should formulate and what our next steps should be."

In addition, he mentioned that even when handovers occur due to sudden personnel transfers, there is a significant benefit in being able to hand over refined information because the data is centralized.

At the end of the lecture, Mr. Niimi stated, "Design is crucial for utilizing Salesforce." Regarding the design of the data component, he emphasized, "Since it takes a significant amount of man-hours to proceed manually, requesting assistance from a data vendor is effective. Furthermore, it is important to manage new data that accumulates daily to ensure there are no duplicates. To achieve this, it is also essential to design the data flow for operations."

Since our founding in 1912, we have continued to provide housing equipment with a focus on daily life and the needs of the user. Starting as a pioneer in enamel, we now boast the No. 1 market share for kitchens in Japan. We have developed approximately 160 community-based showrooms nationwide, the most in the industry, to provide an environment where customers can "see, touch, and be convinced."
Moving forward, we will continue to provide products to make everyone's life more comfortable.

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