Uchida

Our company aims for data-driven management, and as part of that initiative, we efficiently share customer, property, and sales opportunity information via Salesforce to leverage it for our sales activities.

Until now, we have grown the company based on the "intuition, experience, and guts" of our sales team. However, with the advancement of IT, tools that can quickly analyze vast amounts of data have emerged. Furthermore, since data is also accumulating in Salesforce, we have been aiming for data-driven management since around 2021, believing that if we utilize this data, we could further increase our sales win rate.

Within this context, I am responsible for promoting the utilization of SFA/CRM tools (sales force automation systems) and BI tools (management analysis tools).

Uchida

Before implementing Salesforce, we managed customer information using individual sales notebooks and Excel, which meant that information was siloed, and the sales organization as a whole could not utilize valuable data. Consequently, we decided to implement an SFA/CRM system to facilitate company-wide data utilization.

Initially, we developed an in-house system to accumulate customer information, but it did not perform as expected. We then introduced Salesforce, but there were many cases where the staff lost sight of the purpose, or the data was incomplete.

Another significant challenge was the high volume of duplicate data within Salesforce, with approximately 10,000 duplicate records. This data duplication caused multiple sales representatives to approach the same company, sometimes leading to customer complaints.

Furthermore, we use the BI tool Tableau for management analysis. Because the data within Salesforce was duplicated, the figures generated in Tableau were not aggregated correctly. Since Tableau is also used for management meetings, inaccurate results could lead to flawed management decisions. Therefore, it was essential for us to clean and organize our data.

Uchida

Since we had been managing sales negotiations in Excel, transitioning to a system where everything is managed in Salesforce required us to help the team understand a completely different approach from the traditional method. We involved sales managers and spent six months coordinating with the field staff to define sales phases and probability levels.

Uchida

The ease of integration with SFA/CRM systems is a key advantage. To effectively utilize data, it is necessary to aggregate not only information on business partners, sales opportunities, and activities, but also data from other core systems via API integration. A major factor in choosing uSonar was its ability to integrate seamlessly with various systems.

Furthermore, by using uSonar for data cleansing, we were able to eliminate duplicate data and establish a foundation for leveraging data within Salesforce.

Of course, the fact that it possesses a volume of corporate data unmatched by other companies, as well as the breadth of comprehensive and easy-to-use information, were also deciding factors.

Uchida

We compared three to four companies, but we chose mSonar by prioritizing ease of integration with Salesforce and convenience for sales representatives in the field. We believe field convenience is particularly important, and after having them conduct demonstrations, many felt that mSonar was the most practical solution. Compared to other business card management applications, mSonar offers an overwhelming amount of information, and the ability to freely search not only for business card information but also for corporate data while on the go is a significant benefit for our field staff.

Uchida

It significantly reduces the time required for list creation and company extraction, as well as overall costs. In particular, the ability to create lists based on company characteristics using "Stories" (qualitative company attributes uniquely labeled by uSonar) is highly convenient. For example, Stories such as "Companies likely to relocate offices," "Companies with corporate housing," and "Companies promoting work-style reform" align well with real estate, allowing us to create targeted lists and achieve tangible results.

The "Good Industry" classification (a unique industry categorization set by uSonar) is also well-received by our sales team. Even when companies fall under different attributes in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' industry classifications, the "Good Industry" labels often align with our internal definitions, making it much easier to segment our analysis results.

Furthermore, before implementing uSonar, our only option was to purchase corporate data from other providers on an ad-hoc basis. While the data accuracy was high, the significant time and cost required to utilize it were major drawbacks. In contrast, uSonar allows us to access 12.5 million records of corporate data whenever and as much as we need. This has drastically reduced our costs related to corporate data and has overwhelmingly increased the number of companies we can approach.

With the reduction in corporate data purchases, the issue of data duplication has also been resolved. Previously, when we purchased corporate data, we had to cross-reference it with our existing internal data to check for duplicates. Implementing uSonar has allowed us to eliminate the man-hours previously spent on that task.

Uchida

It is very convenient to be able to view credit information by scanning a business card, search for company information, make calls directly from the app, and view the location of headquarters on a map. It has become a habit among our sales members to check mSonar before visiting clients to stay updated on industry news.

Uchida

The man-hours required for creating materials for meetings have been significantly reduced. Previously, we had to submit materials several days before a meeting, which meant struggling to aggregate figures in Excel and create charts for every single meeting. Now, we operate using Tableau, and no advance preparation is required.

This is only possible because we have established a culture where data normalized by uSonar is entered into Salesforce. Our President and executives have even stated that they only look at Salesforce for meeting materials. In other words, a lack of data entry implies a lack of results, so the culture of data entry is deeply ingrained.

That said, data entry can be cumbersome, and I don't think every member is fully convinced of its value yet. Therefore, our President and executives periodically explain "why data entry is necessary" to continue our internal awareness-raising efforts.

Uchida

We intend to leverage uSonar even further to increase our sales win rate.

By seamlessly integrating uSonar's corporate data, news, and Live Access information with the customer data registered in our Salesforce, we are considering building a system that allows us to precisely capture customer needs and approach clients who require our services early and accurately.

Furthermore, through data-driven initiatives, if we can capture the interests of potential customers in real-time and visualize priorities to approach them effectively, we can accelerate the process from lead acquisition to nurturing and closing. We expect that we will be able to improve our win rate, moving from our current 7 wins and 5 losses to 8 wins and 4 losses, or even 9 wins and 3 losses.