[J-Startup Hour Part 1] What is the Sales Engagement that will help us to hit the cliff in 2025? The latest sales techniques advocated by J-Startup companies aiming to go global.

keynote speech

The Role of Startups in Revitalizing Japan's Industries

Ishii: The year 2022 is said to be the first year of startup creation. We have been supporting startups for some time now, and this catchphrase is intended to further strengthen our support for startups.
The Cabinet Office is currently discussing the need to move in the direction of " new capitalism," and when it comes to realizing a " virtuous cycle of growth and distribution," it is startups that will support " growth.
Weprovide comprehensive support for startups through a combination of various policies, including preparation for opening a business, business start ups, guidance in human resource development, and overseas expansion support from JETRO. One of the pillars ofour support is "J-Startup. This is an initiative to increase the number of companies that can provide value to the world.

Ishii: Today's session is for UPWARD Corporation, and one of the areas we would like to focus on in the third round of J-Start-up company selection is the promotion of digital transformation, which is a major national issue. After the Corona Disaster, the sense of the issue has become even more pronounced and the situation is progressing, but it is very important to push this issue forward one step further.
I hear that UPWARD will be expanding overseas in the future, and I have high expectations for UPWARD's activities in these areas.

Mr. Ishii: President Kaneki and Mr. Kurabayashi will talk to you later, and I hope that you will take the digital transformationof our country to the next stage of the way of working. Finally, I would like to send an important message to all of you that we, the government, are actively supporting start-ups. Thank you very much for your continued support.

What is Sales Engagement to Break Through the 2025 Cliff? The latest sales techniques proposed by a J-Startup company aiming for the world

Kaneki: As mentioned in Mr. Ishii's keynote speech, we are aiming for the world in the area of " salesengagement " to realizedigital transformation and our mission "Innovate the last mile in the field". Today, I would like to discuss this in depth with Mr. Kurabayashi, the head of DNX Ventures in Japan.

KURABAYASHI: Thank you very much, my name is KURABAYASHI, and I am the Japan representative of DNX Ventures, a venture capital (VC) firm. I would like to take this opportunity to tell you about some of the companies we invest in at DNX Ventures . We invest almost ex clusively in SaaS companies in Japan, and I believe that no other fund is as committed to the future of SaaS in Japan as we are.

KURABAYASHI: First of all, compared to Europe and the U.S., Japan has lagged behind in software and digital technologies and has been a backward country in BtoB startups. However, as you can see from the data, several companies that solve social issues in the BtoB field are finally emerging, and we are investing in them with a full bet. We have a long relationship with UPWARD and are one of the companies we invest in that we have a fairly close relationship with.
The initiative of our fund is to invest from the seed stage and support them by renting office space, and when they reach the late stage, we will invest from the growth fund, consistently accompanying BtoB startups from the beginning to the end.

Kaneki: Thank you, Mr. Kurabayashi.
UPWARD is currently the leadingcloud service for field sales. appIt is a simple solution that supports "sales engagement " by connecting salespeople and customers, increasing the resolution of the company's overall customer base, and facilitating the development of strategies. The CRM and our services work seamlessly together to automaticallycustomer touchpoint The CRM and our service work seamlessly together and automatically link to the customer's information without the need to touch anything in the CRM.

Kaneki: Using the accumulated data, efficient visit planning can be done in the area of location intelligence, utilizing location information, and visualized on a dashboard in real time. I would like to strongly support this kind of sales engagement. In Japan, this concept itself has not yet penetrated very far, so it will be our mission to promote sales engagement itself.

The concept of sales engagement is gaining ground in the U.S. and Europe.

KURABAYASHI : The term " sales engagement" itself is positioned as the next generation of CRM globally. In the U.S., there are already unicorns and other very large companies, and it is positioned as the "leading role. I have the impression that UPWARD has been a pioneer in this area for a long time.

KURABAYASHI: A common pattern in this type of sales tech is to start with the Horizontal SaaS (SaaS used for specific tasks regardless of industry) sector to automate and improve sales efficiency. The solution concept of " increasing the overall average " applies to both sales engagement and sales enablement.
Rather than having performance change on an individual basis, we are trying to optimize actions by providing suggestions through technology, such as "you will convert if you take this action next time. Then, by watching the customer's engagement and excitement, we can supplementwhat AI cannot achieve, which is optimal communication on a one-to-one basis.
There is an American culture of automating these processes with the help of technology, and this need is gradually becoming true in Japan as well.
In the days when lifetime employment was the norm, the same person from the time of new graduates was in general charge, so it was possible to learn from the boss and follow his/her instructions without having to establish a so-called " pattern". However, even in Japanese companies, the turnover rate is increasing and mid-career hiring is increasing. Now that the turnover of people is more rapid than in the past, it has become necessary to have a sales model.

KURABAYASHI: It is also important to make decisions based on data. Even if a senior colleague says to you, "Do business this way! but " Is that really the right way to do it? " Sales methods are being reexamined. The company may not change, but the customers do, so is the old-fashioned "watch your seniors' backs and learn from them" style really appropriate? We need to visualize and optimize these areas. This major trend is taking place in Japan, and I feel that the market is becoming more receptive to it.

Changes in the Japanese market due to the spread of new coronavirus infection

Kaneki: As Mr. Kurabayashi mentioned, the nature of field sales is changing, and I believe that Corona is having no small influence. The use of mobile devices is becoming more active, and we are actually setting up our own points of contact with customers without relying on the company's offices.
However, there are many industries and sectors that do not have the business practice of always conducting business meetings online, or that do not have the IT literacy of the customers they are selling to in the first place. In such industries, there is no phone or e-mail connection, and contact cannot be made without a visit.... Even in those industries, " going in unannounced " is being curbed.
I think there is a point where you cannot grasp the essence of the customer without actually going to the site and meeting the customer. Not only through e-mails or online meetings, but also by talking on the phone or meeting with the customer . The impression the person in charge gives you, the impression that this business meeting is like this...I think there is always information like that that cannot be digitized.

Kaneki: We believe that there are two types ofsales digital transformation. One is to facilitate the digital utilization of systems that were originally paper-based or complicated, such as so-called online business cards andautomatic PDF analysis services.
The other is information that has not yet been digitized, such as notes in a person's head ornotebook, or information that a mid-level sales representative might think, " I know best! part of the business. This digital transformationis not easily converted to log. The input is left to the individual, and the person often slacks off , but we will convert it to login real time. We are working on quantifying these inputs and returning them in an individually optimized form to the on-site insights.

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Watch the session video (28:50 min.)