Case Study｜Reprice Inc.

We are in charge of the entire process from purchase to resale of real estate, and work closely with our "Team Reprice".

Ushijima: We at Reprice, Inc. specialize in the rehabilitated housing business.
We purchase used houses that have been put up for sale for various reasons, such as relocation or inheritance, renovate them, and sell them as repurposed houses. By remodeling properties with outdated facilities, parking lots, or floor plans that are not suited to modern lifestyles to meet new needs, we connect customers who want to sell with customers who want to buy, and offer a new alternative to "new" and "used" housing.

Ushijima: In this industry of buying and reselling existing homes, the sales process differs from company to company, but it is very rare to find a sales style like ours, where everything from purchasing to renovation planning and sales is done in one integrated process.
By having a single sales representative in charge of each property, we are able to accumulate know-how and conduct purchase and resale activities more quickly and in line with the ever-changing needs of the market and our clients.

Yamamoto: Another feature of our business is that we have a specialized unit that supports sales in purchasing and remodeling.
When purchasing, we have a team called the Analysis Section, which specializes in market analysis for purchasing, and when remodeling, the Product Planning Section accompanies us as advisors for remodeling, making our sales activities a team effort.
Another important stakeholder is the brokerage companies.
In our business model, we cannot manufacture our own products, so it is very important to stabilize our procurement. How can we obtain information from brokerage firms and speedily make the best assessments? Customers who sell used properties have the need to "sell quickly, but at the highest possible price. It is our strength to respond to these customer needs through cooperation with intermediary companies and in-house teamwork.

Ushijima: Even when we talk about pre-owned properties, each product is highly individualized. Even properties with exactly the same floor plan and square footage have different renovation details and appraisal values depending on the area, and they also vary greatly depending on the age of the building and whether it is a detached house or a condominium.
While matching the individuality of each product, it must be a good remodeling project and a good pricing. It is very important to formulate a hypothesis about the "goodness" of the product.
By verifying the market response to properties that I have purchased and remodeled, and by listening to the opinions of customers who have actually purchased the property, I can confirm how each hypothesis has turned out and apply it to the next result.
There are about 20,000 appraisals per year, and we can use the experience from each of these cases as blood and flesh to quickly formulate better sales hypotheses. Such a team is what makes us unique.

Quick access to highly similar past cases leads to increased efficiency and quality of assessments

Ushijima: There were multiple reasons for implementing Salesforce and UPWARD as information management systems, but the most important of them was to solve the issue of "how to deepen the accumulation and utilization of data" when considering future business development.

Ushijima: Until now, we had to create individual Excel data for each property, and then link the appraisal data system to the Excel data to perform appraisal work.
This was a time-consuming and inefficient way to consolidate data. This management method made it difficult to search, reference, and utilize the data, and there was a sense of crisis that we were not making the most of the vast amount of data we had in the company.
In such a situation, when I thought about what kind of environment I should create as a manager, Salesforce and UPWARD, which can visualize and systematically manage information in an easy-to-understand manner, were indispensable for our business reform.

In particular, the Analysis Section refers to all information during the purchasing phase.
Due to the nature of this highly individualized real estate product, location is a major factor. When assessing a certain property, it is not enough to refer to data on neighboring properties because they are in the same city or town.
A complex of factors such as distance from commercial facilities, ease of access to main roads, sunlight, and the presence or absence of hills will affect the appraisal value. Maps are the only way to visually grasp the relationship between the location and the surrounding environment.
Although we had already introduced a mapping system prior to the introduction of Salesforce, UPWARD's smooth integration with Salesforce and its ability to grasp Salesforce data in a timely manner were decisive factors in our decision to implement UPWARD. The fact that UPWARD can be smoothly integrated with Salesforce and that we can grasp Salesforce data in a timely manner was a deciding factor in our decision to implement the system.

Yamamoto: The mapping tool we had previously used could only reference basic data such as the size and age of the property. In order to collect other data, we had to search through a huge amount of Excel sheets, and we had to give up on digging deeper into past cases due to time constraints.
The ability to "know the household composition of the customers who actually purchased the property" and "know the results of surveys conducted when the property was put on the market" without having to search for data is extremely important for the quality of the hypotheses in the appraisal work.

Ushijima: Previously, we could only obtain information in bits and pieces, but now we can see everything from pricing and revisions at logto end-user information that led to a purchase, and we can easily access photos of similar properties from a map. The quality and quantity of information we can reference is completely different than before.
We can also immediately access lost orders, which we were unable to consolidate before, and we can refer to logat the same time for an assessment of what properties have been considered in the neighboring area. With this information base, we are able to predict the movements of our competitors.

Yamamoto: What is important in the appraisal business is how quickly we can access past cases that are highly similar.
Not only the location, but also the size of the building and the age of the building. If we have to access different case data without knowing these things, that alone will reduce our productivity.
Since we started using UPWARD, the quality and speed of assessments have clearly increased, and we feel that "the time to get the same answer" has been reduced by at least 20%.
However, the fact that it has become easier to find data that I had previously given up on has increased the amount of information I want to see... In extreme cases, this is a job that I could do endlessly if I wanted to spend more time on it, so there is an aspect that UPWARD has made it harder for me to give up (laughs).

The establishment of a structure to the Sales DX has led to retention, as employees realise that they can change their work for the better.

Ushijima: We have been making such good use of UPWARD that some people say that they open UPWARD when they are doing appraisal work. The establishment of a specialized team called the Operation Support Section, to which Yamamoto belongs, was also an important turning point.
If the system is recognized as a tool that is easy to use in daily operations, it will become firmly established in the field. We placed great importance, both in terms of structure and culture, on creating a mood that allows for dialogue when there are areas for improvement, and on having a cycle of continuous change.

The work of the Analysis Section covers a wide range of tasks, including appraisal of purchased properties, market research, market fitting, and market development, and it is not unusual for us to change our pricing policy or product direction as a result of market analysis. Because we are dealing with such a highly individualized market where we "listen to the voices of actual customers and make the rehabilitated houses fit the market," we strongly believe that we do not want our employees to be passive in their work flow.
One of our management philosophies is to "create our own change and continue to change," and I think this challenge to digital transformationwas one of them.  

Yamamoto: As for me, I was assigned to promote the use of Salesforce and UPWARD on a full-time basis, so I was able to focus on this mission as a department. Compared to other companies, we at Reprice had a corporate culture that eliminated customary industry practices, and our employees had a sense of "what we should do" and "what value this will bring," which also helped.
I myself am fond of saying "it's a hassle," so I am working with each employee to make it better and easier for me to see things through their eyes. I want to make it easier for each employee, so I am working on it from the perspective of each employee.  

Ushijima: Through this project, there are more and more opportunities for the field to express their opinions and make changes to the system, and I am glad that we have been able to break away from the perception that " it is natural to follow the instructions when given a task.
As an organization that is both collaborative and self-driven, I hope that we can continue to promote the use of data through the system, and I hope that we can promote the "Reprise-ness" of fitting into this market while picking up changes from the bottom up. We hope to promote "Reprice's originality" in all aspects of our business.

Continue business reforms and devote resources to "things that should be done by human hands

Ushijima: We would like to continue to improve efficiency while utilizing the system throughout the entire process and devote our available resources to " things that should be done by human hands. We would like to build a system that allows our sales staff to focus on communication with brokers, renovation planning, and sales negotiations.
By shifting the resources freed up as a result of streamlining through the system to the promotion of new initiatives, we will strengthen our business foundation and make Reprice the preferred choice of both customers and brokerage firms.
I hope that all of us will continue to work together to realize a world in which everyone can lead a better life.