Case Study｜Zenporen Corporation

Previously, supplier information was siloed with individual sales reps

ーFirst of all, please tell us about your company's business.

Okamatsu: Times have changed and so have family structures. These days, it is not uncommon to find that there is no one close by who can be asked to act as a joint guarantor. Even if both the borrower and the lender agree that they want to rent or lease a room, the lease contract may not go smoothly due to the lack of a joint guarantor. Our "Rent Guarantee System" is used in such cases.
The Rent Guarantee System is a system that pays rent to the landlord on behalf of the tenant in the unlikely event that the tenant falls behind in rent payments. This system provides peace of mind to both the renter and the lender, and thus facilitates a smooth lease contract.

Asakura: There are many companies offering rent guarantee systems, and in some cases, credit card companies are also selling rent guarantee systems. Many companies are competing in this industry, and we are aiming to be "number one in sales" among them.
Sales activities are conducted mainly to real estate companies, and although it varies slightly depending on the region or area, each sales staff member is responsible for several hundred customers and sells to 10 to 15 companies every day. Some of our sales staff are in charge of about 800 companies.

Okamatsu:There are a great many "real estate companies" in one word. In urban areas, there are more than tens of thousands of real estate companies operating in the industry, and bankruptcies and relocations are very common. In this environment, it is necessary to constantly develop new customers.
Until now, the management of client information, such as where the real estate companies are located, the routes to take to meet them, and the details of the visiting activities, was left to the sales employees. The management methods varied from sales staff to sales staff, such as writing it down on paper maps or in notebooks, or memorizing it in their heads. As a result, the management of client information was not shared, and it had become a completely personalized process, and the current issue was to improve the efficiency of sales activities. 

Visualisation of business partner information and the use of maps to further improve operational efficiency.

ーHow did you come to introduce UPWARD?

Okamatsu:The area that a sales employee is in charge of changes every six months to a few years. At that time, client information needs to be transferred to the new person in charge, but because the management of client information had been completely gerrymandered, it could not be transferred properly. The person in charge of the new area had to gather information and start sales activities from scratch. We decided to consider introducing a solution to break through this inefficient situation.

Mr. Niizaki: That's why we focused on visualization of customer information. Until now, we had been using paper daily reports, forms, and lists of business partners. However, with the introduction of Salesforce, systemization was realized and information can now be managed centrally. This has greatly improved business efficiency and productivity.
However, there remained a problem: Although the implementation of Salesforce enabled the visualization and sharing of business partner information, paper maps still had to be used. This led to requests from the field to use app, a map that facilitates route searches, transfers of customer information, and so on.

Okamatsu:That is why we introduced UPWARD. The barriers to introducing UPWARD were not high because it can be easily operated with a smartphone. In terms of security, UPWARD complies with the security standards set by the Financial Information Systems Center (FISC), and data is automatically stored in Salesforce through UPWARD, so we can use it with peace of mind. In fact, the name UPWARD was mentioned by our system administrator from the consideration stage, so we were able to make the decision to introduce UPWARD with peace of mind. 

Smooth implementation with support from Customer Success.

ーHas the actual implementation gone smoothly?

Okamatsu:The Customer Success Team of UPWARD Corporation assisted in the implementation of UPWARD. A briefing session was held at Zenporen before the UPWARD went into production. Customer Success representatives used a videoconferencing system to lecture sales employees nationwide on how to use UPWARD.
To hold a briefing session on our own initiative, we would need to be familiar with how to use UPWARD, but that would take time and effort. However, that would take time and effort. Thanks to UPWARD's support, the introduction went smoothly. This kind of support is very helpful.

Mr. Niizaki: After the briefing, UPWARD was fully introduced, and by using UPWARD, it became possible to check the location of business partners on a map and, at the push of a button, search for the best route to the client. This eliminates the need to look up the location of the client company or to think of a route, which was necessary in the past, and allows us to go to meet with the client immediately.
In addition, since we can check the client companies on a map, we can immediately start sales activities even if we are assigned to a region we are unfamiliar with. logThe efficiency of sales activities has been dramatically improved by being able to refer to activity reports on UPWARD.
Since the introduction of UPWARD, we have been able to conduct sales activities for several hundred customers without missing any of them. As a result, we have achieved more than our initial goals. I feel that UPWARD is a powerful sales tool.
In addition, new graduates are using UPWARD from the time they join the company, so they are able to conduct efficient sales activities from the very beginning. Some new graduates seem to be selling to 20 to 30 companies every day. 

A tool that all companies in field sales can use.

ーWhat benefits have you experienced since the introduction of the system and what are your prospects for the future?

ASAKURA: THE BENEFITS OF IMPLEMENTING UPWARD ARE ALSO ON THE MANAGEMENT SIDE. OUR BUSINESS PROCESSES HAVE BEEN SIMPLIFIED, ALLOWING US TO FOCUS ON OUR CORE BUSINESS, AND AS A RESULT, OUR SALES HAVE BEEN GROWING BY DOUBLE DIGITS EVERY YEAR. AS A RESULT, OUR SALES HAVE CONTINUED TO GROW BY DOUBLE DIGITS EVERY YEAR, AND WE EXPECT THAT UPWARD CAN ALSO BE USED TO REFORM THE WAY WE WORK.

Okamatsu:There are many advantages to implementing UPWARD, but there is not a single disadvantage. I feel that it is a tool that all companies engaged in field sales can utilize. In the future, we plan to use UPWARD not only for client management and sales support, but also for time management.
If we know how much time was spent on negotiations and contracts, we will be able to optimally assign sales representatives and organize areas more efficiently.