SoftBrain Releases Case Study of e-Sales Manager Implementation at PLAINER Inc.

SoftBrain Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and President: Hirofumi Toyoda; hereinafter "SoftBrain"), a provider of CRM/SFA solutions for improving corporate competitiveness, has conducted an interview regarding the implementation of e-Sales Manager at PLAINER Inc. (Headquarters: Meguro-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Dai Kobayashi), and has published the video on its corporate website.

PLAINER Inc. Case Study Page: https://www.e-sales.jp/casestudy/plainer/

Interview Overview

PLAINER Inc. is a company headquartered in Meguro-ku, Tokyo, that provides "PLAINER," a no-code platform for creating B2B software and SaaS demos. "PLAINER" is widely recognized as an innovative service that allows customers to experience product UI/UX before signing a contract. While the company's number of business negotiations rapidly increased, it faced the following challenges:

・Management limitations: Deal management and customer management were handled using spreadsheets, etc., but they could no longer cope with the rapidly increasing number of deals.

・Personalization of follow-ups: Insufficient visualization of deal phase management and reasons for past losses made it difficult for the inside sales team to efficiently follow up and re-engage prospects, leading to personalized and inconsistent approaches.

・Disparities in sales skills and outcomes: It was difficult to objectively grasp the strengths and weaknesses of individual sales representatives, and disparities in sales skills and outcomes became a challenge.

The points the company focused on when introducing e-Sales Manager were as follows:

・Intuitive and easy-to-understand UI (User Interface) that allowed sales members on site to input data without hesitation. ・Comprehensive coverage of functions that should be standard in CRM/SFA, and the ease of numerical aggregation using dashboards. ・A highly reproducible management system that allows individual thought processes to be shared as organizational knowledge through the accumulation of activity content. ・The ability to accurately visualize and operate rapidly increasing deals and complex phase progress on a single platform.

Comments from PLAINER Inc.

Comment from Mr. Koya Kakuda, Marketing Department (excerpt):

Before the introduction, we managed deals using spreadsheets, etc., but with the rapid increase in deals, we could no longer keep up with operations.

e-Sales Manager's UI is very easy to understand, and sales members can input data smoothly, so its penetration into the organization was very quick. As an inside sales professional, I found it very effective that it allows us to log not just the results of activities, but also the thought process of "what hypothesis was formed and how the approach was made." By utilizing e-Sales Manager, we were able to prevent personalization, ensure reproducibility across the entire team, improve the lead-to-negotiation conversion rate, and efficiently re-engage past lost deals.

Comment from Mr. Takuya Akutsu, PLAINER Evangelist (excerpt):

Previously, business forecasts were based on intuition, but by acquiring data through e-Sales Manager, we can now accurately grasp them. For example, visualizing which industries and company sizes deals are concentrated in has been very significant, as it has allowed us to collaborate with the marketing side to formulate strategies and tactics.

Furthermore, the ability to numerically visualize the strengths and weaknesses of individual members has been instrumental in standardizing sales skills.

Going forward, we want to further strengthen the system so that new members can quickly achieve results, and accelerate the expansion of implementations to mega-enterprise companies.

About esm (e-Sales Manager)

Since launching Japan's first CRM/SFA in August 1999, SoftBrain has been providing solutions that transform all customer contact operations, including marketing, sales, and after-sales service, through both IT and services. With "esm (e-Sales Manager)" as its core high-functional CRM/SFA, SoftBrain possesses practical know-how in customer contact process management gained from the implementation results of its MA (Marketing Automation) tool "esm marketing" and after-sales service management tool "esm service." By combining these, SoftBrain continues its efforts to provide problem-solving solutions and contribute to maximizing customer productivity.

"esm (e-Sales Manager)" allows for the design of sales processes tailored to each company, regardless of industry, sector, or scale. By realizing "process management" through visualization, measurement, and improvement of sales processes, it creates a mechanism that leads to operational efficiency and increased sales and profits. Consulting services before and after implementation are also extensive, including the provision of know-how based on over 5,500 implementation achievements, education, and system adoption and utilization.