UPWARD Corporation (Location: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Ryusuke Kaneki; URL: ), whose mission is to "Innovate the Last Mile on the Job Site https://upward.jp (Location: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Ryusuke Kaneki; URL: ) will take the stage at B Dash Camp 2021, one of the largest invitation-only startup events in Japan, on October 22, 2021. He spoke about how he overcame the Corona disaster with XICA Hirao and Sansan Tomioka at the special session "SaaS companies, growth under headwinds".
Sales Engagement" in field sales is now attracting attention from Silicon Valley. UPWARD was one of the first companies to enter this market, and overcame the challenges of the Corona disaster, such as "salespeople refraining from going out" and "repeated slips on large deals," to become one of this year's "J-Startup Companies*" (*). Kaneki spoke about UPWARD's business growth trajectory, ingenuity, and vision for the future. (*)
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000036.000015260.html
The SaaS business, which began with Salesforce.com Inc. in the United States, is spreading rapidly. Even under the spread of the new coronavirus, the stock prices of SaaS stocks continued to rise in the United States. In addition to revenue growth rate, what is being emphasized is "whether or not long-term growth can be expected," and SaaS companies as a whole tend to have high market capitalization both in Japan and overseas.
Even in such an environment, however, adoption and investment in SaaS in the field of sales and marketing in Japan was sluggish in part due to the Corona disaster. UPWARD Corporation, a provider of SFA for field sales, will also have a difficult year in FY2020, as its MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) did not reach its target, affected by voluntary restraints on outings and other factors. Kaneki recalls the strategy at that time as follows.
We knew that the introduction and consideration of our services would stop at once with the Corona disaster. Therefore, instead of trying to obtain ACV (Annual Contract Value) for new projects, we shifted to a strategy of increasing the "resolution" of our current customers. The Account Executive, who was responsible for new sales, was reassigned to Customer Success, which is almost exclusively responsible for customer support and success, and switched completely to up-selling and cross-selling. We then worked hard to improve the functionality ofthe product to fit the Corona Disaster, based on feedback from companies that were still doing door-to-door sales, or last-mile communications (companies and enterprises in regions where the infection had not spread)."
(Reference: Press release issued on March 1, 2021, "UPWARD AGENT Adds New "Phone Activity Log" Feature - Accelerating DX in the Sales Field by Streamlining Visit and Phone Activity Logging,"
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000022. 000015260.html)
After spending a year in a "defensive" period of enduring retention, up-selling, and cross-selling while continuing to refine the product, I went on the "offensive" with CFO Araki to secure strong human resources to take a chance on the company's fortunes. During the "offensive" period, I went with CFO Araki to secure strong human resources, risking the company' s future. One such person is Ishida, who currently serves as CSO (Chief Sales Officer). The sales team was quickly strengthened after Ishida joined the company, and the initial four sales members grew to 17 six months later, and the pipeline (sales forecast) has increased dramatically.
(Reference: Press release issued on March 22, 2021 "Appointment of CSO with the record for the shortest promotion at Salesforce to UPWARD - Responding to the rapid expansion of the sales tech market by strengthening the sales department"
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000024. (000015260.html)
"I believe that the Corona disaster has helped me learn again the basic know-how of business continuity and the attitude of refining products by facing the solution of essential customer issues. If we continue to create products that have value for customers, the market, and society, and if we are prepared to provide them in a timely manner, we will naturally return to a growth trajectory when the defensive period is over. The Corona disaster was a very difficult time for us, but I hope that you will look forward to our future growth.
From left: Mr. Kurabayashi, Managing Partner Head of Japan, DNX Ventures; Mr. Hirao, CEO and Representative Director, Saika Corporation; Mr. Kaneki, CEO and Representative Director, UPWARD Corporation; Mr. Tomioka, Director, Executive Officer, CRO, Sansan Corporation
B Dash Camp is Japan's largest invitation-only conference, bringing together leading Internet industry executives and celebrities. B Dash Camp 2021 Fall in Fukuoka will be held under the theme of "Japan, Don't Wait! The theme of the sessions at B Dash Camp 2021 Fall in Fukuoka will be "Japan, Don't Wait!" with the goal of clarifying how Japan should move forward in the with Corona era and what updates are necessary to survive in the future.
B Dash Camp 2021 Overview
https://camp.bdashventures.com
UPWARD IS A SALES ENGAGEMENT SERVICE THAT UTILIZES ADVANCED LOCATION-BASED TECHNOLOGY TO AUTOMATICALLY DETECT AND RECORD SALES ACTIVITY DATA IN CRM TO OPTIMIZE THE SALES ACTIVITIES OF SALES REPRESENTATIVES IN THE FIELD. BY AUTOMATICALLY OVERLAYING ACCUMULATED SALES ACTIVITY DATA AND CRM DATA ON A MAP AND AUTOMATICALLY NOTIFYING OPTIMAL APPROACH DESTINATIONS, UPWARD SUPPORTS THE FORMULATION OF STRATEGIC SALES PLANS UTILIZING CRM DATA.
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