Deal management that handles exchange rate movement, with data brought together in HubSpot | Unitemp Japan Inc.

■ Company profile
Unitemp Japan Inc.
Website: https://www.unitemp.jp/
Industry: manufacturing and import trading
Employees: 4
Products: Sales Hub (Professional) / Service Hub (Starter)

Unitemp Japan Inc. (founded 2012, Machida, Tokyo) imports, sells and supports semiconductor manufacturing equipment (back-end packaging technology) made by Unitemp of Germany.
The company works under the philosophy of being a bridge between Japan and Germany.

The problem: inefficiency in currency management and scattered information, specific to international business and made worse by choosing the wrong tool

As Unitemp Japan worked to win new customers and grow revenue, they initially faced challenges in making sales more efficient, digitising their customer-facing work, and dealing with the exchange rate fluctuations that come with international business.
As a first step towards solving these business challenges they adopted a CRM tool from another vendor, but in the process they ran into the following problems.

1. What went wrong with the previous CRM: “the language barrier” and “the cost of learning the tool”

The CRM tool they had adopted was the company’s first CRM/SFA system, but because of the nature of the product they never managed to use it fully.

・An overseas product, with guidance and explanations in English
The product they adopted was sold mainly outside Japan, so on-screen guidance and explanations were provided mainly in English. Understanding it took time, and they ended up in a situation where learning the tool had become the job.

・Not enough opportunity for support
It was their first system implementation, and the support set-up was based mainly overseas, so getting prompt support in Japanese was difficult. Even the features they had gone to the trouble of adopting were not being used fully.

2. A complex problem specific to international business: “no handling of exchange rate fluctuations”

Because Unitemp Japan imports and sells German semiconductor manufacturing equipment, exchange rate fluctuations are an important factor that feeds directly into the company’s profit calculations and management decisions.
But the previous CRM tool could not meet this business-specific need.

・No handling of complex purchase cost calculations
For a company running an import business, unlike domestic trade in Japan, exchange rate fluctuations always had to be taken into account. Cost items that rarely arise for domestic companies, such as import consumption tax and international shipping costs, also had to be managed accurately.

・Inefficient data management
Because the previous tool did not support this exchange rate management, converting purchase costs in foreign currency accurately into Japanese yen at the rate on a specific date was done by hand. This manual work not only made data entry and management inefficient, but also caused calculation errors and delayed an accurate understanding of costs and profit.

3. Inefficiency from a split between business processes and data management

With analogue ways of working, such as managing tasks with existing tools or on paper, data was scattered and they faced major challenges in coordinating work.

・Unclear progress management of sales deals, and scattered information
Task handling and email histories with customers were spread around, so a lot of time was wasted searching for information, lowering sales efficiency.

・Gaps in the process from customer support to revenue
Handling maintenance enquiries, and linking them to the “deals” that grow out of them, such as paid repairs or added options, was done by hand. This made the work cumbersome, created a risk of missing opportunities to charge, and caused losses in the handover from customer support to sales.

HubSpot implementation support: a custom HubSpot implementation that resolved the complexity of international business

To solve these problems, the company considered adopting a new CRM/SFA tool. They decided on HubSpot because it offers a way to customise “what they want to do” to fit their business processes, and because its screens are easy to use.
Looking for hands-on support from specialists, they then came to NowVillage Inc. for advice.

The support NowVillage provided was mainly the following.

1. Making deal management visible

We built deal progress management on a board (pipeline) view.
Deal stages were clearly defined, for example “quotation submitted” and “80% likely to close”, and made visible on a board. This gave a clearer view of the whole sales process and put in place a set-up in which they can judge from data which deals to focus on and how likely each is to close.

2. Implementing automatic exchange rate conversion logic

We custom-built automatic conversion logic from foreign currency to Japanese yen in HubSpot.
To deal with the exchange rate risk at the heart of an import business, NowVillage interviewed the client about their calculation logic. Using HubSpot’s custom properties and workflows, we built a feature that applies the exchange rate as of a specific date to purchase costs entered in foreign currency and converts them to Japanese yen automatically.

3. Designing an automatic move from maintenance to revenue

We designed a workflow that moves items from ticket management (maintenance) to deal management (paid work).
Designed for cases where a “maintenance enquiry (ticket)” from a customer develops into a “deal (paid work)” such as an additional repair or a new option, we built logic that hands data and tasks over automatically and seamlessly from tickets in Service Hub to deals in Sales Hub, preventing missed revenue opportunities and making the work more efficient.・Integrating HubSpot ⇔ Google Workspace
We designed automation of tasks and email logs through integration with Google Workspace (Gmail and Calendar).
We connected the Gmail and Google Calendar they use every day with HubSpot. We set it up so that sent and received email history, tasks and meeting information are recorded automatically against the relevant deal, greatly reducing manual entry. This created an environment in which salespeople can concentrate on the core work they should really be focusing on.

Results: inefficiencies such as task management and handling exchange rate fluctuations were resolved

In Unitemp Japan’s case, information that had been spread across paper and several tools was brought together in a single CRM system, HubSpot, so time is no longer wasted searching for information, and they feel the biggest result is that “work now gets done efficiently”.

They have also seen benefits in the following areas.

[Benefit 1] More accurate and faster international trade

On exchange rate management, which had been a problem, a system now automatically converts purchase costs entered in foreign currency into Japanese yen at the rate on a specific date. Manual calculation is no longer needed, and accurate costing that takes exchange rate risk into account, along with faster management decisions, has become possible.

[Benefit 2] Smooth coordination between sales and customer support

Managing deals on a board, where progress can be seen visually, was praised as having “greatly improved how easy things are to see and to manage”. Integration with Google Workspace also means email logs and tasks flow into HubSpot automatically, greatly reducing the time spent on non-core work in sales. In addition, the workflow that automatically moves maintenance into paid work has smoothed the path from customer support to revenue opportunities, making the work more efficient.

[Benefit 3] More flexible ways of working

With data in one place, the latest data and progress can be checked not only when at the office but also when out or after getting home, and they have experienced more flexible ways of working.

A comment from Mr Kato, Representative Director of Unitemp Japan Inc.

“We used the previous CRM for customer management and sales progress management, but much of the guidance and explanation was in English, which was stressful, and things like having to manage exchange rates by hand were a lot of trouble.
So we decided to adopt HubSpot, and NowVillage supported the implementation, understood the challenges specific to our international business in depth, and custom-built the functions we needed in HubSpot.

Now, as well as customer management and sales progress management, purchase costs are converted into yen automatically, so the sales side can concentrate on its real core work, which is a great help.
We have also been able to move tasks and requests from analogue management to digital, and because the data is in one place, I can now handle tasks and read email while out of the office.
I think implementing it ourselves would have taken a long time, so I am sincerely grateful for their highly specialised support.”

The HubSpot certified partner behind the implementation: NowVillage Inc.

In this case, it was the cooperation of everyone at Unitemp Japan Inc., even more than the support NowVillage provided, that allowed complex custom requirements to be delivered smoothly.

Especially for manufacturers and trading companies with international trade flows, the success of a tool implementation depends not on “the number of features” but on how accurately the elements at the heart of the business, such as “exchange rate fluctuations and unusual purchasing logic”, can be reproduced in the CRM.

As a HubSpot Diamond Partner, NowVillage Inc. works every day on a basis of trust, expertise and care, digging deep into each client’s business model to support the implementation and adoption of “a HubSpot that turns complex work into simple systems and delivers accurate profit management”.

“We want to automate exchange rate risk and costing that currently depend on individuals”
“Past data is scattered, and we are losing time in sales and customer support”
“After a previous implementation, we want thorough support based in Japan”
If you are struggling with the limits of international trade or analogue management, or feel your current tool isn’t working, please feel free to get in touch with us first.

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