Hello, this is Matsubara, CRM Evangelist.

"Nothing changes even if you install the tool"—this is a phrase you hear often.

However, the results will be completely different depending on whether you use CRM as a "tool" or as "a philosophy and system for designing customer relationships."

What changes have occurred in companies that have implemented the "treating customers as co-creation partners" philosophy outlined in CRM 4.0 (Creative CRM) using EMOROCO CRM Lite?

Here, we present transformation stories from three different industries. The industries and challenges are different, but the essence of the transformation is common: "Everything began to change the moment customer information became an organizational asset . "

*The case studies in this article are hypothetical transformation stories based on industry realities and actual implementation patterns from multiple companies.

Case Study 1: Construction and renovation companies – They transformed a system where "relationships were reset every time the person in charge left" into a system that ensures long-term sustainability.

Company Profile (Virtual)

• Industry: Construction company / Exterior wall renovation
• Scale: 8 employees, annual sales of approximately 1.2 million yen
• Location: Aichi Prefecture, locally focused
• Main challenges before implementation: Personalized management of customer information, missed referral opportunities, and failure to follow up with existing customers.

Before—"Who was in charge of that customer again?"

What President Nakata (a pseudonym) feared most was the resignation of his best sales representatives.

"When our veteran employee, Yamada, left, all the relationships he had with clients vanished. When clients contacted us, we had no idea what had happened in the past. It was really tough when they said, 'Do we have to explain everything from scratch again?'"

Customer information was scattered across Excel spreadsheets and individual staff members' notebooks. Follow-up with past clients was done "whenever they felt like it," and they hadn't contacted any clients five years after completion.

We didn't even know how referrals were occurring. "We didn't have any records of who referred whom. So we didn't know how far we were able to send thank-you messages."

Pre-implementation reality as seen in numbers:

• Follow-up contact rate with past clients: Approximately 20% one year after completion (the remaining 80% are neglected).
• Percentage of new orders received through referrals: Approximately 15% of all orders
• Customer retention rate after a change in staff: My feeling is that "more than 3% of customers become distant."

A turning point—"Once we included the completion date, we started planning for five years into the future."

During the first week after implementing EMOROCO CRM Lite, President Nakata and all the staff did only one thing: import the list of past clients from the last five years as a CSV file and enter the "completion date" into the customer records.

"As I was entering the data, I started noticing things like, 'Oh, it's been three years since this person's project was completed,' and 'This person's project was completed two years ago, but they haven't contacted me even once.' It was painful to watch."

Once the completion date was entered, the workflow started. Follow-up tasks were automatically generated for each customer at "1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, and 5 years after completion."

In the first week, 47 tasks were generated related to "contacting former clients who had been neglected for over 3 years."

Afterwards, the words "I'm glad I asked you again" came back.

Three months after implementation, President Nakata says that "something like a miracle" happened.

"A customer I hadn't contacted in three years said, 'I was just thinking about my roof.' It wasn't a coincidence; roof painting is generally recommended every five to seven years, so if the exterior walls were painted three years ago, it was about time. They just hadn't contacted me until now."

Changes after 6 months of implementation (estimate):

Furthermore, the changes in our staff were also significant. "When a new staff member called a former client for the first time, they were able to say, 'During the recent construction, this happened, and you mentioned that you wanted us to check this point next time,' and the client was delighted, saying, 'You remembered?' That boosted the staff member's confidence."

From the perspective of CRM 4.0

The essence of this transformation is "redesigning relationships that previously ended upon completion as a continuous narrative." Customers live not only in data, but also within a timeline. EMOROCO CRM Lite's ability to design a five-year story starting from a single data point—the "completion date"—was what brought about all of this change.

Case Study 2: Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Company (Route Sales) – Transformed from a "Customer Service-Oriented Sales Team" to a "Proposal-Based Sales Team"

Company Profile (Virtual)

• Industry: Metal parts manufacturing and route sales
• Scale: 25 employees, annual sales of approximately 4.8 million yen (including 5 sales staff)
• Location: Osaka Prefecture, BtoB manufacturing industry
• Main challenges before implementation: Sales reliance on individual salespeople, moving away from order-taking sales, and developing young talent.

Before: A sales team that can only say, "When is the next order?"

Department head Hamada (a pseudonym) reflects on his five-person sales team as follows:

"Our sales job was simply to go around to clients and get orders. That was it. Our veteran, Tanaka, had a 15-year relationship with the company presidents of our clients and was on good terms with them, which allowed him to secure orders. But the younger guys couldn't do that at all. When I asked Tanaka, all he would say was, 'It'll be fine once you build a relationship.' I wondered how many years that would take."

The biggest problem was that the "customer information" that Tanaka possessed didn't exist anywhere in the organization. "Company A decides on its capital investment budget every October," "Suzuki, the purchasing manager at Company B, prioritizes delivery dates above all else," "Company C recently announced a cost-cutting policy"—all of this existed only in Tanaka's mind.

Pre-implementation situation as seen in numbers (estimates):

• Annual order achievement rate for junior sales staff (within 3 years of joining the company): Average 58%
• Percentage of business negotiations where records are kept: approximately 10% (similar to phone memos).
• The percentage of dormant customers who only become aware of their customers after orders stop is approximately 40%.

Turning Point – Turning "The Mindset of Veterans" into Data

The first thing Manager Hamada did using EMOROCO CRM Lite was conduct a one-on-one interview with Ms. Tanaka.

"I worked with Mr. Tanaka, interviewing each of his 30 clients one by one, and then we entered the information into EMOROCO together. It took a whole day, but when we finished, Mr. Tanaka said, 'Looking at it this way, I realize I actually know quite a lot.' That made me happy."

This process brought to light the "purchasing cycle," "timing of budget confirmation," "values ​​and non-essentials of the person in charge," and "competitor trends"—knowledge that Tanaka had accumulated over 15 years.

Next, we set up "workflow automation" based on this information. This system automatically generates a task two months before the budget is finalized, and the person in charge receives a notification that "you should prepare a proposal for this client this month."

Furthermore, we established a rule using the map integration function: "Check the location of clients in your assigned area on a map and always read the notes from your previous conversation before visiting them."

After—"Why did that proposal come at this particular time?"

Four months after implementation, the biggest change was in the behavior of the younger sales staff.

"Sato-kun (in his second year at the company) proposed a new energy-saving product to Company A and secured the order. I later heard that he had looked at EMOROCO's purchasing cycle data and decided that 'it was about time for Company A to make a move,' and had prepared the materials in advance. Tanaka-san's knowledge was what made Sato-kun's decision possible."

The purchasing manager at Company A reportedly said, "You brought it to us just when we were looking for it." This was the moment when EMOROCO provided young employees with the "ability to read the timing" that Tanaka had acquired over 15 years, as a system.

Changes after 8 months of implementation (estimate):

"Mr. Tanaka is retiring this year. In the past, that would have been terrifying, but now that we have information at EMOROCO, I feel confident that everything will be alright." —These words from Department Manager Hamada perfectly capture the essence of the transformation.

From the perspective of CRM 4.0

The essence of this transformation is "transforming personal KKD (intuition, experience, and courage) into an organizational system." The narrative approach of CRM 4.0, which emphasizes "accumulating customer stories as organizational assets," has transformed the knowledge of veterans into a form that younger employees can utilize.

Case Study 3: Insurance Agency – From "Seller" to "Life Partner," Designing a 10-Year Relationship

Company Profile (Virtual)

• Industry: Insurance agency (life insurance and non-life insurance)
• Scale: 6 employees, approximately 280 consulting clients
• Location: Fukuoka Prefecture, locally focused
• Main challenges before implementation: Missing life events, focusing solely on acquiring new customers, and losing existing customers.

Before—Regret: "I wish you had contacted me sooner."

It all started with a single phone call that prompted Mr. Yamashita (a pseudonym) to change his sales style.

"A client whose child was born five years ago contacted us saying, 'My second child has been born, what should I do about educational insurance?' If we had made a suggestion ourselves, we could have taken action as soon as she found out she was pregnant. Waiting for her to contact us was too late."

Information on 280 clients was scattered across business cards, paper medical records, and the memories of the staff members. "When was their first child born?", "When did they take out a mortgage?", "When will they turn 60?"—without organizing this information, proactive proposals would never be possible.

However, the biggest problem was that, despite life events being "predictable," they weren't being predicted. You can calculate how many years after a child's birthday they'll enter school. You can also calculate the year a mortgage will be paid off if you know it. But because this information wasn't managed for each customer, it became a case of "oh yeah, I remember now."

A turning point – using "the time axis of the customer's life" as data.

The first thing CEO Yamashita did with EMOROCO CRM Lite was "inputting family information and life plan information of existing customers."

Information entered:

• Marital status and date of birth
• Dates of birth of the first and second child
• Years when mortgage is expected to be paid off
• Expected retirement age

"By simply entering this information, we can see the customer's life timeline. We could see at a glance that, 'This person's child will be taking high school entrance exams next year, so this year is the best time to check the maturity date of their education insurance and start discussing university expenses.'"

We've set up workflows triggered by various life events. For example, "Automatically generate a follow-up task one year before a child starts school" or "Automatically generate a task to propose a life insurance review two years before the mortgage is paid off"—even if the person in charge doesn't remember, the system will notify them of proactive actions.

After—Designing an experience that says, "I was just thinking about that."

Six months after its introduction, a series of "miraculous coincidences" occurred under the leadership of CEO Yamashita.

"When I contacted Ms. A, she said, 'I was just thinking about my child's tuition fees last week.' When I contacted Ms. B two years before she finished paying off her mortgage, she said, 'I was thinking about reviewing my insurance.' But this isn't a miracle. It just happens because we calculate the timing of our clients' lives and act accordingly."

This was the moment when the "customer-centric touchpoint design" envisioned by CRM 4.0 was realized through data.

Changes after 12 months of implementation (estimate):

The most striking change was the quality of referrals. "Previously, referrals were more like, 'I'll introduce you to an insurance agent.' Now, people refer you saying, 'There's someone you can talk to about life.' I think this reflects a change in the depth of our relationships with our customers."

The reason why the number of referrals increased from 8 to 19 per year is that the cycle of "proactive proposals tailored to life events → customer satisfaction → referrals" has started to function.

From the perspective of CRM 4.0

The essence of this transformation is a shift from "selling insurance" to "becoming a partner who walks alongside customers throughout their lives." The CRM 4.0 philosophy of "understanding the emotional changes of customers and designing touchpoints that resonate with them" has been embodied in the form of a life event-based workflow.

The "four essential elements" common to the transformations of the three companies

Although the three companies differ in industry, size, and challenges, they shared four commonalities in their transformations.

Common point ①: The objective was not "to install the tool."

For all three companies, the first question they addressed was, "How do we want to design our relationship with our customers?" For the construction company, it was "a relationship that continues even after completion," for the manufacturing company, it was "transforming the knowledge of veterans into organizational knowledge," and for the insurance agency, it was "proactively supporting customers throughout their lives"—tools were the means to achieve that.

Common point #2: They put all their effort into the "initial input."

All three companies focused their initial efforts on "accurately entering existing customer information." Completion date, purchase cycle, and family members' birth dates—this single piece of data became the trigger that drove the entire workflow.

Common point ③: "Small successes" led to retention.

"We got an order after contacting them for the first time in three years," "A young employee was able to read the timing and make a proposal for the first time," "They said, 'I was just thinking about that'"—these initial successes created a "reason for staff to input data." Something good happens when you input data—this operant conditioning accelerated retention.

Common point #4: "It's not that the customers have changed, but rather that their perspectives have changed."

In all three cases, the customers hadn't done anything particularly special. The construction company's long-standing customers were always "potential clients they might want to hire for their next project." The manufacturing company's clients were "clients they could secure orders from if the timing was right." Insurance clients were "people they would want to consult with whenever a life event occurred." What EMOROCO changed was the "perspective" of these relationships.

Where does your company's transformation begin?

The starting point common to the transformations of all three companies is the same.

"I entered something about the customer."

Construction companies use the "completion date." Manufacturing companies use the "purchase cycle." Insurance agencies use the "child's date of birth."

That single piece of data drives workflows, generates tasks, creates connections, and builds trust.

The "relationship with customers as co-creation partners" envisioned by CRM 4.0 is not a lofty ideal. Understanding the customer's timeline and making contextual contact at the right time, at a time that resonates with their emotions—designing this as a system is the practical application of CRM 4.0.

EMOROCO CRM Lite is a tool that allows you to start this transformation from just 1,500 yen per month. To begin with, try entering just one customer's data today.
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Summary

Case Study 2: Construction Company: Automated 5-year follow-up plan triggered by completion date → Contact rate with existing customers increased from 20% to 85%, and referral order rate doubled.

Case Study 2: Manufacturing Industry: Converting veteran employees' tacit knowledge into data and passing it on to younger employees → Younger employees' order achievement rate increased from 58% to 76% and weekly meetings were reduced from 90 minutes to 30 minutes.

Case Study 3: Insurance Agency: Data-driven analysis of life event timelines enables proactive proposals → Transition to proactive proposal model; number of referrals increased from 8 to 19 per year.

The essence of the transformation common to the three companies:

• We started with "designing customer relationships" rather than just using tools.
• The very first data entry was the starting point for everything.
• Small successes led to team retention.
• It's not that the customers have changed, but rather that the "perception" of the customers has changed.

Related article: [What is CRM 4.0? — The latest CRM philosophy and practices that realize "co-creation" with customers]

Related article: [What to do in the first 30 days with EMOROCO CRM Lite—A 4-week roadmap to turn a small start into success]

Related article: [How to design follow-up strategies for past customers up to 5 years in advance using EMOROCO CRM Lite for construction companies and renovation businesses]