Hello, this is Matsubara, CRM Evangelist.

"We're using Salesforce, so why can't we do something like this?"

I can't count how many times I've heard this phrase in my more than 20-year history with CRM.

For field staff at companies that have implemented a high-function CRM, there's a certain moment when they feel, "Wait, it can't do this?"—that feeling when a feature is clearly marked with a checkmark in the feature list, but when they actually try to use it, something feels off.

This article will specifically address those "itchy spots."
Many of the reasons why I founded Arcus Japan and created EMOROCO CRM Lite are encapsulated here.

Why do we get itchy spots?

First of all, I don't think Salesforce, HubSpot, or kintone are "bad tools."
Each has its own excellent design.

The problem lies in the starting point of the design: "Who are these products made for?"

Many major CRM systems are designed in the context of "large sales organizations of big companies efficiently acquiring new customers."
Marketing automation, high-volume lead processing, and global expansion—these are all excellent design considerations.

However, in the context of sales operations at Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises—where relationships are built face-to-face, responsibilities are passed on even when the person in charge changes, and growth is driven by repeat business and referrals from existing customers—large-scale CRM systems tend to accumulate a sense of "just not being a good fit."

The true nature of that "somehow it doesn't quite fit" is that it's missing something that bothers you.

10 "Itchy Spots" Not Included in Feature Comparison Charts

Itchy point #1: Inability to record the "level of relationship" with customers.

Other CRMs do not have the concept of emotional temperature, such as "hot, warm, cool, cold."

Alternatively, you can use metrics such as "Lead Score," "Accuracy," and "Phase" as options.
However, these are indicators of "the progress of the business negotiation," not "the level of the relationship with the customer."

What the person in charge on site really wants to manage is the feeling that "the relationship with Mr. Tanaka has been getting strained lately."
Other CRMs don't have a field to record this.
"I have a feeling about it, but I can't record it anywhere"—that was the biggest frustration.

EMOROCO CRM Lite places emotional temperature at the core of its design.
The system uses four color levels—red (hot), orange (warm), blue (cool), and light blue (cold)—to record the level of emotional connection with customers, allowing you to see the distribution of all customers at a glance.

Annoyance #2: I can't prioritize my destinations while looking at a map.

"GIS integration" is marked with a checkmark (◎) in the list of various CRM features. However,

"Plot customer addresses on a map" → "Change the pin color according to emotional temperature" → "You can tell which customers you should visit today within 30 seconds of looking at the map."

There are virtually no other CRM systems that have reached that level.
Even if you can see the map, if you don't have the information to decide "who should be prioritized," the map is nothing more than a visualization of addresses.

I've seen firsthand how useless the "GIS integration ◎" listed in the feature comparison chart is when deciding "who to visit today" every morning in door-to-door sales, route sales, and home care.

Annoying point #3: When the person in charge changes, the "relationship context" disappears.

Other CRM migration features transfer "customer basic information, sales history, and contact information."

However, the handover information that is truly needed on-site is different.

"This customer becomes very rigid when the topic of cost reduction comes up."
"We've been acquainted with them since the time of the previous president, and they have a strong resistance to new things."
"Last year, we were talking about your child's entrance exams."
"The phrase that really struck a chord with me was 'industry standard'."

These cannot be considered numerical values ​​or structured data.
However, when the person in charge changes, whether the new person in charge is aware of this will determine whether you have to "rebuild the relationship from scratch" or "start the story from where it left off."

Other CRMs do not have a narrative memo or ICX capture (words that resonated and words that didn't) design.
EMOROCO CRM Lite places this at the heart of its design.

Itchy spot #4: There's no system in place to follow up with "potential customers."

A real estate client who says, "Not right now, but if a good property comes along..."
A prospective IT vendor said, "We don't have a budget for this term, but we'd like to consider it for next term."
"I haven't decided yet, but I'd like to discuss it," said the parent of a student trying out a tutoring center.

Other CRMs can only place these "potential customers" in the pipeline with a status of "Under Consideration."
Features such as automatically generating follow-up tasks after 45 days, automatically updating emotional temperature levels at regular intervals from the last contact date, and sending notifications to the assigned staff member's LINE account 48 hours after the trial lesson date—these kinds of "follow-up designs that incorporate a time axis" don't appear in the feature comparison chart.

The "Workflow Automation ◎" feature is included in each company's offerings.
However, whether it's possible to set up time-based follow-up tailored to the specific on-site operations of a particular industry using no-code methods is something we won't know until we try it.

Point #5: There is no system in place to manage industry-specific "deadlines".

The closing month for an accounting firm, the vehicle inspection expiration date for a car dealership, the contract renewal date for an insurance agency, the last contact date for a real estate agent—these can all be created as "date fields" in other CRMs as well.

However, there are almost no CRMs that allow you to design triggers with complex conditions without coding, such as "a follow-up task is automatically generated three months before the end of the fiscal year," "an alert is sent to the person in charge's LINE account two months before the vehicle inspection expiration date," or "a customer is automatically added to the follow-up list when 45 days have passed since the last contact and their emotional temperature is warm or higher."

The "automation based on conditions" feature is marked with a ◎ for each company.
However, a feature comparison chart doesn't tell you whether you can immediately implement a "proactive design" that aligns with the business cycle of a particular industry.

Itchy spot #6: Inability to manage multiple decision-makers as a "relationship structure".

In B2B sales, there is a decision-making structure that involves "sales representatives, section managers, department managers, executives, the IT department, and the accounting department."
Simply recording this as "multiple contacts" is not enough.

"Who is the internal driving force behind this project?", "We haven't met the decision-maker yet," "Which departments are deeply involved with competitors?"—The design, which manages this "decision-making structure" and "current risk factors" with eight checkboxes and allows you to determine that "if there are three or more risk factors, the probability of winning the order is structurally low," is not listed as "Excellent for sales negotiation management" in the function comparison table.

Annoying issue #7: Form submissions don't arrive in the CRM immediately.

Many companies still use the "data entry process" where a customer submits an inquiry via a web form, an email is received, a representative reviews it, and then the information is manually entered into the CRM.

Even if a product has features like "Excellent Web Integration" and "Excellent Form Functionality," whether the entire process—from submitting a form to immediately registering it in the CRM, to automatically executing the workflow, notifying the assigned person via LINE, and then commencing the task—can be completed without coding is another matter entirely.
It is assumed that the customer portal function, workflow, and LINE notifications are integrated, and there is no way to confirm this using a "function comparison table."

Point 8: There is no design to "connect and separate" group companies and agencies.

"The head office and the agency want to use the same CRM, but they don't want to show each other their customer data." "As the headquarters of a franchise, we want to manage the franchisees, but we only want the franchisees to see our own customer data." —This is a multi-tenant problem.

Attempting to achieve this with other CRMs would require multiple contracts and managing separate systems.
Even if a product has "Excellent Access Control," whether it can "implement an organizational structure that spans headquarters, agencies, and franchise stores with a single CRM" is a completely different matter.

Itchy spot #9: It's not designed in a way that "helps the person who inputs the data."

The input design of other CRMs is often based on the idea of ​​"having employees input the data that the administrator wants to analyze."
Therefore, the person in charge doesn't understand "why they need to enter this information," and the input ends up being purely formal.

Entering your emotional temperature will change your follow priority for today.
Updating the project phase automatically generates weekly report documents.
When you register a trial lesson date, a task appears 48 hours later saying, "Call this person today"—this CRM, which recognizes the "input → self-help" experience design as a crucial detail, is not visible in feature comparison charts.

Itchy spot #10: You can't change things when you want to.

When requests come from the field such as "We want to add this field" or "We want to change the timing of this workflow," other CRMs involve a process of "Request to IT staff → Prioritization → Two weeks later."

The situation where an IT specialist is needed every time a setting change is made will definitely stifle the motivation for improvement on the ground.
Even if a product is marked "No Code ◎," a feature comparison chart doesn't tell you whether a non-IT staff member on-site can add a field in 30 minutes after their workday and start using it tomorrow.

Why does EMOROCO CRM Lite address those "itchy" points?

When you list 10 common itchy spots, you can see a common pattern.

Other CRMs offer the "presence of functionality."
EMOROCO CRM Lite was designed with a focus on the "feature experience."

While "GIS integration" and "visualizing destinations with emotional temperature colors to determine today's priorities" might both be marked with a double circle (◎) in a feature comparison chart, they are completely different things in practice.

The reason for this difference is that EMOROCO CRM Lite is not a product designed by someone who has never built a CRM before, but rather a product designed by someone who has been using CRMs for over 20 years and has accumulated a wealth of feedback on the frustrations of those on the ground.

I learned about CRM at Accenture, the company that created CRM, participated in the launch of the Dynamics CRM business unit at Microsoft Japan, and have since been involved in the implementation of CRM products for hundreds or thousands of companies of all sizes, both domestically and internationally.
EMOROCO CRM Lite is the result of incorporating each and every one of the voices we repeatedly heard on-site, such as "Why can't we do this?", into the design.

To understand the "niche needs that don't appear in feature comparison charts," you need to look at the actual situation rather than relying on the charts.
We have been observing that situation for over 20 years.

Summary — The best way to identify the "itchy spot"

For those who read the 10 common frustrations and felt that "the same thing is happening in our company," I have one request.

Please do not compare EMOROCO CRM Lite with other CRMs in a feature comparison table.

Instead, try it out with our 30-day free trial.

Set the emotional temperature. Try opening the GIS map.
Set up only one workflow.
Write something in the narrative memo.

When you have that moment where you think, "Ah, this is exactly what I wanted," that's when EMOROCO CRM Lite has hit the nail on the head for your company.

Start your 30-day free trial here
Digitalization and AI Implementation Subsidy 2026 Compatible Tool Number: DL07-0022934
Product Info:https://www.emoroco.com/

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