SERVICE 02 ／ CRM
A CRM your Japan team uses,
and head office can read.
Most Japan-entry CRM projects fail in the same way. The system is configured to satisfy global reporting, the local team finds it slower than a spreadsheet, and within a quarter the real pipeline lives somewhere else. We build for the person doing the follow-up first, then make the reporting work.
Why do CRM rollouts stall in Japan specifically?
Because the global template assumes a sales process that Japanese deals do not follow, and nobody local has the authority to change it.
The pipeline stages do not describe the deal
A Japanese deal spends most of its life in internal consensus-building that the global stage model has no name for. Reps mark everything as one stage, and the forecast becomes fiction.
The interface is in English
Adoption drops sharply when field labels, picklists and automated emails are not in Japanese. This is not a preference issue; it is a speed issue for the person typing notes between meetings.
Nobody owns it locally
Central IT owns the instance and is twelve hours away. A one-line change takes three weeks, so the team stops asking and starts working around it.
The fix is not a different product. It is a Japan configuration inside whichever product you already have, plus somebody local who can change it this week.
What do you build, and what do you keep doing afterwards?
A 3-month build phase, then ongoing operations. The build alone is not sold, because a CRM nobody operates decays within two quarters.
Build phase — 3 months
- Data model
- Objects, fields and picklists in Japanese, mapped to your global schema so reporting still consolidates
- Pipeline
- Stages that describe how your Japanese deals actually move, including the internal approval period
- Lead capture
- Forms on your Japanese pages wired to the CRM, with source and campaign attribution intact
- Automation
- Assignment, follow-up sequences, alerting and task creation
- Migration
- Existing records moved and de-duplicated. Above 10,000 records, quoted separately
- Reporting
- Dashboards for the Japan team in Japanese, and a consolidated view for head office in English
Operations — month 4 onward
- Running changes
- New fields, new automations, process adjustments as the Japan business changes
- Data hygiene
- De-duplication, field completeness, and keeping the forecast honest
- User support
- Direct support for the Japan team, in Japanese
- Monthly report
- In English, covering pipeline, conversion and where the process is leaking
Not included: website implementation, advertising operations, outbound calling or email sending as a headcount service, 24-hour monitoring and SLA guarantees, and software licences (billed at cost).
What does it cost?
JPY 800,000 per month during the 3-month build, then JPY 350,000 per month.
- Assessment and setup
- JPY 100,000 (one-off)
- Build phase
- JPY 800,000 per month × 3 months = JPY 2,400,000
- Operations
- JPY 350,000 per month (approx. 17.5 hours at JPY 20,000 per hour)
- Minimum term
- 6 months
- Licences
- Paid by you at cost. Not marked up. We can manage the accounts
We quote after the boundary of the work is agreed, not before. An estimate given without a defined boundary always drifts later.
TRIEDGE Inc. ／ Estimating policy ／ August 2026
FAQFrequently asked questions
Platform choice, global standards, and what happens after go-live.
Q. HubSpot or Zoho — which should a company entering Japan choose?
It depends on where the constraint sits. HubSpot fits when marketing and sales need to share one record and head office wants reporting it already understands. Zoho fits when budget per seat matters, when you need heavy customization, or when the Japan team will own the system without central IT. We hold certifications on both, so we have no incentive to push you toward one — and we will say plainly when your existing global standard should simply be extended to Japan instead.
Q. We already use a CRM globally. Do we need a separate one for Japan?
Usually not, and we will tell you if that is the case. What is normally needed is not a second system but a Japan configuration inside the existing one: Japanese-language fields and picklists, a pipeline that matches how Japanese deals actually progress, approval steps that reflect internal sign-off, and reporting that head office can still read. Replacing a working global CRM to accommodate Japan is almost always the wrong trade.
Q. What does the build phase actually produce?
A configured system in use, not a design document. Data model, pipeline stages, lead capture from your Japanese pages, assignment rules, follow-up sequences, dashboards, and migration of your existing records. JPY 800,000 per month across 3 months, so JPY 2,400,000 in total. Migration above 10,000 records is quoted separately.
Q. What happens after the build?
Operations, at JPY 350,000 per month for roughly 17.5 hours at our standard rate of JPY 20,000 per hour. That covers running changes, new automations, data hygiene, user support for the Japan team, and monthly reporting in English. Minimum term is 6 months. Most of the value of a CRM shows up in this phase, which is why we do not sell the build on its own.
Q. Are software licences included in your fee?
No. HubSpot and Zoho licences are paid directly by you at list price, and we do not mark them up. We can manage the accounts and renewals on your behalf. We tell clients this early because agencies that bundle licences into a single monthly number make it impossible to see what the service itself costs.