Zero lead time from inquiry to business meeting setup! ARR exceeded 200 million yen with an organization of 5 people by streamlining the sales lead time!
selfree, LLC, which operates the "CallConnect" cloud telephony system, has been steadily growing its business with only its own funds since its establishment and has surpassed 200 million yen in ARR with its mission to "increase the number of companies that are loved by their customers. CallConnect, which allows users to make and receive calls on a browser, has been used by many customers with over 3,000 paid licenses thanks to its ability to share past history, including call recording and memos, and its simple UI. Jicoo was introduced for individual service consultations in an organization of three people at the time. The man-hours required for the bookings that had been previously taken have been reduced to zero.
ARR of the company
Inquiries
Man-hours to book
ProblemWork is interrupted due to manual scheduling
Selfree, LLC was manually coordinating schedules and felt that the interruption of work was an issue. Before introducing the tool, we had to check the schedules of our sales representatives on a calendar and make adjustments. With a small number of people, someone had to take on the role of book coordination, and this resulted in interruptions to the workflow. In addition, because of the fully remote environment, verbal confirmation was not possible. We began considering multiple scheduling tools. While other services were difficult to understand how to operate, Jicoo was intuitive to use and matched our company's operations, so we decided to implement it.
SolutionIndividual consultations are booked directly through Jicoo
For inquiries from customers requesting a demo of our services or requesting an individual meeting, the individual consultation on the CallConnect service site links to Jicoo's booking page, where you can directly make a booking. The system is linked to the sales representative's Google calendar, so that the available schedule can be easily booked. In addition, reminder emails allow for follow-up that was not possible when the system was manual. The ability to reserve time before and after a meeting also allows time to write in the CRM after the meeting. Information about bookings is shared with Team Management members by setting up automatic notifications on our Slack channel.
BenefitAn environment where members can focus on their work.
The man-hours required for scheduling business meetings has been reduced to zero. In the past, there were multiple exchanges to book a meeting after receiving an inquiry, but each member no longer has to interrupt his or her own work. Now, with Jicoo, everything is automated, so each member can concentrate on his or her own work. Mr. Yusuke Hatake, a member of the Jicoo team, said, "We receive inbound inquiries every month. We receive 10 inbound inquiries a month. The number has doubled since we used to receive only five to six inquiries. We plan to continue to use Jicoo to book for our expanding business.
Customer Interview
What kind of service will CallConnect be?
CallConnect is a cloud phone service that can be used via browser or application.
It is characterized by an easy-to-understand UI that anyone can operate, the ability to start using the service in as little as one day, and the ability to visualize call-handling histories, etc. Thanks to these features, the number of users has been steadily increasing since the service was launched.
What kind of users do you have?
We have many users in customer support departments, inside sales, and e-commerce stores, regardless of industry, who want to streamline their phone calls.
We also have users who are setting up a new phone answering point of contact for startups and new businesses.
Could you tell us about your role, Mr. Hatake?
My day job is as a designer, but since we are a small organization with only three people at the time of our founding and five at present, I am also responsible for marketing and customer support.
We are also fully remote, so our members are located in Shimane, Toyama, and other parts of Japan.
The number of users of your service seems to be growing steadily!
There was a period of rapid expansion three or four years ago when we had the Corona disaster, but since then we have received a steady stream of inquiries, mainly from inbound customers.
We are also receiving more inquiries, about twice as many as before.
What kind of inquiries do you receive?
We receive inquiries from customers who want to see a demo of our services or have an individual meeting with us.
Before we introduced the tool, we had to adjust schedules manually, so we had to check the schedules of our sales representatives on the calendar and make adjustments.
Since we were also in a remote environment, it was difficult to confirm the schedule verbally, and we felt that the interruption of work was an issue.
So that's why you considered using a scheduling book.
Yes, we considered several scheduling tools. While other services were difficult to understand how to operate, Jicoo was intuitive to use, and we found that it matched our company's operations, so we decided to install it.
Before, we had to go through several rounds of back and forth to adjust the book after receiving an inquiry, but after implementing Jicoo, the time and effort required for adjustment has been reduced to zero.
Please tell us the effect of the introduction of Jicoo.
Each member no longer has to interrupt their own work.
With a small number of people, someone had to take the role of book coordination, which forced us to interrupt our work.
Now, with Jicoo, everything is automated, so each person can focus on their own work.
How exactly do you utilize Jicoo?
On the CallConnect service website, there is a section called "Individual Consultation.
This is linked to the Jicoo booking page, where you can directly make a booking.
The system is linked to the sales representative's Google calendar, so it is easy to make a booking when you are available.
The man-hours required to schedule a business meeting is zero.
How many adjustments do you make per month?
We receive 10 inbound inquiries per month.
This number has doubled since we used to receive about 5-6 inquiries before, but the number may have increased since Jicoo has simplified the lead-in process.
What features do you recommend?
The first is the integration with Google Calendar. The schedule is written to the calendar in real time, so it is easier for other members to keep track of the schedule.
The reminder emails are also very helpful. I was not able to do that much when I was using the manual system.
We also set aside time before and after the meeting. After a business meeting, I set aside time to write in the CRM.
Since Slack is our main communication tool, we have set up an automatic notification on the channel when a consultation is booked.
What other tools do you use?
We use Slack for communication, Trello for task management, esa for documentation, Hubspot for CRM, Zendesk for support and other emails, and GitHub for development.
We use a variety of tools, but Jicoo is indispensable for book coordination.
Do you have any feature requests?
I think it is possible to set the maximum number of Availability, but it would be nice if it could be managed Availability by the hour.
We would like to set the upper limit to 2 out of 3 people.
I would also like to take a survey on the booking form, but I see that this is already possible.
Who would you recommend Jicoo to?
I think Jicoo is an easy-to-use tool for both hosts and bookers because of its beautiful design.
I would recommend Jicoo to companies that manually manage schedules for business meetings.
It is easy to install, and I think it would be the first tool to be adopted by startups and other companies that want to set up a consultation service.
It can be used for a variety of purposes, and multiple booking pages can be created, so I would like companies that have issues with schedule management to consider it.