Working to Optimize Sales Operations Through a Digital Shift

The Sales Strategy Division acts as a hub between the business and sales departments to optimize the sales functionality in the merchant business, from the formulation of sales strategies and projects to forecasting and performance management, and designing sales guidelines, sales evaluation systems, and workflows.
In this interview, we spoke with Erina from the Enterprise Promotion Department, responsible for planning and managing sales operations for major companies.

Design and support the optimization of sales activities through digital shift

It has been more than four years since you joined us as an early founding member. How would you describe these four years?

Hmm, let me see. I was in charge of sales promotion operations for unorganized merchants for the first two years at the company. In my third year, I was transferred to the Enterprise Promotion Department, where I provide support for all aspects of sales activities for major corporations. I am now the manager of the Online Promotion Team, which was launched in October 2020 as online merchant acquisition became more active and moved into high gear. The nature of the work itself is completely different, and my attitude and perspective on the job have changed dramatically since I became a manager, so it feels as though I’ve switched jobs completely.

The 10 Billion Yen Campaign is still fresh in my mind, but when I joined PayPay, we had just released the app, so the features available were the bare minimum. So many things at that point had to be built from scratch. There were some tough times for sure, but I’m the type of person who feels a sense of accomplishment when I achieve something out of nothing, so I did have fun along the way. Also, now that there are so many professionals in the company, I feel secure carrying out my tasks, knowing that there’s always someone I can rely on when I run into trouble.

Please introduce the Enterprise Promotion Department.

This department is responsible for overall operations, including planning and running the operations for major enterprise sales and partner sales, campaign-related support for numerous services, and many announcements for the sales team.

In terms of planning and managing operations, we establish frameworks of sales operations and create manuals for new service launches. We also promote the optimization of existing operations and actively work towards a shift to digital. For instance, we are currently considering the introduction of an electronic sealing system for merchant agreements to improve operational efficiency.

We also handle campaigns for various services, from preparation for PayPay coupon campaigns to post-billing and post-clearance support after the campaign has ended.

Plus, we routinely inform the sales organization of changes in service specifications and operations, as well as requests for various responses.

Can you give us details of your job?

The Online Promotion Team is in charge of building new operation systems related to online merchants, improving existing flows, handling PayPay Jumbo and other campaigns as well as online coupon-related matters, various sales promotions, and responding to inquiries from sales. Among these,I am mainly responsible for handling smart payments, post-payments related to online payments, and various functional updates such as the promotion of OPA (Online Payment API) applications for auto applications, together with other members.

I am also entrusted with the role of team manager, which includes managing the tasks and schedules of the team’s projects. We have a chatty and fun-loving atmosphere and team culture, so I think we’ve all fostered and maintained a very close relationship. The team members often consult me on different topics too, so we tackle our daily tasks while racking our brains together.

Smart Payment is a feature that allows merchants to call up PayPay’s payment function in their Web/App UI.

Maintaining a startup mentality, despite its size. Eliciting the opinions of each member and putting them into action.

What do you find rewarding and interesting in your current job?

It’s rewarding to feel that my work is directly impacting the service and projects. I also enjoy how the company sticks to having a startup mindset despite being large-scale, enabling it to elicit the opinions of each individual member and put them into action. We also value teamwork here, so when we complete a project as a team, we get a different sense of accomplishment than if we did it alone.

As I mentioned earlier, I recently participated in the development and release of a new payment method called Smart Payment. PayPay offers a variety of payment methods (native payment, web payment, dynamic user scan, app invoke, etc.). However, there were some issues, such as us having to ask merchants to strengthen security by means such as two-factor authentication for native payments, where PayPay is embedded in the merchant’s site, or web payments being cumbersome for the user to navigate. Smart Payment is the solution to these challenges. I am involved in the planning and operation of sales, from identifying areas for improvement to forecasting the effects of the enhancements, and the release and subsequent operation of the new product. And I must say that seeing how my work can visibly contribute to the improvement of services gives me a deep sense of achievement and keeps me motivated.

What are the difficulties and challenges of your current job?

With the diversification and growth of services and functions,　dissemination of information throughout the sales organization as well as what we need to communicate have become increasingly complex. And as the sales organization expands daily, we are welcoming more colleagues with various backgrounds and experiences. In such diverse environment, it is quite difficult to ensure that everyone has the same understanding of our guidance. We are working to standardize knowledge by holding study sessions and briefings on a regular basis. In the future, we hope to coordinate information more effectively and keep everyone informed by also promoting the digital shift.

What do you value most in your work?

Since I became a manager, teamwork has felt more important than ever in ensuring speed and quality improvement. The more difficult a task is, the more important it is to work together. I believe that as a team, we can divide and conquer challenges and achieve our goals at a much faster pace and with better quality of work.

As a manager, I am mindful of creating the environment I just described. At the same time, I make it a priority to strike a balance between leading and supporting while letting the person in charge be responsible for their tasks. I communicate honestly and firmly about the goals and what we envision, and once that is done, I will shift gears and step back, letting the members thrive, and step in for support whenever necessary. I think this system helps both the members and me to grow professionally.

Supporting rapid business growth through the creation of easy-to-understand and intuitive workflows.

What would you like to accomplish or try in the future?

We would like to build intuitive and easy-to-understand workflows, to the point that there is no need for manuals. We are already driving forward with a shift to digitalization, and we have been able to improve the application process for different services, but there are still many areas where paper-based applications are used in an analog manner. As merchant, services, and sales organizations expand, the various flows will become more diverse and complex, and improving the efficiency of business promotion becomes critical. I would like to support PayPay’s further growth by building and managing flows that can support improvements in operational efficiency and speed, eliminating the need to read every detail of the manual every time or having to ask someone to help you understand.

I know your team is actively recruiting. What kind of person do you think would succeed in PayPay?

“Speed”, “communication”, and “data-driven”, I think, are the keywords. As a company at the center of the fast-changing FinTech market, PayPay values refining its services at an overwhelming speed that no other business can imitate. It is essential to always be aware of speed even as you work with care.

It is also vital to be able to communicate well with a wide variety of stakeholders, since much of the work is carried out through lateral cooperation with numerous other departments. We have to communicate in a way that is easy for everyone to understand, and be persistent in our communication even when there are hiccups along the way.

Finally, data-driven mind. We often deal with data, and a lot of discussions and coordination is based on it, so we would love to have someone with a data-driven mind and accompanying skills to join us.

*Recruitment status and employee affiliations are correct at the time of the interview.