Bookies Hair Supplies
Good products are needed for this, but the experience in the salon is also important. With this data system, we can optimally meet the needs of both the individual salons and their visitors.
Customer interview: Bookies Hair Supplies
Sara de Waal, 22 november 2021 - Hilversum, The Netherlands
Bookies has been supplying specialist hair care products to exclusive hair salons for years. The products are from the Australian brand KEVIN.MURPHY, a professional brand whose products are eco-friendly, cruelty-free, and without parabens and sulfates.
Rob Kolfers, CEO of Bookies, was looking for a way to better respond to the needs of his customers, and therefore to the needs of his customers' customers. ‘At the end of the day, it's about making the salon's visitors happy,’ he explains. ‘Good products are needed for this, but the experience in the salon is also important. With this data system, we can optimally meet the needs of both the individual salons and their visitors.’
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"Kempen has created a system in Filemaker that gives me insight into all kinds of data and figures."
Rob Kolfers
CEO - Bookies Hair Supplies
Insights
But, how do you realize that? 'Kempen has created a system in Claris FileMaker that gives me insight into all kinds of data and figures,' says Rob.
‘I used to use an ERP system, in which the administrative, financial, and commercial processes are registered. With that software, I could see which products were sold and to which salons, but not which salons did not purchase certain product lines and which patterns there were in behavior: is this characteristic of the region? Is this customer buying more or less? Does the salon know enough about the use of the products?
These are relevant questions, because we can often help salons to achieve more satisfied customers and more sales. On the one hand through targeted advice and on the other through the many training courses that we offer. ’
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"I have consulted a lot with Kempen to discuss which data I want to be able to identify. They made sure that all those factors were included in the system. The collaboration was very pleasant."
Rob Kolfers
CEO - Bookies Hair Supplies
Wealth of information
‘I heard about the options in FileMaker. When I went looking for a software company that worked with this, Kempen's name immediately came to the fore,' Rob says. ‘I have consulted a lot with Kempen to discuss which data I want to be able to identify. They made sure that all those factors were included in the system.
The collaboration was very pleasant.' Software developer Maarten Huijs explains which data flows come together in the new system: 'These are the data from the ERP system, i.e. what products a customer has bought, but also the data from Pipedrive, a CRM that’s specially designed for salespeople. These data provide a wealth of information together. This is useful for analysis at the office, but also for valuable leads for the representatives in the field.
You can see exactly what is happening per product group, per product, per salon, and per region: whether there’s a decrease or increase in turnover. You can also see when a representative visited the salon for the last time, what the situation was then, since when the salon has been our client, what the turnover is from products, and also whether this corresponds with the estimates. In addition, you can see whether the employees of a certain salon have followed training courses via Bookies, and if so, which ones.'
Achieving goals together
Rob explains how Bookies works with this data. ‘We make an estimate per salon which goal is realistic,’ Rob explains. ‘If that goal is 100 percent achieved by the end of the year, we can explore: how can we achieve growth next year? Conversely, in the event of disappointing results, we can investigate what could be the cause. The reps have a simplified mobile version of the system, in FileMaker Go.
Before entering a salon, they can see the most important information with the click of a button. This provides a lot of discussion material, and our representatives can therefore provide targeted advice on how the employees of the salon can achieve more product sales. Sometimes they aren’t sufficiently aware that there’s more than cutting and coloring, that there’s still a lot of turnover to be achieved from product sales – and that they can serve their customers even better with this.
Haircare products solve 'hair problems': customers can be helped with the right products for dry hair, curly hair, colored hair. These products can make a substantial contribution to the salons’ revenue.’
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"'These are the data from the ERP system, i.e. what products a customer has bought, but also the data from Pipedrive, a CRM that’s specially designed for salespeople. These data provide a wealth of information together. This is useful for analysis at the office, but also for valuable leads for the representatives in the field."
Maarten Huijs
Product Owner & Partner
Kempen Automatisering
From checklist to CTA
Rob explains what things the representatives can check in the mobile app: 'When they visit a salon, they can, of course, see what product sales have been achieved, and whether that is a decrease or increase compared to a month or a year earlier. In addition, however, they can check a checklist in the app to map out the situation in the salon.
For example, they look at which product groups are offered in the store, how this is done, whether certain promotions are active, which tools the salon uses, and how many of the employees have followed training with us. Every piece of information can be translated into a specific call to action (CTA).
For example, if a salon does not sell a certain product of ours, the system will notify you. To do something about this, the representative can, for example, offer a discount on this product.'
From supplier to partner
The training courses that Bookies offers also play an important role in CTA’s to support the salons. The training courses deal with various topics: on the one hand, trends and techniques in the field of hair care, and on the other, communication and social media. ‘These are all courses that are helpful for the salons,’ Rob says.
‘Because not only do we want to provide our customers with the best quality, but also the best service, so that a strong bond is created between customer and supplier. Our support is therefore welcome: we’re not just a supplier, but also a partner.' According to Rob, the biggest advantage of the system is that his company now works in a more structured way. ‘Both the objectives and the means to achieve those objectives are now more concrete. By means of the data overview, we can now see exactly which buttons we can turn!'