Since 1922, Keune has been exclusively making hair products for hairdressers. The company continues to expand, both within the Netherlands and in other countries. This would not be possible without a cleverly implemented CRM solution, which allows Keune to know its customers and stay meticulously informed.
It is 1922. In Amsterdam, Jan Keune runs a drugstore with his wife. In the upstairs rooms, he begins to experiment with the production of hair products. Keune develops a formula for permanent wave lotion. More than a hundred years later, Keune Haircosmetics products are in high demand in approximately 60,000 salons across more than ninety countries. Furthermore, the family business has its own branches in the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Spain, and Croatia.
Visiting the hairdresser with an iPad in hand
It's almost an open secret: as a customer-centric company, you can't do without it CRM solution. Keune has chosen Aurea CRM, with Bluecore as its implementation and management partner. Mark Eggermont, Product Owner CRM at Keune, is happy with the flexible support. “Bluecore normally works for us on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but if there's anything urgent, something is always arranged immediately.”
Aurea CRM helps businesses build, improve, and retain relationships. For instance, the system can calculate visit routes for the entire calendar year based on sales territory and assign visits to the respective sales representatives. Once they are on the road visiting [potential] customers, they always have Aurea CRM at their fingertips on their iPad.
Before entering a salon, they can review the history and contact with their customer. This greatly increases the chance of a good and personal conversation. During that conversation, an order can also be entered directly. Through the link with Keune's back office, an order is processed directly in the logistics systems, so that the salon receives the desired Keune products as quickly as possible (normally next-day). Currently, a transition is underway from the CRM solution to the B2B website as the preferred channel for creating orders. “This gives us renewed focus on further developing CRM in the areas it is actually intended for: optimizing customer interaction,” says Mark.
‘Keune family’
Keune customers can be divided into three groups that together form the ‘Keune family’: standard customers, 100% customers (hairdressers who carry only Keune products), and ambassadors. This last category has strong growth ambitions and requires advice and business consulting from Keune. Aurea CRM comes in handy here as well, offering the following benefits, among others:
- customer insight based on current and potential revenue data, competitive data, a SWOT analysis, and quantitative and qualitative goals per customer;
- Overview of revenue history for the current and past two years, broken down by Keune concept (Care, Color, So Pure, Style, 1922, etc.);
- potential based on the number of FTEs.
Actually, everything a Keune representative needs to monitor growth together with the ambassador! By linking with Keune's back-office systems, account plans and overviews are always up-to-date.
Work at the store
However, the greatest opportunities offered by Aurea CRM are still Work in progress. Product Owner Mark is currently working with Bluecore and various internal stakeholders to translate the complete sales funnel into the system. The goal: a solution that proactively thinks along with the representatives! For example, by recognizing certain moments that allow you to respond better to the customer. If no follow-up has been registered in Aurea CRM a week after a good conversation with a prospect, the system will send a signal. Also, if a regular customer suddenly hasn't ordered any products in the past month, the system will indicate that there might be work to be done...
Keune has the ambition to grow further, both domestically and internationally. This must happen together with the customer. “We are a commercial company and we want to grow,” explains Business Unit Manager Renée van Hooff. “We don't do that by maximizing revenue as quickly as possible or by merely being a product supplier, but by being the best business partner for our customers.”
