This case study was originally posted on the Bravo Business Media website.

How SPEX Builder Helped Gerhard’s Kitchen & Bath Store Grow Their Sales

Does your showroom software really help your business run more efficiently so you can close more sales? Or does it just create more work for you?

Here’s how one showroom approached these challenges and got results.

Background

With 14 Gerhard’s Kitchen & Bath Stores and 4 KOHLER Signature Stores throughout the Midwest, Gerhard’s Kitchen & Bath Store has been serving customers since 1940, when it was likely one of the first modern-day kitchen and bath stores in the country. Judy Kimble, Director of Sales & Marketing of Gerhard’s Kitchen & Bath Store had an online sales software solution but noticed shortcomings in its delivery compared with Gerhard’s business needs. These shortcomings caused more manual work for showroom associates, creating delays in closing the sale.

Challenges

• Incomplete product lines in online catalog software
• Limited and missing product data in customer quote presentations
• Incorrect and outdated pricing, product specs, and discontinued products
• Manual and time-consuming looking up pricing, missing data and images
• Limited sales reporting ability; difficult to reconcile across multiple locations

Solutions

Gerhard’s Kitchen & Bath Store opted for SPEX Builder, the premier product selection and presentation tool for showrooms, built by Bravo Business Media. SPEX Builder pulls real-time product data and pricing daily from our database of over 1,100 plumbing, hardware, lighting, and a variety of other wholesale products manufacturers and instantly formats it in a professional pdf digital or printed presentation format, complete with the showrooms’ branding.

Results

• Sales-critical information for all of Gerhard’s product lines
• Complete product data and product specifications, updated automatically daily
• Correct and current pricing, product specs, and discontinued products
• Quick product presentation helps close sales quicker
• Complete view of business activity across locations

What the Client Had to Say:

“We love SPEX Builder! It’s a solid program that has really helped us grow our sales.” – Judy Kimble, Director of Sales & Marketing, Gerhard’s Kitchen & Bath Store

Originally, Judy Kimble and her team weren’t sure they needed SPEX Builder. “We had been using a competitor of SPEX Builder and although Ace (Rosenstein) had been calling on me, I was just sort of blowing it off and thinking that we don’t need it,” she says. After taking a tour of SPEX Builder and seeing the differences compared to her previous solution, she changed her mind. “It became this whole new world that we could utilize. It’s just been a phenomenal experience.”

The real-time manufacturer-sourced pricing and data was a game-changer for Judy’s team. Because Bravo Business Media has relationships directly with over 1,100 manufacturers, the pricing and data is correct and complete. The Gerhard’s team could easily and quickly pull together complete and professional-looking quotes and presentations for their customers. She explains, “With SPEX Builder we have all our brands covered, and we don’t need to look up everything anymore. That was one of the things we used to have to do with our previous solution. We love having real-time pricing, images, and data for all the vendors that we support – whether it’s lighting, kitchen, bath, plumbing – they’re all in SPEX Builder.”

So how else has SPEX Builder impacted Gerhard’s sales process? “We’ve been able to follow up more. Also, we’re using it as a CRM, so for us it’s really been spot-on for growing our sales. It’s a solid program that has really helped us grow our sales, and that’s really the result all showrooms want to measure.”

Judy summarizes, “I recommend SPEX Builder for its ease of ease-of-use and intuitiveness. The building process from start to finish was exceptional, and the team at Bravo is a delight to work with. Even after the sale and site launch, the customer service is incredible.”

Bravo Business Media wishes to thank Judy Kimble and the team at Gerhard’s Kitchen & Bath Store for sharing their experience with SPEX Builder. Learn more by visiting gerhardsstore.com.