If you sell window coverings DBs should be your quoting software....

Fabrique’ is a family business established twenty-two years ago and we supply and install blinds, curtains, shutters, and awnings. We specialise in motorisation and represent some of the top brands in the window coverings industry.

I began looking for window coverings software because it was a challenge to get quotes out to our customers quickly and efficiently.  Our goal was to also reduce quoting errors and minimize the paperwork attached to each job and I wanted software that would integrate with our accounting software.   

I saw Drape and Blind Software advertised in the Windows Furnishings Australia magazine and did some online research and finally contacted them for a demo with the lovely Mira who explained everything in detail and was able to answer all my questions.

DBs has vastly improved our quoting procedure and has reduced the quoting times considerably. It makes the whole process seamless as it generates orders, making and installer sheets all whilst you are doing the quote so there is no double handling.  You can make sure each job is profitable before you issue the quote to the customer as you get a clear picture of the margins. DBs keeps track of customers so that we all have access to quote and job details from one central point without having to refer to paperwork.

Unlike many software on the market, DBs is fully customizable and the most impressive thing is that it covers every aspect related to a custom made blinds, curtains or any external product.  The support is great as there is always someone available to help solve any issues so that you can get on with selling more.

If you sell window coverings DBs should be your quoting software. I wish I had implemented it years ago!

Giuseppe Mampieri - FABRIQUE'

The main benefit is reducing my quoting time in half which frees me up........

Debonair Curtains and Blinds was established in 1979 and I have been running the business for 20 years now. We sell curtains, blinds, shutters, and some external products to the residential market mainly around the eastern suburbs of Sydney.

I needed software for quoting as customer quotes were taking too long to get processed and I also wanted easy access to my supplier products and prices. I saw Drape and Blind Software at the BMAA in 2016 and could see the system had the potential to reduce my quoting time as it was tailored specifically to the industry.

DBs was up and running in a few weeks with all my suppliers and products. Steven came and trained me in person which was great and since then the support and backup have been very good.

Now, with DBs my customer quotes are presented in a professional way. The main benefit is reducing my quoting time in half which frees me up to do other things one needs to do when one is running your own business.

I am aware I am not using all the aspects of this system completely and the next step is to get some more training.

                                                                               Stan Isaacman

I swear by DBs and tell everyone what a great system it is and more to the point, what a time saver it is....

Wyndham Décor has been operating in Shepparton in regional Victoria since the 1980s. I have been with the business for about 26 years and have recently become the proud owner. We sell all types of window coverings, soft furnishings and also offer concept design to our clients.

The previous owner purchased Drape and Blind Software so that we could get our quotes done quickly and out to the customer in a short time frame. I am old school and used to working things out myself and was skeptical and thought the new system would never work. I was not up to date with computers and felt like a nuisance asking questions all the time but with help from the DBs team and having a go myself I learned a lot of things.

Now, I swear by DBs and tell everyone what a great system it is and more to the point, what a time saver it is. One of the best things about DBs is that if my customer wants multiple quotes with different fabrics I only need to click one or two buttons instead of handwriting pages and pages of quotes.

I would highly recommend DBs to anyone in the window coverings industry, great program, fantastic training and support from Peter and Steven who are always happy to help.

Sue Johnston

I am much less stressed and not going insane because I don’t have to work out the lengths and widths of curtains as DBs does it for me....

Dillimores Furnishings is a sixty-year-old business in Waihi NZ that has a proud history of providing quality flooring, homewares, and window coverings to homeowners in the area. We are an agent for Luxaflex blinds and shutters and we also use soft furnishings fabrics from major suppliers like James Dunlop, Ken Bimler, and Warwick.

I joined the business in 2016 as a window coverings and flooring consultant. The sales of curtains and blinds increased by more than double. The extra sales meant that I needed to spend more time manually working out quotes for customers and then the orders for fabrics, workrooms, and NZ Window Shades. I was swamped with paperwork and there was never enough time in my day.

In November we implemented Drape and Blind Software to help me with the workload. The system came with all of NZ Window Shades products and pricing, curtain treatments, curtain workrooms and all of our soft furnishings fabric suppliers. I received training on how to use DBs and the support network from Peter and the team has been excellent and continues to be valuable.

Now, I am much less stressed and not going insane because I don’t have to work out the lengths and widths of curtains as DBs does it for me. It took a while to get used to the Luxaflex side of things but everything is now sorted. It’s great that you can quote on all Luxaflex products and that DBs generates all the orders for you. If you sell NZ Window Shades and curtains I would definitely recommend Drape and Blind Software.

Sherree Ransom
DILLIMORES FURNISHINGS

Our growth has just skyrocketed; get on board, you won't regret it!

Our sales have increased and are back on target since adopting DBs...

Stolz Home Furnishing is a one-stop shop family owned business supplying furniture, flooring and window coverings to the high country in Victoria since 1903.

Our window furnishing department had been running successfully by an experienced staff member for about twenty years.  When she retired a lot of industry knowledge was lost and it was difficult for new employees to follow the old manual system. We were not able to get quotes out quickly and sales dropped markedly so we needed to move with the times and introduce a computerized system that all of us could use.

Through a Google search, we found Drape and Blind Software (DBs) which seemed to be the answer to our problem.  After an online demonstration, we were confident that DBs would solve our quoting and ordering issues.

DBs came ready to use with all our suppliers, window treatments, fabric and blind prices loaded. On-site training by Peter was invaluable and once we ironed out back-office things like profit margins etc it was really easy to start quoting.  The transition from our old way of working to DBs was exceedingly smooth.

The best thing is that DBs takes the pressure off employees to know everything and it takes less effort to follow up jobs because we don’t have to keep track of paper documents or look for information when we need it.

All up, our sales have increased and are back on target since adopting DBs and our customer service had definitely improved.  We are now able to get a quote out to a customer quickly and amending or altering a quote is a relatively simple straightforward step.  Now,  anyone in the business can easily check customer orders and it’s even simpler to check supplier charges. 

Anna Kennedy

I can do a curtain quote for a house in under an hour with accurate fabric quantities....

Established in 1980, Carey Covers have been specializing in outside awnings, tarps, covers, and upholstery to clients in regional Victoria. For the last fifteen years, we had also been supplying clients inside and outside blinds and recently decided to expand locally into the curtain market.

Curtain quotes and working out fabric quantities was taking forever and I found curtain quotes for new homes always at the bottom of my to-do list. If we were going to make inroads into the curtain market I had to find another solution.

I saw the advertisement for Drape and Blind Software (DBs) in the Window furnishings magazine, googled them and watched youtube clips about the software.  I also asked every fabric rep that came through our doors their opinion on computer software.

There were other companies selling similar but deciding factors concerned me. Some were not compatible with Quick Books, some did not offer after sales support and you had to load in all your own products and pricing. 

I worried about the initial cost but in 2015, the government was offering incentives for business upgrades so I talked to my accountant and decided to take the plunge. I probably should have had the system 4-6 months earlier but you cannot reverse time so looking forward Drape and Blind Software is a marvelous product.

The initial training took a day and then I had some online meetings to tweak my training and knowledge. Now with DBs, I can now do a curtain quote for a home in under an hour with accurate fabric orders.  Upon the client’s approval of the quote, I can then transfer relevant orders over to my preferred suppliers very easily with fabric quantities required and curtain workroom sheets produced.

I believe the system pays for itself with every quote due to its accuracy. It prompts you to consider all aspects of the job for quoting instead of overlooking items which can happen in a busy environment. All fabric and manufacturing updates are so easy to install and keep our business up to speed with all new pricing.

I have chosen a payment plan option and this works very well for our cash flow. I use DBs all the time and have never felt that it was a luxury to have bought it.

Definitely, a product to be factored into your business.

Geraldine Carey

I have just saved myself $500...

"I am singing your praises as I have just saved myself $500 with a supplier invoice because DBs showed me I had been invoiced too much.  I just mentioned to the book keep that eighteen months ago I just would have paid the invoice and been none the wiser....

A great start to the week!"

Prue Petroff

The best features are seeing our margins per job at a glance and reduction of errors....

The area we hoped DBS would help with mainly was the communication between the different parts of our business and our suppliers. Information was interpreted many times by many people from sales to manufacturing and finally installation.

DBs has allowed us to centralize that information so we are all on the same page. Now, by having everyone in our business in the picture when it comes to client quotes and orders our ability to respond to our clients in a timely way has improved.  This has increased sales and lessened delivery times.

The best features are seeing our margins per job at a glance and reduction of errors associated with the re-interpretation of information.

Craig Smith - CHAMPION BLINDS

The support and willingness to help has been fantastic...

We have been using DBs for six months now starting with blinds and now moving onto curtains.I must congratulate the DBs team on backup support after our software was installed.

I recall at the time we placed our order they stated that they do not just want to sell us DBs, but that they wanted us to use DBs. It has been a sharp learning curve and the support and willingness to help has been fantastic. If we ever have a problem, the issue is fixed without question never once making any of our staff feel silly because of the question asked. A few changes have been made for us that made the quotation the client receives very similar to the one we have painstakingly typed for years.

I look forward to the continued support and ‘can do’ attitude from DBs. Undoubtedly there will be a few more phone calls over the next few weeks while we master the curtain side of DBs!

Ross Widger
BETTA HOME FURNISHINGS

This has revolutionized the way we do business and saved countless admin hours....

'DBS has improved our growing business’ efficiency and has given us the ability to automatically transfer order data directly to our MYOB accounting software and generate Excel Purchase Orders to email suppliers. This has revolutionized the way we do business and saved countless admin hours previously spent double entering data.

The benefits of this easy to use software have been realised not only at the sales level with relatively easy implementation of price increases and decreases but right the way through our business.

The added advantage of exceptional training and backup service from the DBS team has made the transition a breeze.'

Nathan Zorbas

Managing Director
THE BLINDS GALLERY 

We can work out of the office, in a client’s home or from our own home......

"We also moved onto “DBs Cloud” so all the information is accessible on a phone or tablet. We can work out of the office, in a client’s home or from our own home and all information is up to date. One of the great parts of DBs is linking to our accounting program XERO. When we get the go-ahead from the customer DBs raises the invoice in XERO with one click."

Michael Bradley

I can't believe it was this easy to get going...

 I have just finished a quote that normally would have taken me an hour to do and now with Drape and Blind Software, it's barely taken ten minutes!  We've only had the system for a day and I can't believe it was this easy to get going.

    Quoting on-site has enabled me to win about 80% of my jobs....

With the DBs mobile module, quoting on-site has enabled me to win about 80% of my jobs before I leave.  Back in the showroom, I get my administration person who has no background in window coverings to enter the window dimensions for house plan quotes.  Previously these types of quotes simply did not get done and I lost out on jobs.

Kate Gray

BLIND AMBITION, VIC

Quoted on a 11k job last week and had the quote accepted on the spot!

The DBs mobile laptop module is great as quoting on site makes it easy to sell our products.  I quoted on a 11K job last week and had the quote accepted on the spot!.

Jane Belsham

Homemaker NZ 

Before we used to do hand calculated quotes - never again....

“DBs, has enabled us to streamline our entire production process from Quotation through to Manufacture. The ability to input information once saves us a great amount of time and reduces errors. Being a small business like most we are resource strapped so any efficiencies we can get using technology as an enabler for the business is great.

DBS also gives us scalability as we grow. Our next step will be the laptop version for sure.  I also like the fact that help and support are close at hand, and that the Fernstar team are genuinely open to ideas to help improve the application when a practical suggestion is made. Before we used to do hand calculated quotes – never again.”

Paul Radford - CEO Techblinds Group - Springcrest Curtains and Blinds,  QLD

I love that everything, including the latest pricing, is at your fingertips...

“I used to hate quoting on drapery!  It would take hours to work out fabric quantities, to double check everything and finally type up the customer quote. Now, with Drape and Blind Software, I do the quotes in a fraction of the time. The calculations are accurate and you don’t forget a thing because the system prompts you.  I love that everything, including the latest pricing, is at your fingertips.”

Leanne Hurford Curtains and Blinds

It gives us a competitive edge in quoting time-frames with transfers, through to conversion rates...

"DBs revolutionizes the quoting process for the drape and blind industry. It vastly reduces time spent and occasionally wasted on lengthy quotes and in particular, when clients make frequent changes to fabrics, style etc.

The wide variety of pricing options and styles within the system allows you to tailor the program to your own requirements.

It gives a competitive edge in quoting time-frames which transfer through to conversion rates."

Jude Hunt
Blue Tulip Interiors Rangiora, NZ

We wouldn't dare go back to the old ways...

"The product has been sensational, it has saved us time and money.  We wouldn't dare go back to the old ways.  It has been a benefit to the business no doubt."

Jason Iannucci
Now Interiors, SA

The curtain fabric updates make quoting much easier... 

"Manor Blinds and Curtains have been using the Drape and Blind Software Quoting System for over 2 years and have found that it has greatly improved the accuracy and consistency of our quotes.

It is so convenient to have all details and information on the one system. Orders can be emailed through directly to the supplier, enabling them to acknowledge the order immediately. The orders have prices on them, making it very easy for the checking of invoices on receipt of the goods, to check on accuracy.

The curtain fabric updates make quoting much easier, and the updates come through promptly.  Downloading is simple and immediate.

Should we have any problems or queries, they are handled promptly and efficiently.

Drape and Blind Software has certainly streamlined our procedures and there are many reports that we can access to check on profit margins etc. A very useful system that we would recommend to others."

Barbara Harford
Manor Blinds and Curtains