De Clerck delivers faster, more customer-focused quotations with Hive CPQ.

About De Clerck.

Family business De Clerck was founded in 1965 as a joinery business, specializing in roofing, staircases and exterior woodwork. Over the years, the company based in Vrasene (Belgium) gradually shifted its focus to windows and doors. In the 1970s, it added PVC windows to its portfolio, which have since become the core of its business.

When Frederik De Clerck, grandson of founder Etienne De Clerck, joined the family business in 2014, the company employed 25 people. Since then, De Clerck has grown steadily and organically to a team of around 80 employees. In 2022, the company relocated to a new facility in Sint-Gillis-Waas, allowing it to manufacture aluminum windows and doors in-house alongside its existing production.

For private customers and property developers.

Frederik: “We manufacture PVC and aluminum windows and doors, which are installed by our own installation teams. Our market is fairly local, with most of our projects located in Flanders and parts of the Netherlands, particularly Zeeland. Most of our customers are homeowners, but we've also built long-standing relationships with a number of contractors and property developers.

On average, we complete around 30 projects per week. These vary widely, from replacing a single front door for a private customer to supplying windows and doors for mid-sized residential developments with 50 to 60 apartments. We deliberately stay away from very large-scale projects. 

Our ideal customer is a homeowner or contractor who values quality. Windows and doors are an important part of any building project, so we focus on customers who appreciate this quality, as well as a reliable service. Because we want them to have as little to worry about as possible, we work with our own installation teams, giving us full control over both the quality of the installation and the customer service.”

Quotations straight from technical calculation software.

With such a strong focus on customer service, it was only natural for De Clerck to take a closer look at its sales process as well. “When we receive an inquiry – either through our website or via word of mouth – we first visit the site to take measurements or ask the customer to provide the building plans. We then invite the customer to our showroom, where we prepare the quotation together.

Until recently, we did this in our calculation software, which we also use to control our production machinery. It's a powerful but highly technical system that takes into account complex calculations such as insulation values and profile optimization to minimize material waste. The downside is that preparing a quotation required a great deal of technical knowledge, both of the products themselves and of the software. Because so many technical details had to be entered manually, creating a quotation was quite time-consuming.”

Time-consuming, error-prone and not customer-friendly.

Frederik: “The software required extensive training before you could use it effectively. As a result, mistakes sometimes happened, especially when new colleagues were still getting up to speed. Our salespeople also had to enter information that was essential for production, but irrelevant during the sales process. That added unnecessary work and made onboarding new colleagues more challenging.

We also handle a large number of quotation requests. Customers often compare prices from three or four different suppliers. Because we're one of the few companies offering both PVC and aluminum windows and doors, customers regularly ask for quotations for both materials, or a combination of the two. Preparing just one quotation could sometimes take several hours.

We also had to strike the right balance between the technical and commercial side of our software. Certain components need to be described using technical terminology for production purposes, but those same terms mean little to customers. As a result, our quotations contained a lot of technical information that simply wasn't relevant to the end customer.”

Looking for a user-friendly CPQ solution.

Frederik started looking for a CPQ solution that could meet those requirements and, but he didn't have to search for long. “A few years ago, I ordered a gate from Pouleyn, who use a Hive CPQ configurator on their website. I remember thinking: ‘If I ever need something like this, this is the one.’”

The must-haves for the CPQ? “There were a number of important technical requirements. The software had to be able to handle complex calculations correctly, such as U-values and profile optimization. At the same time, it needed to be user-friendly for our salespeople – unlike our calculation software.

We also wanted a tool that would let us create complete and accurate quotations, not just estimates: in plain language and tailored to our customers, unlike our previous quotations, which were often too technical.”

Saving time for sales, faster quotations for customers.

Frederik: “The biggest benefit is the time our salespeople save. They now have more time to focus on the personal contact that matters so much to us, whether that's following up with customers or welcoming them to our showroom.

It's also much easier to prepare different quotation options. For example, with just a single click, you can switch from PVC to aluminum. That doesn't just save us time, it also creates a better customer experience. In the past, they often had to wait several hours or even days, because the salesperson had to prepare a new quotation from scratch.

Onboarding new colleagues has become much easier as well. That's already a major advantage today, and it will remain one as we continue to grow.”

How the salespeople are reacting to the new way of working? “They've been looking forward to working with Hive. Everyone has been testing the system over the past few weeks. Every now and then, someone comes up with a small suggestion or improvement, but those are addressed each time.”

Smooth implementation, tons of industry expertise.

Frederik says the implementation of Hive CPQ went smoothly. “I configured a large part of the CPQ myself using the Hive Design Studio. There was no need to write any code, as the Design Studio is very accessible and easy to work with.

The Hive team is incredibly knowledgeable. Windows and doors are technically complex products, so kudos to the team for making this happen. I worked mainly with Peter, Hive's windows and doors specialist. He laid the groundwork, I added some adjustments and improvements. Thanks to his background in the industry, he has a strong understanding of our products. That's important, because our sector is constantly evolving. Dragoş, Hive's 3D engineer, was responsible for the 3D visualizations.”

The biggest challenge? “Keeping the scope under control. There are so many exceptions that we sometimes had to make deliberate choices. For products that only come up occasionally, it simply isn't worth developing dedicated functionality every time.”

More organic growth, supported by Hive CPQ.

What’s next? “We want to continue growing in a healthy, organic way and gradually expand our sales region. To support that growth, we plan to further strengthen our sales team. Thanks to the new system, onboarding new colleagues will be much easier.

There are also a few things we'd like to add in the future. One of them is expanding our product range within Hive. For example, we'd like to include curtain wall systems, which aren't yet available in the configurator.”

Exploring AI, no online self-service.

Frederik also sees plenty of opportunities for AI within Hive. “We're looking at using an AI sales agent that can monitor a mailbox to help process incoming enquiries. Another interesting application is tender documents. It often takes hours to go through them manually, whereas Hive AI could interpret them automatically and correctly.”

For now, however, De Clerck has no plans to make the configurator available on its website. “We want customers to visit our showroom whenever possible, so they can see our products and we can guide them personally. We might eventually offer a simple online configuration tool, but mainly as a way to collect contact details and schedule an appointment.”