Millennium’s core mission is to be more than a software company and has made it’s mantra to educate the industry on data-backed ways to grow.
No empire was built without powerful tools and knowledge so when CEO John Harms was building Millennium Systems International, he quickly realized that his passion was more about educating salons and providing tools to help them progress – and technology was the key to do so. At Millennium, they pride themselves on connecting with passionate beauty professionals who are looking to take their business to new heights.
The new software Meevo 2 comes as a chance to debut the rebuilt version of its cloud-based software, Meevo. And we took some time with John Harms as he reveals the software showcasing Meevo 2.0’s groundbreaking features and incredible speed with only a WiFi connection – click here to know more!
Through their educational content, webinars, Millennium Academy events, one-on-one trainings and a massive annual event, The Millennium Experience, they are continuously helping the industry grow! Beyond their powerful software one of the biggest features that sets them apart is their promise to support their clients with a superior level of data guidance unmatched in the industry!
We’ve talked about Meevo 2 and you told me that there were a couple of things that you guys were still working on so what does 2018 have in store?
“We had the core product ready for our conference in June, so that would include register and a bunch of the reports. Some of the things that we’ve done since then, is really enhanced the Smart Center, which is where you can create your own dashboard and have it actually show up on the backdrop of your software, so you’re always seeing what your average ticket is, your productivity percentages, things like that.“
How does that service a salon owner? How does this data benefit them?
“One of the things that Millennium’s known for is really the business education, so we call it the business side of beauty. It’s really trying to get our system to not just be a point of sale system, but something that’s constantly giving them feedback on, maybe their rebook percentage. So as an example, let’s just use that to answer your question. I don’t have to wait to the end of the week to run a report to find out how well my team did at re-booking appointments. I know at any given point … While I’m using the software, I see the little tile there that says re-book 82%. Maybe it drops to 48%, and I’m like, “Wait, what’s going on this afternoon?” That’s what we like about the Smart Center. It’s taking the best consultants in the industry and putting them in a box for you, and putting little tools there, and tiles that are across the background of the screen, to just keep you up to date on the things that really matter throughout the day, rather than waiting to run a report when it’s too late to affect the numbers.”
Seeing numbers on a spreadsheet and coming out with a story is requires a certain expertise, how does Meevo 2.0 help bridge that gap for creatives and how has that changed from the previous version to this newer version?
“In the previous version, you might have to go run a report, or you might have to bring up a certain screen that’s called your dashboard. What we’ve done with Meevo 2.0 is, rather than just having a blank background that’s meaningless and really provides no value… Like, in software right, you have the menu across the top and just have a white background. So, rather than have a white background, we’ve got this ability for you to create these tiles that lay across that background with those numbers on it. It might say as an example, 47% rebook. And then if I touch the tile, it’ll actually show me the clients that did re-book, and the clients that did not re-book. It’s really, really easy to interpret it. And then, it’s role-based, so maybe the front desk gets a certain set of KPIs, but my managers get a different set of KPIs, in a style that is meaningful to them. So, they have what we call My Tiles. I don’t really care what the salon’s doing, I want to know what my service sales are, and my retail sales, my re-books. The role-based part of it makes it really easy. You don’t have to go searching for the numbers, they’re right in their face all day long. And what’s great about Meevo 2 is it works all the way down from a PC and a Mac, down to a tablet and a phone. All they have to do is whip out their phone, go into Meevo 2.0, and there’s their dashboard.“
So visually, it’s something similar to what Windows did with the tiles?
“Yeah, they kind of look similar, so we adopted that. Other great things we’ve worked on, we’ve added memberships to Meevo 2, where you can actually do blowout memberships and things like that, that are becoming very trendy, eyebrow and eyelash memberships, things like that. We’ve added the ability to have a client loyalty program, give people points for buying more retail or trying new services. We did a lot of overhaul, changing of the interface to make it even nice when it goes down to a phone. So that the experience on my phone, I can do a complete transaction, ring up … I can book an appointment, ring up that sale, all the way through, all the way down to my phone. And that experience is beautiful even on a phone, and so similar to the way it is on a full tablet or desktop that you don’t even need to be trained.“
It’s going to be like the Apple Store, where everything is in your pocket for each salesperson?
“Yeah, right there. And they can do chair-side check-out, they could suggest retail items right at the chair. Lot of different things they can do. The other thing that we did is, we spent a lot of time on education. So, we built a learning management system, with all kinds of videos and things to train people on it. But the cooler thing is, we created this online help that’s in the app. Whether I’m on my phone, or I’m on a tablet, or I’m on the PC, there’s a little thing on the side or at the bottom left-hand corner, that says ‘help.’ And when you bring that up, it actually helps step you through, like, “What would you like to do?”. How do I add a client, or how do I sell a gift card? And all of a sudden, this little assistant points at the button: click here, now click here, enter the information here, click save. So, it literally is a little help wizard that steps you through key parts of the system, and walks you through it. So, that’s the other stuff we’ve done in the last six months, is really try to make the tool a self-learning tool, and a tool where you’re not having to call tech support all the time, and really be sufficient somewhat on your own through the educational videos, and the walkthrough help.“
I know that this new Millennium Experience is going to be in Scottsdale?
“Yes, the end of September. And the excitement’s all around Meevo 2 for sure. We’ve actually started to launch it now. But in September, we’re going to have a lot of other features that we’re finalizing, including class booking, and some other types of more advanced features that we’ll have in there by September. But yeah, we’re excited about it because the Millennium Experience is going to be really about showing people how great and easy it is to migrate to Meevo 2. We have about 10 educators that we’re bringing in, from all different aspects, from social media experts to accounting experts, to experts on hairstyles. We try to cover everything, so that people are getting business knowledge, but at the same time, to your point, tickling that artist brain a little bit too, so I’m not just sitting there seeing numbers all day. You get a nice balance between numbers, software, and the industry that we love, the beauty industry. We have some great speakers coming for that, and even outside the beauty industry, some people coming.
So yeah, we always keep a couple of things quiet and surprise people, as you know, as well. We’ve got a great party in store, and a great educational event in store. And we normally do it in June, so giving us until September those extra few months to just really fine tune things. And we always love going to Arizona. We always have a great turnout, and we’re very familiar with the property. We’ve been there about 10 times already. So, we expect it to be amazing.“
Is there anything else you would like to share about Meevo 2 with the Estetica readers?
“Yeah, just that were excited about it. And then the other thing on the roadmap for this year is the multilingual part of it, which is important for Estetica readers. So, we will be releasing by probably around the third quarter, around the time of the conference, a bilingual version of Meevo 2. So, you’ll be able to select English, Spanish, and eventually German, French and Italian!“
For more information on Millennium Education please visit www.millenniumsi.com/academy/educational-offerings