"I REALLY FEEL ON TOP OF THINGS"

At the age of just 21, Mark Coray started up Coray and Co, which is now Cardiff's premier Colour Degree Specialist hairdressing salon, one of only 300 salons nationwide, as awarded by L'Oreal. Situated in City Road, Coray and Co offers a top-to-toe service to clients, catering for all grooming needs with a 15 seat salon and a well equipped Darphin Diamond beauty salon.

Mark Coray uses Premier Software's Premier Style software package to cover all aspects of his busy salon business. "I found out about Premier Style when I was on a L'Oreal sponsored training course and a number of other salon owners there already used it and recommended it," explains Mark. "We didn't have a computerised management system before. We just used a manual book and I was feeling like the business was in charge of me rather than the other way around. It takes seconds now to generate reports on VAT, PAYE, average bill value, % retail etc, so I really feel on top of things rather than buried underneath a pile of paperwork>"

"POSITIVE CHANGES"

"I've noticed many changes to the way the business is managed," says Mark. For example, when we were using the manual appointments book, it was more difficult to track clients down if we needed to re-arrange their appointments because we had just recorded their name. With

Premier Style, we can store all clients' details confidentially on the system, so we have a number of ways of getting hold of them by phone, email or SMS - which is a great way of reminding clients about an appointment."

"What I have found when I have held interviews for new staff is that 9 out of 10 well qualified stylists will look uncomfortable when I ask them about their computer skills. However, Premier Style will easily allay their fears. I call it the 'software for the non academic hairdresser,' You don;t need to have any prior knowledge with computers as it's very easy to use. I am a perfect exampoe. I was anything but computer literate when we took on Premier Style, but within6 months it became second nature to me and now I can't live without it. I even use it at home as I have a remote connection that Premier set up for me."

"LOTS OF WAYS TO RUN A MARKETING CAMPAIGN"

"There are lot's of ways to run marketing campaigns using Premier Style," adds Mark. We register client's birthdays and, if we haven't seen them for a while (the 'hole in the bucket' scenario), we can get in touch and say that we miss them. If a stylist moves on, we can contact their clients to let them know and introduce them to a new member of the team. We sent out a Christmas card to our customers this year with redeemable vouchers as gifts, for example. All of this can be done - and the vouchers redeemed - via the software programme. There is very little manual intervention needed."

Mark believes that the secret to the success of his salon lies in the training and motivation of his staff. "We have regular staff training meetings where we get together to thrash out ideas and talk about aspects of our service and style. My favouriet Premier Style tool is the one that gives 'on the spot' information about an employee's performance in a bar chart format that is easy to explain and understand from the staff's point of view. You can see who's in the lead and who's selling the most products. I put this up in the staff room to instill a bit of friendly compeition and keep them on their toes, and it works!"

"EXCELLENT BACK-UP SERVICE"

"Premier Software is the first computer company that I chose and I haven't been persuaded to change my mind in 11 years," comments Mark. "Computers do break down - it happens! But Premier have always kept me going with their excellent backup-service and they will sort out any issues remotely with no hassle."

Mark Coray is a multi-award winning stylist who has represent Great Britain at

World Championship level and is the only person to have twice won British Champion Hairdresser and International Champion Hairdresser. He won the award for Celebrity Head of the year for styling the hair of ITV weather presenter Sian Lloyd and is one of only a handful of specialist L'Oreal Degree Colourists in the UK. In 2007, he became the youngest ever Vice President of the National Hairdressers Federation, the organisation which represents 8,000 owners of hairdressing and beauty businesses in the UK. www.nhf.biz

For Press enquiries about Coray & Co, please contact Mark Coray at Coray and Co, Cardiff:
E: corayandco@aol.com T:02920 481 481 www.corayandco.com

For press information about Premier Software Solutions, please contact Katherine Arbuthnott at Blue Sand Marketing:
E: katherine@bluesandmarketing.com T: 05602 647 804