How Tribe sparked a chain reaction of productivity gains at Plenda
In 2014, Jolanda Peters and her daughter created a simple planning diary that immediately brought calm and structure. What started as a kitchen-table solution evolved into Plenda: a trusted name in education for planning and organisation. Unlike traditional diaries that merely record appointments and homework, the Plenda diary helps break homework down into manageable tasks and creates a clear schedule. When Bart Plantinga joined Plenda as a consultant, he brought his experience in developing educational materials and digital learning environments to help take Plenda to the next level.
Together with the team, they developed the Plenda Route: a digital teaching method that enables pupils to work on planning and organisational skills in their own way. The method offers personalised guidance for pupils and supports teachers in coaching this learning process. In addition to physical diaries and workbooks, Plenda also offers a digital app. Users can plan tasks, break down homework, and track progress. The combination of physical and digital makes the products future-proof and perfectly suited to the habits of younger generations. "It’s not just about a handy diary. We want to help people take control of what they put in it." Bart Plantinga
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"As a business owner, you always weigh costs and benefits. With Tribe, the time and insight gains are immediately visible."
The road to growth
Convinced that Plenda is a strong product that meets today’s challenges, Bart Plantinga’s company began participating in Plenda at the start of 2025. This marked the next step in professionalising the organisation. A dedicated team now focuses on school relationship management, product development, and campaigns to reach new audiences, with education remaining the primary customer. “Schools purchase diaries for their pupils every year. That requires strong relationships and ongoing trust,” says Plantinga.
At the same time, he sees a clear shift: the consumer market is growing rapidly. Increasingly, parents are seeking tools to support their children’s learning. Thanks to the revamped website and targeted campaigns, they are finding Plenda more easily.
To support this growth, Plenda transitioned from PerfectView to Tribe CRM.
From paper to digital - and everything in between
Plenda’s products are unique because they bridge the gap between physical and digital. From clear planners to an app that allows pupils to break down and tick off tasks. This requires customisation and automation, behind the scenes as well.
Each demo request for the digital teaching material now automatically triggers several processes:
- The requester receives a confirmation email immediately
- The logistics team receives a packing slip for the physical diary
- The sales team is assigned a follow-up task
- The contact enters an automated email flow via Apsis, the marketing platform of parent company efficy
"That flow is worth its weight in gold," explains Plantinga. "Where someone might previously have disappeared into a general newsletter, they now receive tips, tricks, and motivation to really use the product. All fully automated via Tribe."
Clarity, speed and structure
For Bart, that’s exactly the strength of Tribe: “The system delivers a chain of productivity gains. We used to lose a lot of time on manual tasks. Now we have clarity, speed and structure.”
Whether it’s smart segmentation of consumer customers or launching campaigns: Tribe makes processes scalable and reliable. “We can achieve much more with the same team,” says Bart.
Even more complex administrative processes are streamlined in Tribe, such as handling different VAT rates for teaching materials and physical products, or applying discounts. “You can configure that in Tribe exactly as you want,” says Plantinga. “For us, that flexibility was decisive.”
Value and results
The benefits of Tribe are immediately noticeable for Plenda:
- Efficiency: Tasks such as creating and sending packing slips are fully automated.
- Insight: Dashboards provide real-time overviews of demo requests, quotations, and orders—crucial during the busy ordering season for schools.
- Productivity: Staff spend less time on repetitive tasks and more on their expertise, such as relationship management and product development.
Looking ahead
Plenda is looking to the future. The goal is always to enrich its products and expand to new audiences, with ambitions reaching beyond education in the Netherlands.
Delivering suitable products and services remains central. “With Tribe, we have a single environment for sales, support, and customer relationship management,” explains Plantinga. “That enables us to build sustainable relationships with our customers.”
Bart’s advice
Bart is Plenda’s Technical Director and Owner. He deliberately chose to integrate Tribe into nearly all business processes and is now an expert in CRM implementation. His advice to other companies considering Tribe: “Take the time to map out your business processes thoroughly. The better you do that, the stronger your start with Tribe. For us, it’s now the backbone of the organisation—all processes come together in this system.”
Plenda is a great example of how a traditional product - the diary- can be renewed and professionalised with digital technology and a powerful CRM.
Want to know more? Get in touch.
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“What appealed to us most was the ability to customize the system ourselves. Other vendors required expensive consultant hours for changes.”
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“We put a lot of thought into our design and layout, and Apsis One makes it easy to create visually strong and structured newsletters.”
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"We started with importing relationship data, suppliers and sales opportunities. First get the basics up and running and then, step by step, add dashboards and widgets."