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11. Check your signature block. Make sure it's complete: your salon name, address, phones, e-mail, and Web site link. Give the recipient a choice of how to contact you for more information.

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12. Carefully choose when the mail should arrive. Most business people spend Monday mornings catching up on the e-mail, postal mail, and phone calls that have piled up since the previous Friday. And Tuesday is the biggest mail day because Advo's wrap piece with its attendant 'lost child' card and many other 'marriage mail' Advo pieces arrive together which will seriously dilute your message and cause the reader to become more 'mail-phobic' on that day. Remember that the main reason for extremely low response rates from 'marriage mail' is due to dilution of your message. You don't want your mail mixed in with dozens of messages. You'll want your mail to be 'solo', with fewest other pieces in the mailbox and delivered Wed-Sat.

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13. Prepare your headline very carefully. After the offer, the headline is the first thing recipients will look at. It's akin to what you might say on the phone in the first 5 to 10 seconds. The subject line should directly relate to the primary benefit tanning offers. Tell them WHY they'll want to tan.

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14. Use graphics wisely. You only have seconds to arrest the eye at the mailbox and stop that page from turning. Use powerful graphics to attract the eye and then move the eye to the copy. Copy sells.

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15. Make sure your "process" within your company works properly to handle telephone inquiries and walk-ins. When people contact you "for more information" make sure you are ready with your pitches.

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16. Be wary about filtering out people who would buy. Offers such as "tan till 2005 for only $99" are great for testing a $99 price point, but they "filter" out people who only have $79, $49, or $29 to spend. And you'll want to try to sell everyone.

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17. Test, test, test. Test offers, subject lines and message copy. Testing is no less critical than your business. Testing is risky - you have to put money into testing. But testing is the only way to improve. Find the proven successful offers, subject lines and copy that have been tested and then beat it to death until it stops working. Once your offer stops working, go back to the risky testing of offers again.

Don't test things that have proven to be extremely low response for the costs involoved or few can get success with, such as grocery store receipts, mall kiosks, ads in student yearbooks, lifestyle lists, and flyers on windshields.

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18. Be complete. Most recipients will form some sort of preliminary conclusion about your product or service before they respond to your offer. They'll determine for themselves whether your offer helps meet their needs or solves their problems. That's why providing the complete information about WHY people would want to tan -- is extremely important. Too many ads have no headlines!!!

The old " With a Gorgeous Tan You'll Look Good and Feel Good" may sound cliche to you, but it may be the first time people have heard it. Be complete and tell people the WHY they'd want to tan.

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19. Don't look like everyone else. Spend some time reviewing ads you get to see what others are doing. Get on the lists of your competitors so you can see how they communicate. Analyze them all and find ways to differentiate yourself from the pack.

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20. Keep reading. Here, there and everywhere about how to improve your business. Read online, offline, trade publications, and correspond with other salon owners. Professionally shop the competition and salons not in your area. Never stop learning!