TJ

timing of results before and after


the effects of the process research & development



September 4th, 2006 8.05 P.M.



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rooney3

I'll give Alex a call in the next day or so and let you know what their PR plans are for the next few months.

Also, I see you posted the Lumiere Locator results again as of yesterday. Did you just want to let me know I'm still not showing up, or was there something else that your concerned about?

Ric

TJ

I wanted to let you know that you are not listed on the web site yet. Don't you think that is an awfully easy way for RAI to help you with your program there? Why would they not do this? The locator on the web site is wonderful tool if they update it.

rooney3

Check it now, TJ.

Ric

TJ

Alright !!!!!!!!!! You owe me, ric.......... Just send me 1% of your sales that say they found you on the web site :-)

rooney3

LOL!!! Deal, TJ!

Alex (PR guy) called me back to day and here's what he had to say: Media kits were sent out to all Lumiere owners a few months ago (I got one) with sample press releases to use in our local markets (which I'm doing).

Owners were encouraged to call his company if they wanted some help/advice on marketing Lumiere in there local markets. According to Alex only two other salon owners besides me have called to take advantage of that free offer.

Alex and his partner will be in New York on 9/18 to begin a PR/media tour of womens magazines to meet with editors and discuss Lumiere and this emerging thing called 'light therapy'. On the list of companies to meet are Cosmo, Allure, Instyle, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, Harper's Bazarre, Glamour.

Accompanying Alex and his business parter on this tour will be Tony and Philip Charlton, the VP of Photo Therapueatics, LTD (http://www.phototherapeutics.com/) the parent company/manufacturer of Lumiere and Omnilux, a 'medical only' light therapy device.

According to Alex, light therapy treatment is slowly becoming more mainstream here in the US and there are now approximately 25 companies marketing some sort of light therapy device, but none evidently with the pedigree, background or history of Photo Therapeutics, and none with the patent advantage they have.

So hopefully Alex will pick up some national media for us in the coming months.

Finally, Alex and RAI will be meeting in Nashville with John Overstreet, the executive director or ITA to discuss the Lumiere and how to promote its potential for positive press that it brings to the indoor tanning industry (something I've mentioned here before as part of my personal agenda for my salon).

Alex is a great guy and I'd encourage all of you to give him a call to get to know him. He is anxious to help, if asked. The company's number is 760 414-3370.

Well that's about all I have to say on the subject. Good luck to all of you. Time for me to get back to work. We sold our 16th VIP yesterday. The customer didn't want to be bothered with monthly EFT payments and without blinking an eye she whipped out her checkbook and wrote us a check for $1,047.00, one year VIP paid in full. You gotta love that cash infusion in late August!

I guarantee you that each of you has some of those type of customers in your back yard.

Ric

TJ

OK......It's been almost a month, Ric. Do you have more positive info about your lumiere sales and the support team from RAI?

nstan

Where is my media kit? I have absolutely nothing. Ray? Where is it? Have you forgotten about us in the Northeast? See you at the show.......

rooney3

Hi TJ,

Like most of you I'm sure, September has been a slower revenue month for us tanning wise, but its been our best month so far for VIP sales, which obviously is a welcome boost to cash flow at this time of year.

I started a VIP sales contest at the tail end of August that runs through September. I told my people that I would match the total commissions of the person who sold the most VIP's.

This is not an insignificant amount of money as Barb, our GM is leading the contest going into today(last day) with 5 and has already worked through the sliding scale I set up for VIP sales, so she gets the full $99.00 down payment as commission. So we talking about $500.00 commission and a potential $500.00 bonus.

So Barb has 5 VIP's so far and Sarah, our assistant manager has 3. But what I really got a kick out of was I got a call last night from Justine, one of our night girls, who called to tell me "I got my first VIP!"

So we've sold 9 VIP's over the last 5 weeks. But what I'm pleased with is that first it was only Barb who had the confidence to sell the VIP membership. Now Sarah has totally found her rhythm and has worked through the scale to also get the $99.00 comission, and now Justine has broken the ice.

The point is that this membership is now becoming very comfortable for the girls to sell, and they sell with condifence. The customer response has been excellent so far.

What I will say is that the Lumiere combined with the other services we offer in the VIP package has now become, as Justine's VIP who signed up yesterday said, "too good to pass up."

But so far this year I've just concentrated on my in-house tanning base of customers, as it was the most cost effective way for me to market initially. I've done no outside advertising/marketing yet for our Lumiere service.

What I plan on doing for the '07 season is starting a focused ad campaign in a couple of the women's magazinesher in town specifically for the Lumiere to see if I can now attract non-tanning customers into the store.

Also, I just happened to speak with Alex (PR guy) this past Thursday about his recent New York promtional tour. He said it went very well and they did in fact meet with editors of the women's magazine I had mentioned in a previous post.

Alex said, and I agree with him, that good PR is a slow process of seeding ideas and concepts with the media that take time to morph into articles down the road. RAI will be sending him back overy other month or so now to New York to repeat the process.

Just as an aside, I wound up talking with him about possibly hiring him to do some PR work for my fitness company and asked him if he could share what his fee is for his services to RAI.

And while I shouldn't give specific numbers, Alex is unfortunately out of my league at the moment, as his monthly bill to RAI breaks into five digits.

So if you don't think RAI is trying to do their part, guys that's some serious ching.

Ric

rooney3

Jeez, I just reviewed the last post I put up and it looks like it was written by a junior high kid, with all the typos. Sorry. I am nothing without spell check!

Ric