HELIOS RoadShow Digest

[Andy]

Well we are underway, left home on Jan 2nd, 2004 and will return on Apr 11th, 2004


Our home away from home for the next 3+ months

For those that wonder why most Trainings on this trip are in the south ... here is a clue !!!

First stop Pittsburgh ... a successful first Group Training in the 3rd ... sold out 15 attendees ... BRUCE ... need your pic's ... please.

Then on Sunday and Monday converted Steph and Bob English to Helios and set up the Helios WAN operation for their two soon to be three locations ...

Steph, Lexi and my wife Carolynne inside in the warmth



Then over to Worcester MA to upgrade 4 locations to V10 and install Helios WAN ... managed to do this convert working 35 hours straight ... resulting in next to NO DOWN TIME in the stores. WAN working well during the first week, except one store is not batching info as it should and Tech Support is addressing the issue ... the other stores working well.

FATAL ERROR happened next (well it could have been) after working 35 hours straight did not check the Propane in the RV ... woke up about Midnight to near ZERO F .... and the challenge got worse when the RV would not start ... dead battery ... something with the levelling jacks draining the battery ... up and on the road mid next afternoon ... DARN it is cold in MA this time of the year !!!!

[Andy]

HELIOS Regional Group Training # 2 ... Boston ... Saturday Jan 10th ... 14 attendees








and on Sunday, the ITM (International Tan Makers) event ... shared a table with the folks from ETS ... thanks again Max and Chris.



Over 400 attendees ... Bob Reilly and his crew sure know how to provide a professional and educational event ... first class all the way.

Then on Monday ... up to Nashua and Manchester in NH ... 3 SUPERTAN locations upgraded to V10, install Helios Backoffice and Web Reporting.




Two days of R&R on Tuesday and Wednesday ... mixed with getting better organized ... returning phones calls regarding Regional Training and organizing clients calling for On-Site assistance along the way.

Stayed these two days at Normandy Campground in Foxboro MA ... a campground that takes the rough out of roughing it.

[Andy]

Group Training # 3 ... Woodcliff Lake NJ Jan 17th ...

Had 15 scheduled attendees plus 2 (new salon owner) that sat thru the entire 8 hours of Helios Training only to discover they were supposed to be at the CalTan Training ... oh well, we have a New Helios User, fully trained.






On Sunday January 18th attended the PC Marketing event announcing NEW 2004 products and programs to their clients ... over 150 Salon Owners attended ...





_________________

Andy Thompson
Authorized HELIOS Independent Consultant
877-777-6717
andy@myatso.com[ This Message was edited by: Andy @ MyATSO.ca on 2004-01-25 09:46 ]

[Andy]

Week Three ...

Monday and Tuesday at Hollywood Tans Corporate Offices in Mt.Laurel NJ ... setting up the HELIOS WAN Server to support the 200+ locations in groups/pods of 30 to 40 stores related to Hollywood Tans market areas. First phase will be a group of 6 stores, and then moving on for implementation at a desired and professional pace ultimately serving the entire Hollywood Tans Franchise organization.


John (Corporate Trainer), Vince (Corporate Trainer), Ralph (President), Bob (Director of Sales), Michael (Head Corporate Trainer) ... participated in the two day training related to general Helios POS training and WAN setup and management.


HELIOS WAN installed in the first location ...

Wednesday and Thursday, upgraded 4 locations from V9 to V10 after converting Product Sales Codes to UPC codes and installing Barcode Scanners ... then installing the Helios WAN ... still trying to catch up on working 43 hours straight with 2 hours sleep in the middle ... to accomplish the conversion with NO DOWN TIME in the stores ... sorry about lack of pics here, but honestly at 4am on Friday morning I was thinking BED not PICS.


and then on Friday ... on to BAJA Beach in York PA ... upgrade from V9 and set up the Helios Database ready for the opening of a new location in Lancaster PA.

Arrived in Richmond at 2am Saturday morning, 5 hours behind schedule ... due to blowing an inner rear tire and RoadSide assistance having fun changing to the spare with Metal to Metal corrosion between the two tires ... but the Service Man was my kind of fellow ... not going to be beaten, he worked nearly 3 hours to get the tires off.

GREAT Group Training # 4 in Richmond on Sat Jan 24th ... 12 attendees ... lively bunch ... GREAT exchange of information between owners ... 4 attendees travelled from Florida for the Training ... again THANKS to all who attended for their input and contribution.






_________________

Andy Thompson
Authorized HELIOS Independent Consultant
877-777-6717
andy@myatso.com[ This Message was edited by: Andy @ MyATSO.ca on 2004-01-25 09:48 ]

[Andy]

Kicking myself for forgetting to take some pics Dave and Bert ... grap that Digital CAM and snap a few of your Store fronts and Front Counter staff(s) email them to me ... would LOVE to include them in my PICTAGRAPH of our RoadTrip ... thanks for the kind words ... it was a pleasure to be of service.

Week Four ....

Arriving in Jacksonville, NC ... spend Monday and Tuesday with Angela and Jeff Melendy at Island Tan, upgrading to Helios V10 and converting from Salon Net to Helios WAN.

Travelled on to Athens GA on Wednesday ... that blown tire last Friday came back to haunt us ... about 10 miles south of Athens ... the RV started vibrating and rapidly increasing so. Pulled into a service center to check the tires ... surprise surprise ... 6 of the 8 studs on the rear left were GONE ... 1 the lug nut half turned off ... ONE and ONLY ONE stud and lug nut holding on the two rear left tires ... RV in the shop until the following Tuesday, the mechanic suggested another mile or so down the road and the two left tires would have departed from the vehicle ... SCARY.

Worked Thursday and Friday prepping Frankie's (and team) 6 Silver Sun Tan USA for installation of Helios V10 WAN ... converted product sales codes to UPC codes (including History), restructed the Departments and Divisions, upgrades to V10.

Traveled to Atlanta on Saturday, back to Athens on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning to finish the job ... bringing up the WAN on Monday night.





Thank you Frankie for your hospitality ... it was a pleasure being of service.

[Andy]

Atlanta Group Training ... January 31st ... 10 attendees ... great exchange of ideas ... thanks to all for participating ...

[Andy]

Week Five ... up to Fort Oglethorpe GA on Wednesday and Thursday ... worked with Sam James at SUPER TAN USA and Tan Supply South ... upgrading his three locations from V9.4 to V10.2 (also restructured Departments and Divisions) and converted from Salon Net to Helios WAN. It was truly a pleasure working with Vicki and Sam ... all the very best



A day off on Friday ... visited a half day with cousins north of Dickson, west of Nashville on the way to Memphis.

Arrived in Memphis late Friday afternoon ... Group Training on Saturday Feb 7th ... 7 attendees ... two flew in from CT ...





Leaving Memphis early in the am, heading north to St Louis ... later in the week, fly back to the Northeast two weeks work in Baltimore, New Haven and Pittsburgh then returning to St Louis to continue Roadshow.

Forced to cancel the Saturday Group Training in New Orleans, Dallas, and Albuquerque to manage two week diversion back to the Northeast ... next Group Training in Phoenix on March 6th.

[Andy]

Week Six: .... sorry for lack of pictures here folks ... flew back to the North East on Wed, leaving the interface cable for my camera to PC in the RV in St Louis ... will post pics later.

After the Saturday training in Memphis on Saturday, drove up to St Louis on Sunday. Worked Sunday PM, Monday and Tuesday converting 6 locations at Xtreme Tan in the St Louis market area to the Helios WAN as well as upgrading same to V10.

The Helios V11 WAN is expected to released at the end of February with additional functionality and Back Office functions.

On Wednesday flew to Baltimore, converted Jim Fisher at Todays Image from MSTan to Helios. Prepped a database for his new Beach Club store opening early March and did the initial configuration of the WAN he will use between his two stores.

[Andy]

Flew up to Hartford CT on Friday night, worked Saturday with Scott and Jon Rutenber at Hollywood Tans in Newington CT ... note they also attended our training in Memphis. We converted their product sales codes to UPC codes, restructured the Departments and Divisions in line with the new structure being adopted for Hollywood Tans Sales Reporting. Setup the new Cash Drawers, Receipt Printers and Barcode scanners (later arrived Monday). Did the initial configuration of the Helios WAN Server and client for use within the additional locations within the Hartford market they intend to open within the Hollywood Tans operation.

Down to New Haven on Saturday night ... worked with Ed Kelleher at Tommys Tanning (5 current locations, plus Corporate office and 6th store opening early March) converted to the Helios WAN as well as upgrading to V10. I think I am getting the hang of this ... up and running after close on Monday night ... all locations did their initial send to the server and received back the new consolidated Client, EFT and Transaction databases by about 2am ... schedule replication to begin hourly starting at 9am ... and clickity clickity ... 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 ... just like clockwork. Ed able to monitor activity in his stores remotely and timely. Ed and his brother Tom, also have 20 Video Rental stores in the CT market ... they both commented, if only their Video software could do what Helios now allows them to do within their Tanning Salons.

WHEWWWWWW ... a day off on Wednesday, but of course it is a travel day. Off to Pittsburgh in the morning, a 5 stores chain to convert from competitive software to Helios with the WAN and a two location chain (been using Helios for over 15 years) ... wishing to streamline sales codes etc and setup the Helios WAN (they also attended our first Roadshow training back on Jan 3rd in Pittsburgh.

After that we fly back to St Louis ... back into the RV ... down to Springfield for a couple of days and then on to sunny AZ .... seats still available for Phoenix training on March 6th.

NOTE ... LA training and SF training are most likely going to be cancelled ... and it is becoming unlikely that I will make it into CA ... needing to return to Atlanta mid March to convert a 9 location chain to the NEW V11 WAN.

So .... Phoenix is a go for training on Mar 6th, Las Vegas is a go on Mar 27th and Denver is a go on Apr 3rd.

If you have already booked for the Los Angeles or San Francisco training, I will be contacting you to see if you wish a refund or if you wish to transfer to training at another location.