[derbyhoppy]

Sorry I have come in late on this one, been up to my neck in WEEE (another post to come today on that subject)

We have looked at a number of machines and the one we have settled on had Sean and Kevin dribbling over the build quality when they took it appart. The question now is can I negociate the deal, including Axa underwritten cover and logistics to bring it to market at the right price.

There is a guy flying in on Monday to meet me and Ken in Killy I am not saying where he is from but I suspect he likes Abba.

Cheers

John

[derbyhoppy]

Re: ISE press release

Hi John,

We did no initial press release when we launched ISE for two reasons;

1. Good marketing kills bad organisations therefore a low key start gave us time to set the business off on a sound financial footing, getting the parts into to country, issue van stock, underwrite the guarantee etc.

2. A press release in meaningless without an angle. We are currently working with the Daily Express on a story of shortening lifespans causing increasing environmental damage, repair is the green alternative to replacement.

When this story breaks and subsquent stories relating to WEEE I will make sure everyone gets a copy.

So to answer your question nothing yet but watch this space

Regards

John

[derbyhoppy]

Re: Designed to last, built to repair?

Hi Martin sorry I am late getting back to you on this,

Our consumer messages have to be both relevant to the customer and defendable in a public debate with our competitors.

At a time where most machines are being built for low cost production thus making single parts cost as much as the machine, this is increasingly making repair a thing of the past and large white goods a throw away commodity causing increasing environmental damage.

By making a machine specifically designed to be easy to repair, we increase lifspans and our able to fight on an evironmental footing i.e. repair is the green alternative to replacement. This is vital in the light of the fourth coming WEEE directive which will get huge press coverage in the new year. I am working behind the scenes to mitigate the impact of WEEE for our agents but also arguing with the DTi to position ourselfes as victims of the government and big businesses this should get us great publicity next year.

I hope this explains why I have chosen repair as a key strand to our competetive advantage.

Regards

John

[derbyhoppy]

I have spoken to web windows I have missed the print deadline for this week but will try some new creative (to get to them by Friday) to make the add clearer for the 2nd December.

[derbyhoppy]

Re: MD Monthly Update

Thanks for the feedback, I will see what can be done in terms of legability ahead of next weeks add.

Cheers

John

[derbyhoppy]

Re: ISE goes public / MD update

Hi Jim,

We are exploring a tumble dryer and a dishwasher,

The big challange is finding a decent machine made by a company who will do business with us at a sensible price. We appear to have found that with the commercial machine, but currently struggling particularly with the dishwasher.

Does not mean we have given up, I will keep you informed of any developments.

Cheers

John

[derbyhoppy]

Re: MD Monthly Update

Hi Jim,

The add will be in the sunday telegraph magazine 18th, 25th and 2nd, in the web directory section.

Don’t expect a full page spread, but this modest add is a first step down a long road to make ISE a household name.

Cheers

John

[derbyhoppy]

Hi All

Two things to update you on.

1. We have this morning signed the contract for Axa to underwrite the ISE guarantees. This means that should anything happen to us you and your customers are covered under FSA rules.

2. We have commenced our consumer awareness programme with a small add (below) in the Sunday Telegraph webdirectory. While the add is modest the weekly audiance is 1.8 million so if the three week trial in successful we plan to roll out more adds in other sunday supplements.

The main core of our awareness campaign will centre arround PR relating to the implementation of the WEEE directive which will become national news during the coming months. To this end we have appointed a London agency with whom I have previously worked to spearhead this campaign with the national press, so look out for stories with quotes from ISE.

Thanks for all your support, momentum is really building if you have any specifics give me call.

Cheers

John

[derbyhoppy]

Re: MD Monthly Update

Hi Andy

It is as kevin says, I have spoken to a number of people about ‘laying off’ the liability on the guarantee, from which we have selected the underwritter we are happiest with.

I have read the draft contract and am meeting them on the 30th to finalise the deal. During that meeting we will discuss the appropriate communications to all the selling agents.

It would be inappropriate to say more them that at this stage, except that with a failure rate currently running at less than 1{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} and with the machine being installed by proffessionals rather than the public, kitchen companies and contractors who any underwriter would have to make allowance for in their pricing; our strategy of not rushing in to buy policies has been more than vindicated.

Cheers

John

[derbyhoppy]

Re: 5000!

Hi David

Giving an exact number is difficult because we need to seporate machines supplied to yourselves from machines sold to consumers which is dependant on receiving registration cards.

The 5000 or the (20 per day run rate) is an aspiration as it allows to to make any modifications we like to the machine going forward, the business is viable at a fraction of that less than (900 per year). The current average run rate of 4/5 machines per day is climbing all the time for example this week we have had orders for over 20 machines and had three websales so the whole situation is thanks to everyones efforts looks very healthy.

What I can say is that when I started, we built a business plan which we work to religiously to make sure the ISE business is and remains on a stable financial footing. Every month we have exceeded our sales target and been below our cost prediction (mainly due to a better than anticipated failure rates)

Please keep pushing the machine as the next six months sees the warchest we have have generated be investing in marketing activity to put the product in the public eye which will make your ability to sell them much better.

Sorry this is a long winded answer to a simple question,

Cheers

John

[derbyhoppy]

Re: MD Monthly Update

Hi All

Just a quick update ahead of the meeting in Manchester next week.

Six months after launch we now have the all the ISE business infa structure in place.

Tec information is now complete and available from the website, if you are a selling agent and are struggling to access it let me know.

The rewritten user mannuals are complete and printed.

Van stocks continue to be issued as we catch up with new agents selling the machine, spares are fully available in the UK if required.

We have shaken hands on a deal with an insurer to underwrite the parts and labour guarantee, this was always my plan (though I played it close to my chest as it is not prudent to pay over the odds when we can make provision ourselves. We believe we have found an excellent partner and hope to unveil them on the 22nd / 23rd.

The end of qtr 2 P&L shows us ahead of plan on volume and within our budget for costs (thanks for you support pushing the machine and paying on time). Please keep pushing as we move out of the start up phase I can start building a ‘warchest’ for advertising.

As we now enter the next phase of our evolution by increasing consumer awareness of ISE, your support in these early months has been central to what we have achieved and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the conference.

Cheers

John

[derbyhoppy]

Re: Workable plans

hi Guys,

I have read Kevin’s comments with interest and have discussed the points in detail with him this morning and we are in complete agreement of the action required and I agree that the distribution / distribitor situation is likely to be high on our agenda for the next phase of ISE’s development but should not be rushed into without us all being in agreement with the plan.

Kevin covers a lot of gound so for the record I would like to put my own perspective on the business position of ISE to give context to what Kevin has said.

1. Start up businesses never show profits imediately. It is worth noting that appart from the initial UKW loan for start up costs (primarily to cover my car), ISE has required no additional money from it’s parant company and not taken money offerred most notablly to pay for van stocks.

2. From day one the sales volume has not been as we hoped. If we look at machines actually sold in March and April compared with July and August it gives an indication of how the sales have built and will continue to build; but it is worth highlighing that of the 100 plus agents who signed up prior to my arrival only a handfull have actually purchased anything and it was on the back of these agents that the original volume forcasts were made.

3. On the back of the 1st three months trading I revised our sales forcast and with Cheryl we built a financial model pridicting machine sales of 1050 and a trading profit of £16,000 at the end of March 2006. This model includes the cost of me, the van stock, fault costs, marketing material, user manuals, display machines and distributor commisions. To date we have exceeded our revinue and underspend on costs. Which means that though I anticipated losses in June, July and August they have not materialised to date and we are on schedual to out perform the business plan.

4. What is not accounted for is bad debt. The money owed came as a shock to me when I returned to work this morning and the chasing of this money is my top prioity particularly Stamps which is 1/3 of the debt. Recovery of this £8,000 resolves the cash flow issue at the route of Kevin’s concerns.

5. ISE has come a long way since our last strategy meeting in April, all our promises have been delivered, the brand values and finacial infra-strcture established and bad debt perminitting we are trading ahead of plan.

When we meet on September 6th we must review what we have done and set prioities for the next phase of our evolution.

Cheers

John

[derbyhoppy]

Re: PR

Wow!!!!

I do understand the opportunity and risk involved given the power and reach of google.

This is the ideal opportunity to look at not just our ISE core messages but also UKW ones.

We can not maximise this media without them and we should also use them at the Conference in September.

When we have them it’s a simple tecnique of point, story, reinforce the point.

We also include a one sentence sound bite in all articles.

Great oppoetunity but remember PR is a double edged sword as unlike advertising you don’t control the message 100{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d}.

Cheers

John

[derbyhoppy]

Re: A quarter century

Just a quick post to say that thanks to your great efforts we contiue ahead of our business plan and as a result we have some interesting options to discuss with you all shortly.

Cheers

John 😀

[derbyhoppy]

Re: HATE ..to strong??

Hi Jim,

Thanks for your comments,

I am afraid that strong marketing requires evocative language. You have 2 seconds to grab a consumers attention will point of sale or a website home page. Hate may be strong but dislike for example is too bland.

My primary marketing objective at this stage is about consumer awareness. Therefore, I would rather have the point of sale that is disliked rather than ignored.

I fully understand how the wording would not suit your own soft selling sytle which has proved very successful and if you want to give me a call I will happily talk for ages about our consumer proposition.

But I have to go will high impact until people have heard of us.

Cheers

John

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