5 Star Review

Fall 2005 - Product had arrived. Booklets were printed. Boxes were delivered. Website was up and running. E-mails had been sent to everyone in our address books - announcing that we were officially up and running.
Now what?
How were we going to let the world know that we were here and ready to do business?
Our marketing plan was to send out press releases, and then if they requested, we would send them a Glo to Sleep to try.
I sat down at the computer with a comprehensive list of contacts at Canadian newspapers, magazines, radio stations and TV stations. It seemed that the majority of contacts wanted to be reached by e-mail.
Okay. I'll send the press release by e-mail, but I need something in the body of the message.
What do I write?
And who do I send to first?
After an agonizing two hours, fussing over every word, my sweaty and shaking hand reached for the "send" button.
I had done it.
I had sent my first press release.
Alright!
I got up and walked around, stretched out a little, went and made myself a chai latte, and was feeling very proud of this accomplishment.
I had sent an e-mail to the assistant health editor at Canadian Living.
Now, I would go back, copy what I had sent to her and start sending out more.
I was on a roll!
I returned to my computer, hit the "get mail" button and watched my inbox as the "receiving mail" bar blinked across the screen.
New message.
Oh my! It's from Canadian Living!
I open it.
"Please send product."
Please send product?
Oh, yeah!
Send product!
I called Jamie - thank goodness he was on speed dial!
"I did it! I sent my first press release and she wrote me back and she wants me to send product!"
Jamie is silent.
"Jamie! Did you hear me? I sent an e-mail to Canadian Living and she wrote me back already and she wants me to send product!"
"That's really good."
How could he not be more excited?
This was going to be a piece of cake! The world was about to beat a path to our door. I just knew it!
"Vanessa, I don't want you to get too excited. I mean, it's great that they want to see product, but in my experience, what just happened is very unusual."
"Well, maybe it's 'unusual' for other people, but we have something really special here. People are going to recognize that! Not only that, but it is such a great story! People love inventor stories!"
"Yes, we have a great story and a great product, but it's not going to be that easy. I just don't want you to get your hopes up. What just happened is unusual . . . trust me."
Whatever!
I went back to sending e-mails. Loads of them.
I took a little break and got a Glo to Sleep ready to be shipped to Canadian Living.
Back to the computer and checked e-mail.
No new messages.
No new messages.
(I almost want to cry when I think about how many times I went to the computer and saw 'no new messages'.)
Yes, Jamie was right. What happened was unusual.
99% of the e-mails I sent out garnered no reply at all. (And I was always changing it up. Getting more creative. Sometimes more bold and even a little cheeky other times.)
Once in a while I would get this back:
"No."
Love that one! Talk about rejection.

Two months later.
(Yeah, you read it right . . . two months!)
I got a phone call from the editor at Canadian Living.
I was so excited, and shaking so much, I nearly dropped the phone.
She said that her health editor really loved her Glo to Sleep and that they wanted to put it in "Great Ideas in Health" in the Feb. issue.
Finally! Some good news!

After that, more media coverage came our way - but never easily. And every bit of coverage came after someone actually tried it and saw for themselves that this was not a joke.

In the meantime though, people were buying the Glo to Sleep and getting back to us that they really liked it. Some people have been so enthusiastic! Hearing back from our customers has become the most rewarding part of this process.

So . . . (I'm finally getting to the POINT of my story!) in a continuous effort to let people know that we are here and that we have a great answer to people's sleeping problems, I continue to send out press releases.
A little while back, we really started to think about how we could get some "web" coverage. I mean, we are on the web, selling on the web, but people on the web don't really even know we are here.
We were aware of a lady that writes about sleep disorders on About.com, so I contacted her to see if it would be alright if I sent her a Glo to Sleep and press kit.
She was open to the idea and sent me her address.
While I like to remain optimistic (and I am the most optimistic in our bunch), you still get to a point where you just don't want to get your hopes too high - only to have them squashed like a bug under a big boot (okay, the last year may have scarred me a bit).
So, I sent her a Glo to Sleep and tried to put it out of my mind.
Just kept workin'.

Then, last week, I got an e-mail from her. She said that she was "impressed" with the Glo to Sleep. That she wanted to write a review and could we please send some product shots.

Time to get excited?
Hell, yeah!
She was impressed. She was writing a review. It was going to be posted on the web. What was there not to be excited about?
It almost felt like maybe things were going to start going our way.

We waited a couple of days and then I started checking her website (like every two minutes . . . like a bloody maniac). At last, about 5:00pm, it was posted.
"Go to Sleep with Glo to Sleep".
Five stars.

Wha . . . huh - huh?

Five stars?

Oh, baby! Five stars!

I read on.
It was well-written, it was concise, it was descriptive. But the best part?
She got it.
She totally "got" the Glo to Sleep.
She got why it worked. She got how Tim figured it all out.
And something else she said: "It worked for me."
It has worked for everybody that has written about us, talked about us - but nobody has stepped up and said, "it worked for me".

Florence stepped up.
Read our FIVE STAR REVIEW.

Thanks, Florence.

Have a great sleep!
Vanessa