Marketing Your Invention
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Marketing Your Invention Customer Reviews
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Beat the Odds Against New Products
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It is a sad fact of life that only between one and two percent of patented items make money for their inventors. The author of this book believes this could be increased to between five and ten percent if inventors were provided with and used the information now available through inventor clubs and other groups such as Oklahoma's Inventors' Assistance Program.
Once the inventor has demonstrated he has a working concept and has established some legal protection for it (preferably at least patent pending status), he is faced with a basic decision. That is, to manufacture it himself ("venturing") or to license it to others ("technology transfer" in today's terms).
It is another sad fact of life that most inventors do not possess the qualities needed for creating successful businesses. Thomas Edison is a classic example. Although a brilliant inventor, he often failed when he attempted to commercialize his inventions.
A frequent mistake is not doing elementary market research at an early stage. Large sums of money are often spent on prototyping, patenting, and tooling only to learn that the idea has already been patented and may even have been a catalog item for years! Without revealing details of his invention, an inventor can make a simple check using local library directories. Catalogs and a simple computer check may reveal incredible sources of information relating to his item. The author cites a typical experience where a $50 computer research and a $15 phone call could have saved an inventor $4,000.
This author does a superb job of warning about the many fraudulent "invention development companies" that fleece American inventors out of hundred of millions of dollars every year. He suggests that before you even talk to any firm advertising such services that you check with Robert Lougher of the Inventors Awareness Group, 1533 East Mountain Rd., Westfield, MA 01085-1458 (phone 413-568-5561).
Many inventors suffer from the "great mousetrap fallacy". As children we were told Emerson had said "If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door". His actual words were distorted and that distortion is still quoted today. Yet many inventors assume that they can sit back and wait for a mob of customers to arrive. He who thinks, in this day and age, that a product will sell itself is out of touch with the real world.
Another common disease found among inventors is the tendency to write sales letters that make "deal-killer statements". Some inventors seem totally unaware of the red flags certain statements raise in the mind of potential investors or customers. Mosley cites as examples: "There is no competition" and "If we just get five percent of the market, we'll all be rich". He notes even when there is no direct competition there is indirect competition; television still has to contend with books, movies, etc. Inventors who think they will get five percent of the market just by entering the market impress investors as being blissfully unaware of the difficulties that the marketing of a new item can present.
Inventors often fail to grasp that manufacturing costs are often only a small percent of the retail price. They think that if they can make their item for, say, one-half of what stores are selling similar items for, they will take over the market. They fail to realize that the established items have costs of raw material and labor that are one-fourth or less of the retail price.
Mosley points out that successful inventions are characterized by having the three keys to success: quality, synergy, and research. Quality in a product, he notes, is not only that which modem quality control methods help to achieve, but also that which customers somehow perceive that the product possesses.
By synergy he means how well a new product fits in with a company's other products. A good fit will ensure that the company you license will commit their manufacturing skills, financial resources, and marketing know-how to your product.
The third key, market research, should be viewed as an investment and not as an expense. Modern computer technology makes it possible for extensive market research to be conducted at a high speed. He discusses several databases he has found valuable. He also offers nine more characteristics of successful inventions in addition to these three keys.
In his discussion of licensing and royalties, he points out how certain misperceptions by inventors often kill deals. One such area is the matter of up-front money. Some inventors absolutely will not make a deal without a significant advance payment by the licensee. This can sour potential licensees who would otherwise be willing to risk considerable time and money in bringing the invention to market.
The author devotes an entire chapter to "Ten Ways to Invention Suicide". This chapter analyzes ten common ways in which inventors end their invention's future. He cites the "paranoid inventor" who cannot bring himself to trust anyone. The "omnipotent inventor" who thinks that without any resources whatever he can take on an entire industry and the "greedy inventor" who wants it all for himself.
He goes on to describe seven other types. Some are so emotionally attached to their inventions they cannot enter reasonable deals, some are deaf to suggestions, some who delay and delay when making decisions, and even some who literally fear success.
The book concludes that if the independent inventor thinks that there is some magic formula for the commercialization of his invention, that his invention will probably end up among the 98 percent that fail. However, if the inventor makes an honest effort to understand the process of new product development, he can beat the great odds against new products. |
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