|
Invention Blog Articles | |
|
Open Season For Tracking Down |
|
|
You Don’t Need to Break the Sound Barrier | |
Making Waste In Our Haste: You Don’t Need to Break the Sound Barrier to Get Retailers to Notice Your Product
Confident manufacturers sometimes foolishly rush to market with products that could sell much better if they were launched a little slower.
We’ve all been there. You have a great idea that you’ve turned into a product that’s blistering to be sold. You’ve rushed the manufacturer, air freighted cargo across great distances, spun out miles of marketing and sales materials, and alerted everyone that the derrick is about to burst. You can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel and it’s shining a golden path to your retirement.
Yes… “We’ve” all been there. “We,” the ones that now know better, that is!
I suppose it is only human nature to want to get everything done as soon as possible so that we can find time to do more. We sometimes thrive on productivity. As members of today’s fast-paced society, we strive to do things quickly. I sometimes wonder why, and then I see a Fed Ex truck go by and it all begins to make sense. We have an innate propensity towards positioning ourselves to be successful so that we can demonstrate to others that we’ve accomplished more than they have. However, more often than not, we are simply making waste in our haste.
Ironically, we can actually be more successful by doing less and doing it slower. Certainly there are fewer mistakes and less waste if things are done at a more measured pace, or at least with better planning. Unfortunately, it is very hard to demonstrate this reasoning to someone with a new product.
I speak with experience on this subject as I’ve had four and five figure Fed Ex bills for years now. I have anxiously fired off sample after sample of products to buyers that I’m certain just can’t wait to see my shiny new products. The proper packaging, marketing materials, price list, etc. can always wait. Just get it packed and out the door because it feels so good to think that you are one step closer to having a successful product.
This is obviously not a commercial for Fed Ex (Not that the world would be able to thrive without them!) God knows, I’d be up a creek if I couldn’t drop a package off at Kinko’s in L.A. at 6:00pm and have it sitting on a customer’s desk in N.Y.C. at 8:00am the next morning.
So, after reading the above, why in the heck would you want to listen to me? I’ve fallen prey to my own desperation many times. Certainly you can find someone better than me to take advice from. Or can you? Probably not, because it takes experience on all levels to properly advise a new manufacturer. Furthermore, I’ve had substantial success in getting my Wizard Industries, Inc. (http://wizind.com) products to market. Notice how I take this opportunity to promote my own inventions!
So enough of the babble… I just wanted to point out that if you plan, think ahead, and don’t get impatient you can possibly see the light from the end of the tunnel without getting hit by the train. There are a gazillion ways to succeed without rushing if you can only hold out until the time is right to deliver the goods. As they say, ‘patience is a virtue,’ ‘all things come in time,’ ‘don’t rush to hurry up and wait,’ etc, etc, etc…. You know the drill.
Here are a few things to consider before you launch your products and plan that next big rush job:
1. Sit on your hands until your product is totally ready for presentation. The first thing that kills a product is lack of completion when it comes to manufacturing, packaging, marketing materials, PR and pricing. It’s better not to send samples and information until all of the above are complete. In other words, don’t serve the eggs until they are cooked!
2. Chances are that the buyer you are rushing a package off to is not going to rip open the box as soon as it lands at his doorstep. He will likely follow up on the package he overnighted to someone more important than you.
3. Know who and where you are sending the samples or materials to! Retailers and the media receive loads of products each week. You are far from alone in the crowd of “buy my product” screamers. More than 90 percent of new products fail. Of the 10 percent that make it only about five percent do well enough to be called successful. The others are simply treading water until they die. The five percent that are true successes are invited to be in the top retailers, the retail giants. The other 95 percent are in the same boat as you are, wanting to get in front of a buyer that will put them in a store. Imagine the time it takes a buyer or whole departments of large retailers to sift through, pillage and donate products to charities or simply toss new products into the scrap bin. It’s a daunting task. In our office, there are so many samples that are not added to our system that last year it took several trucks to get rid of them. And we try very hard to sell everything that comes our way.
4. Follow up with every sample or piece of sales material you send out. It sounds like a lot of work but the returns are very worthwhile. Furthermore, pace yourself. Don’t send out more samples and materials than you can follow up on within one week of sending.
Here’s a test:
Do you read and evaluate all of the junk mail you get each week? Imagine how retailer buyers feel after seeing their desks buried under mail from manufacturers that feel they have the greatest thing since sliced bread. I bet most could open a Subway sandwich franchise and never have to spend a dime on bread if all of the sample products they receive really cut the mustard.
5. Remember the sermon above about not rushing? Well, there is one thing you can rush: responding back to a buyer when you are lucky enough to get an inquiry about your product. But in your speedy response don’t be overzealous and, above all, don’t blow the sale by rushing them to order.
If any of this is useful (and it all should be) please let us know. We’re in the same boat as you are. And it’s a large, wide, and very deep ocean.
