Good info Chappy. Go to the next challenge and give it a try. You might like it.

American Kitefliers Association Convention
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Location
Wildwoods Convention Center
4501 Boardwalk
Wildwood, NJ 08260

For More Information Contact
732-229-2978
http://www.aka.kite.org

National convention. Activities will include Fun Fly, Indoor Competition, Work Shops, Sport Kite Competition, Kite Art Exhibit, Kitemaking Competition, Fighter Kite Competition, and Fly Mart. On October 1, the worlds largest kite, the MegaFlag which is

Yes Roger a new thread like Frank says – #36. Build it and they will come. :) Looking forward to putting my thinking cap on for this. <:)

Thanks for the lessons – they are greatly appreciated!

Sounds like a “Lesson #36” to me!

I am going to post another Sell Sheet Challenge. Do you want it included in this thread or do I need to start a new thread? I want to make sure enough people can find it that want to participate.

Very enlightening stuff!
Greg makes a good point in the fact that the text would be bigger and easier to read if the sheet was full size.
I also think that my decision for #1 was based on the product type. A sell sheet being handed out at the Toy Fair for instance might be bold in it’s colors and fonts, vs. a sell sheet for say, the medical industry. Just a guess.
How about a l.e.d. strobe inside the kite for night flight? ;-)
Thanks for the lesson Roger, always appreciated!

I try and put what I think is needed to GET the point across to the reviewer. I don’t put retail costs into it because you don’t know what they can make and retail it for. I let t hem worry about that fact. Unless you are asking them to work with a material they have never seen before they should be able to look at it and have rough idea this is a product they could make affordable. Plus, you have to rememeber that what you send them and what comes out on the shelf may look like two different animals. Where you think it needs 7 parts to function they may know how to do it in 4 parts.
I always have a file with any extras points or facts that I think they may ask about once I get them hooked with the idea. Don’t bury them in facts and figures when you are first trying to get their attention. To much information and figures can distract from the product

thanks Greg………..again good advice!

This is just my opinion, but a sell sheet to me tells what the product is, what it does, how it does it, and how they can contact you. It is meant to grab the reader’s attention quickly and make them call you back. That is the time that they would ask you if you have a prototype. what would the manufacturing cost be? what do you think it would retail for? ect, ect.

I’m curious what others think about:
Including a suggested retail? Maybe only if you are manufacturing it yourself?

Including a date?

If you have a patent or patent pending, is it something mentioned small or large on the sheet?

I also noticed something Roger did, that seems good to keep in mind: He anticipated questions a potential licensee might ask and answered them.

I did my first two submissions here as sell-sheets as learning to make them was on my short list of “inventor skills” to develop this summer. I think the best lessons on sell sheets are very applicable to the description portion of a submissinon to EN.

Chris,
My one negative on yours is you gave three punchy slogans in addition to the already punchy name. I think you want to choose the best single message to take away. Back when I did screenplays as a hobby many sources would say the tagline is king; that you want to give someone the single best line they can use to describe your screenplay in a positive light, because then they will.

Thanks Julie! Excellent point.

Chris, To my way of thinking and reading, there is just too much text all in one area. Roger had (#10) a bunch of text in one spot but then he had 2 other places for the eyes to follow. IMO

Wow! Lots of great information in here. Not only did I miss the mark on the ‘helium additive feature’ but I literally thought we were restricted to comments in that one little text box! LOL! Now, I know better for next time.

What is interesting to me is that I still managed to hit the features and benefits… in that one little box. I just remembered that K.I.S.S. lesson and thought it applied here as well. Doh! What I did do was invent some new features for kites that don’t exist yet and hopefully will see some of those come to fruition someday soon. That alone…was worth the excerise to me! : ) So, I got an ‘F’ but think the rest of you did fairly well, overall! Nice job everyone else!

Roger and other EN members,

Any feedback you could give (positive and negative) on mine, #5, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Greg for your input.

I think Roger’s was a partial victim of venue. I didn’t read it as closely because text that would be 14 pt on a sell sheet comes off as 8 pt here. Style-wise if you have a solid introduction and have already made the initial catch their attention pitch, solid text makes some sense. As a handout at a tradeshow, would it be better to have some pop-out lines? Like Jane’s version on the front, then detailed stuff on back, maybe even marketing/demographics.

It’s interesting having submitted mine before the helium reveal which is a fairly compelling concept.

Nice work all, thanks Roger for presenting this.

I have to admit that I chose only #1 because Imajane promised me cookies. Really.

Seriously, I guess what I find visually appealing isn’t necessarily the best solution: now that I know #10 is yours, Roger, I really understand the goal better. Thanks………

Okay. Here is the list of who is who. Great work everyone. I will post another Sell Sheet in the next couple of days. I hope everyone found this fun and informative.

Jane Jenkins Kite # 1
Chris Anderson Kite # 2
Lisa Lee Kite # 3
Lisa Lee Kite # 4
Chris Campbell Kite # 5
Lisa Lee Kite # 6
Lisa Lee Kite # 7
Ralph Machesky Kite # 8
Frank White Kite # 9
Roger Brown Kite # 10
Greg Rotz Kite # 11

I think they all are great … I know what it takes to do these, they are not easy .. Just laying out the the schematics, focusing on the priorities and finding the right lingo that makes it pop is tricky … but since I am a big fan of using the asterisk simplicity, clarity and a bit of flair .. My vote is #1 .. Bravo everyone !

This is a great exercise, Thanks Roger!

I like #1. I’m a bullet point person and the size color and font of the words surrounding the image, create easy to read facts concerning the product. Contact info a must.
I also enjoyed the ad’lib added features through out the various posts.

I think they all have good points but some more than others. Great material for making the thought process work

I’m with Penster 1 and 11 work for me.

Keep the comments coming, they are great. I will post whose is whose first thing in the morning. I want more time for others to see the thread and have time to comment without knowing who they belong too.

So, I picture different people looking at it. I want them to engage in different levels. The more they think about it, the more I’m into their thought space and likely to be liked/passed along. Too little text is like a flyer stuck in the windshield, you’d have to blow their mind to get it passed along and remembered. Too much text without popping statements will be skipped as too much work or inobvious.

I like looking at bulletin boards and postings in windows or ads in magazines. There’s a lot to learn about what catches and holds my attention. The downside is the language and method on those is consumer-oriented. I still haven’t got it clear in my head if the language on a sell-sheet should be somewhat consumer-oriented, fully consumer-oriented, or speaking directly to the prospective licensee.

Things missing on some:
- Need a definite benefit you are selling; itemized features don’t sell anything. “Garlic necklaces with 20% more cloves” not so good as “20% improved vampire repelling power”
- Contact info
- Engaging text
- Why is it better than existing?
- What is the objective of the sell sheet?

Things I like:
- The picture callouts on #2 are a great way to get people engaged in the features of the drawing to improve impression.
- Informative text here and there
- The layout/flow of #5, give me a choice as to the degree I want to engage in it

Things, I’m not sure either way:
- Large text position in various locations
- A date on the sheet
- Numbered lists vs. sentences vs. bullet points
- Suggested retail price

I can see I have a lot to learn! Looking forward to the next challenge…:)

Contact information needs to be included with every sell sheet. When you send it in to a company it can be forwarded without your email or any other attachments to another person within the company for evaluation, engineering questions, cost analysis, etc. This happens a lot especially when you send a prototype with your paper material.
You will also find that if that person has a question about an aspect of the sell sheet they are able to call or contact you without having to go through the entire food chain of the company to find out who you are. A toy company I am dealing with will have several people look at your product for evaluation. The head of that department decided to go to another company to work. I did not know he had quit. So, when I called about some of my submissions and found this out I was wondering if I was starting from scratch with his replacement. Turns out he already knew my name and was familar with my work from seeing my name on a number of the sell sheets he had reviewed.
Plus, it is a good paper trail if they have to go look through files to find your material.

Well…

I like # 8 as the picture is not interrupted nor crowded – graphical presentation is important to draw some interest and insure that bullet points are actually read and taken seriously. It helps a lot if someone can look at the sell sheet and think “I could see this on a store shelf” before they have even read about the product.

Also, the bullet points in # 8 are very to the point regarding product advantages. And I like that #8 doesn’t mention anything about color (you are trying to sell me on your kite because it is colorful? That’s what makes it special? Oh, and you have to tell me that the colors are special when you are also showing me a picture of the kite?).

I also like that #8 doesn’t include detailed contact information. The primary purpose of the sell sheet is to spark intrigue and interest in the product – not to let me know who invented it. Anything that detracts from the primary purpose can be a negative, even where it serves a secondary purpose….

Of course, there are middle grounds. For example there is no reason that a website, or at the very least a first name and number, can’t be mentioned somewhere.

I like #2. It is easy for me to read and the darts pointing to different parts help me understand what everything is and what it is made of.

Now the question is, if you were a reviewer of products which ones would catch your eye and why? Are they giving you enough information to make a decision of yay or nay if you were looking for new products to produce?

LOL!

More than just kites here….

Wow.

How many two and three word phrases in the sell sheets above could possibly be included in a Viagra commercial script?
Too many! LOL

My apologies Roger. This is a serious thread – I will now go to time out.

Omg they look great, great work everyone … What fun! I was just going to post you Roger and see if we could extend a day .. I ran out of time darn, fussing with Jarden ! Will be in on the next one for sure !! Thanks for the exercise !!!

I like 1 and 11. One give good information on materials & construction – no price Eleven gives info on how is is so much better to fly, and a price.

Of course, everyone did this quick, bravo. Some descriptions in each and combined would great i

I like #1 the best: if that contributor has not done sell sheets in the past, I would very surprised because this one, IMO, ‘does it’.

If this sell sheet ‘wins’, then maybe it could be an example for what you are looking for: it is a difficult task if you haven’t done one before, IMO.

Okay, here you go. Don’t tell the others which one is yours and lets just see what comments we get on the groups and and after a little while I will post everyone’s name with their entrys.

Kite # 1

Kite # 2

Kite # 3

Kite # 4

Kite # 5

Kite # 6

Kite # 7

Kite # 8

Kite # 9

Kite # 10

Kite # 11

Regardless how far we go or how many we do, there’s ALWAYS a learning experience in each Sell Sheet we construct, so thank you Roger, for providing yet another opportunity to grow in this industry!

Okay doors are now closed and I will be posting them all shortly for everyone to look over and see which ones they think met the challenge. I will post another sell sheet for anyone that wants to try a different sell sheet. Thanks to everyone that gave it a shot. I hope you had fun with it.

I snuck one in too. I can’t resist these lessons. Too much fun. Thanks, Roger!

Colonel, that was cool. LOVE THE NEW AVATAR!!

Roger, I just sent you my version. Thanks for the lessons.

Now that’s a kite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ5uNql3mTo

Dangit, I missed this one, Roger! I’ll try the next one if I can get my Paint tool to behave..LOL!

I know all of your lessons are important, but the sell sheet lessons are the most fun IMO!!

You rock, Roger!! Thank you for all that you do!!

Good work Roger, keep up the advice and even if we can take a few things from your posts, we are better for it! :)

I will also keep my eye on this never too old to learn Rodger keep up the good work . From across the pond.

Sorry you will miss this one Katherine. I will put up another Sell Sheet challenge after this one so hopefully you can participate in that one.

I’m out of this one but am watching and eagerly await the submissions.

Thanks Roger.

Roger, if I had time, I would certainly make an attempt; however, if you remember correctly, YOU did a sell sheet for the pillowcase. So, I will just absorb……….

Ralph, glad you like the challenge and it may have sparked something totally new. Sure, send me your NDA and we can discuss the product. I will be posting all the entries later today. I want to give any of those who have not seen this thread yet a chance to participate.

Roger-

If you would like to take a look at this, it will require an NDA since this appears to be patentable and a much bigger market than I originally thought. I have a standard one I use or I can look at yours if you have one. I may even enter it into the innovation fund, as the scope of this is getting larger as I research it. Let me know if you want/need to even see it, I’m sure you are busy too!

O.K. I saw this after it had been posted for over 5 hrs and I quickly (as in 90 seconds) typed up a few lines and emailed it to Roger. From the colorful, but simple illustration I saw a basic kite and I responded to it as such. I come back later and find a ‘curve ball’ has been thrown. This means I swung and missed. However, in baseball you get three strikes and I’m swinging again. Once I saw Rogers other info (relating to the fact that this kite is ‘not basic’ at all) but in fact, very different… I had an actual challenge on my hands. Now this… I like. ; )
So I decided to walk away from it and watch a movie with my family, basically stepping away from the plate for a few minutes to put some more ‘batters rosin’ on my hands so to speak.

As I was walking up the stairs from our media room the lightning bolt hit me right in the forehead… again. ZZap!
I still cannot beleive it. I think Roger I may have just invented something very patentable in regards to this kite challenge. I could be wrong, but will do some more research on it tonight. I am sending you the revised sell-sheet tonight, but please DO NOT post it till we know if I am correct or not. If you don’t mind that is. Oh… and thanks for the challenge. I’m ready for another! : )

Chris…….priorities……..a changing landscape……..good advice!!

I attempted this one as a fun distraction from other priorities :)

Chappy, not a problem. Hopefully you will get something out of it even if you don’t participate.

I am working on it Roger, and I do look back on that one as it was most enlightening as to how astute and creative people are.

Thanks, you are the bestest!