Being a newbie at this, I appreciate all the information! Thanks!

Does anyone have other mistakes that they think should be posted?

http://www/rogerbrown.net

How about: “Don’t bug Roger Brown or anyone else who reviews ideas until you do or understand steps 1 – 10” .

How about:
11) Be sure there’s a way to profit. You should be able to show a clear path to the market.

Which leads to:
12) Make sure there is a market. Do the research. “Everybody will want one” is not acceptable.
Who are your competition? How much sales do they have? What are their distribution paths?

Great advice guys! Lets see if we can make the list hit 20.

13. Don’t assume the person reading your sell sheet will magically know all the selling points/benefits of your product that you left out. Example: What if your idea revolves around fishing and they don’t fish and know nothing on the topic?

http://www.rogerbrown.net

1. INVENTOR MISTAKE!

Picking an invention that is just way too big for the inventor to manage. For instance, my friend has a new computer mouse. The big players that have the market locked up don’t need his engineering, invention or whatever. They are big, control the industry and use internal ideas. He needs too much money to ever prototype and move along a little further on his own to make the big guys take notice…so he’s dead in the water with his patent and wasted money on international patent apps too.

Moral is, pick an invention that you could push along yourself a little or something that smaller companies will deal with you. To try and push a Fortune 100 company to use your idea and pay you royalties is a VERY long shot unless you are a VERY experienced inventor.

I should know…tried all the ways.

Ron Komorowski
Inventor of Handi-Straps
www.handi-straps.com

As the grandaddy of how-to market a new product , E. Joseph Cossman said:

“YOU ONLY NEED ONE.”

In case anyone missed this posting on EN, here it is again:

E. Joseph Cossman, who made millions on new products he introduced to the public, said that you may have the greatest product in the world on your hands, but before you make molds, make the product, and fill a warehouse full of product, and have trucks loaded with your product, remember this:
YOU ARE ONLY 10% TOWARDS YOUR GOAL AT THAT POINT—

THE REST IS MARKETING.

ALSO, YOU ONLY NEED ONE PROFESSIONAL SALES SAMPLE TO SHOW BUYERS…

THEY ARE SOPHISTICATED AND ASTUTE INDIVIDUALS, AND CAN TELL YOU IF YOU HAVE A “PRODUCT” OR NOT.

MANY TIMES A PRODUCT GOES THROUGH MANY CHANGES (with buyers input, etc) BEFORE IT REACHES STORE SHELVES, SO DON’T CARVE INTO ALUMINUM OR STEEL UNTIL YOU ARE REALLY READY.

Here’s some info. on the late, great Mr. Cossman:

E Joseph Cossman
ENTREPRENEUR WITH A MISSION

Experience, and the ability to apply so many diverse experiences, enabled E Joseph Cossman to become a millionaire many times over. Perhaps you haven’t heard of “The Messiah of the free enterprise system” (Wall Street Journal) because he has not specialized in one single product or specialty throughout his life. His specialty is MARKETING.

Since emerging as a soldier in the Second World War, Joe has proven that taking calculated risks is fun and profitable. He didn’t have a fancy college marketing degree, in fact he started into business with his high school degree from Braddock, PA and his experiences growing up in his father’s neighborhood grocery store. Three years in the army in Europe was another kind of experience that led him to think about exporting as his first entrepreneurial opportunity.

His first “risky venture” resulted from reading in a classified ad in the newspaper that soap powder was available in quantity. He knew that this was valuable to postwar Europe and other countries, so he made contact with people he had met and ended up with an order for $180,000…and no soap. His efforts to make this sale work demonstrate his ability to make things happen, a story in itself, but the net result was he did it, and netted $30,000 at a time when he was earning $35/week at his regular job.

Mail-order is the field that is most closely aligned with this entrepreneurial thinker. When he started his business in 1947 there was very little activity in the mail order field. But soon it was growing fast because it met a definite need of people who were hungry for scarce products. When he began there were no credit cards or 800 numbers or computers, and people read the newspapers for mail-order product availability.

Cossman moved to California and set up his office on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood with the dream of working for himself and becoming a “millionaire”. His philosophy “There are many ways of taking a product, and by giving it a twist you can turn it into a money-maker” is demonstrated in the 20+ products that he took to market and sold at least a million of each. He was the first to market 14 balloons for $1.00, not as balloons but as 5 giant animals…an idea with a “twist”. You may remember the Plastic Ant Farm, the Spud Gun, Fly Cake, etc. Each product has its own story and experiences that helped develop my personal “philosophy of business”.

Each year he sought out a new product to introduce at the national trade fairs as an innovative toy or aid to your lifestyle. Some didn’t do so well. For example, he bought the entire inventory of 4 million high quality prints of 48 of the world’s greatest paintings that had been sitting in a warehouse since 1937. And although he offered them for only $.50 each it took a number of years to find a market. At the same time he found phenomenal success with selling plastic Shrunken Heads for $2.98. The ideas that did succeed far outweighed the losses. And the experience was the real teacher.

One story he tells is about the billboard he set up outside his office on Sunset Boulevard. There he put out a new message every week that demonstrated his humor and salesmanship, an image that he encouraged. Whenever big company executives came to visit, they were publicly welcomed on the sign. Many of his sayings have become famous and can be found on the Internet when you search his name. For example

“Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal”

“Love is a friendship set to music”

“Middle age is when your broad mind and narrow waist begin to change places”

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”
“To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness”

Cossman believes that “ideas are a person’s greatest asset”. He quotes Harvey Firestone, the great industrialist who said,

“Capital Isn’t So Important In Business. Experience Isn’t So Important. You Can Get Both Of Those Things. What Is Important Is Ideas. If You Have Ideas, You Have The Main Asset You Need, And There Isn’t Any Limit To What You Can Do With Your Business And Your Life. They Are Any Persons Greatest Asset- Ideas.”

Cossman says “Most of our products are the result of our own ideas. In the long run, you’re on your own, so let your judgment be your guide. But keep this in mind..a new idea is a delicate thing. It can be killed by a sneer or worried to death with a frown. Treat your own ideas like children – coddle them, keep them away from the chill of adverse criticism, have faith in them – and they’ll grow up into strong, mature products to support you in your old age.”

Sharing his marketing ideas is the “mission” he has demonstrated through so many of his actions in later life. Joe decided to retire from his search for products that built his entrepreneurial empire when he was only 50. But it didn’t take long to learn that sitting in the sun is no way of life for an entrepreneurial mind.

So he wrote two books to share his experiencesand in promoting the books learned that others wanted him to share his experiences personally. Thus started his first seminar in 1963 that had standing room only…in fact people were backed up in the hallways. And this new career resulted in presenting live seminars to over 50,000 people all over the US and selling the course for home study purposes.

Leading universities offered Cossman’s “10 Step Entrepreneur Program” to their students. At the same time Joe decided to fulfill his lifelong dream of going to college.

Showing their respect for his expertise, Pepperdine University gave him credit for his years of experience, and enrolled him in a masters degree program. Joe conducted a research study of program graduates at Pepperdine to see if his course had made any difference in the success of these students.

He was pleased to discover that those who reported being successful entrepreneurs also reported being more likely to have completed all the work of his course and used what they had learned in his program. The Regents of the University awarded E. Joseph Cossman a Master of Business Administration degree in 1977.
Graduates of his programs like to share the motivation and creative ideas they discovered in his courses. Joe’s students are the success stories that he enjoys telling now. Since he “retired” in 1963 Joe has taught and advised thousands of today’s entrepreneurs. He created the Future Millionaires Club in a number of cities to bring his graduates together on a regular basis to support each other.

He has published several books including "How I Made $1.000.000 in Mail Order (And You Can Too), a real recipe for success. (Published by Fireside, Simon and Schuster)

14. Be patient and do not call every other day asking if they have reviewed your product. They can be on vacation, out sick, or very busy. They are not sitting around and only waiting for your package.

http://www.rogerbrown.net

I agree with all of the dos and don’s and would add that if you decide to manufacture yourself versus license, there are a whole host of others. I’m living them now …

Rose, you are correct. Each approach has its own set of issues, but still have some that are the same.

15. Not having an idea/plan of who you are going to contact about licensing your product before you spend the money for a provisional patent. A large number of Inventors pay for a provisional, knowing they don’t have money for a full patent and have not done any research on who might be interested in licensing it. They spend 6 months of the one year looking for company contacts which means they only have 6 months to try and gain any interest before their time runs out. They didn’t have any intention of paying for a patent and now are forced to let it drop or pay for a patent. If you work it right you have all of your 12 months to find a company.

http://www.rogerbrown.net

Thanks Roger for your suggestion. I recently submitted a letter with my new innovative casino table game to a company name Shuffle Master Inc. hoping to joint venture with me in promoting my game to the Gaming Industry. Along with that letter, I submitted a four pages the mechanic of the game. The game is under the protection of U.S. Patent (Pending). It has been a week now and I still don’t have a response from them whether they want my game or not. I will give them another week to response to my letter before I’ll send it to another company.

The mechanic of the game is so simple that it will not take them to long to figure it out. Any suggestion?

Jake Quimpo

Jacob, did you send the material “cold” to them or were they expecting it? Even though you have the patent pending I like to back that up with a signed NDA for two reasons. One, it gives you a written and signed statement versus orally over the phone that they agree to look over your material. Second, the person signing the NDA is normally higher up the food chain than the person reviewing the material or from their legal department. Either way it gives you an additional person within the company to contact if things go wrong or that person leaves the company. You are not starting over at square one.
I went through 4 people in one company that was promoting from within and firing people at the same time. So, people were being shuffled around a lot Every time I called they had a new person in the reviewers position and I had to start over each time with the new person making sure they still had me in the system. It was confusing, but had a positive outcome.

On the topic of calling them back after a week I would ask if you asked them what their normal turn around time is for responding? For example Progressive International only looks at new submissions the first week of every month. So, using that example if you sent it last week they would have already locked in those items they were going to review. You would be on next months list for review. So calling now would be useless because you will be waiting 3 weeks before they even review it.
I always ask what is the companies normal protocol for reviewing submissions. That way I am not being a pest calling every week and I now know what to expect. It saves you a lot of headaches and nerves wondering what is going on if you just ask up front. Plus, it makes the company reviewers job easier not having you call every couple of days for an update.

http://www.rogerbrown.net

16. If you have an inventing partner – make sure you have a clear understanding what is expected from both sides. A basic 1 page written agreement usually does the trick. Once I agreed to go 50/50 on an invention and the other person never did anything after that – I had to prototype/sell sheet/make phone calls etc.

Michael. great point. You need to have clear division of responsibility and what the rewards are for that responsibility. It’s never good when one person is carrying the whole load yet the others profit without contributing.

http://www.rogerbrown.net

17. Keep a concise log of who you contacted in the company and what you sent them. A number of Inventrs send out packages and two days later couldn’t tell you what they sent or to whom. The person from that company calls and they are floundering trying to remember who this person is while talking to them on the phone.

http://www.rogerbrown.net

Michael, If you have a partner avoid 50/50 partnership. If there is a dispute, then both parties are powerless in directing the venture. This can cause a split where you can lose control over half your market, or inventory, and all of your goal. If you can’t agree to 49/51 or 40/60, you probably will have problems down the line.

Due to the recent batch of letters I have received from Inventors asking why they are not getting responses back or the respones are not good I wanted to add this to the list.

18. When contacting a company remember they own the company, not you. Write your letter to the company from a realistic perspective, give them actual facts, not what you wish them to be. Don’t write your letter in a threatening tone or from the aspect that they are are nuts if they turn you down. Don’t fill your letter with information they really don’t need, such as how you came up with the idea, how long it took you to build your prototype, etc. They are only interested in will it make them money. DO NOT USE THE PHRASE " My idea is worth MILLIONS!!!" Let them decide for themselves what it is worth.

http://www.rogerbrown.net

I had an inventor a few weeks ago tell me her invention was going to sell like “Hot Cakes” ….all those years in business school and they never did tell us how well hot cakes sell :)

About as many as you sell when they are selling like gangbusters, more than you can shake a stick at, more than you can imagine, like you have never seen before, or a butt-load. For those of you not famliar with a butt-load (it’s a lot) the Oxford English Dictionary has a citation for “butt-load” as a unit of measure equal to “about six seams”,(A nautical term) which amounts to roughly 450 gallons.
Who says you can’t learn something new everyday! : )

http://www,rogerbrown.net

Isn’t that a “boat load”?
lol

I made a mistake titling this thread 10 mistakes. I should have left it open since we are adding more. Here is another one.

19. Don’t send prototypes to companies that don’t work and tell them “I am sure you can work the bugs out of this”.

http://www.rogerbrown.net

Don’t assume a web site for a business you are trying to connect with is current/up to date. I once sent an email to the person listed as in charge of new product developement. That person had left the company. IF you can locate the companies phone # or general delivery email address you can request the name/title/email address of the person who handles new aquisitions.

Roger- if you do happen to get a live person to request your info from on the phone do you think it would be a good idea to get the name of the person you spoke with and then in your opening correspondence with the individual you are trying to reach you can say something like this.

Dear __________,

Does it add a bit of a personal touch before just diving right into your proposal?

Junqdiva, I don’t see any problem with doing that. I would drop the title “your receptionist” because you are assuming that is their position and that may not be the case. I called a company and the CEO answered the phone, but did not tell me that was their position. She asked who I was trying to contact and gave me that persons direct nummber. It wasn’t until a couple of months later I was contacted by the CEO on my submission and she reminded me we had already spoken when I asked for my contact. So, unless they give you their title I would not give them one.

I have posted this on a number of threads, so you may have seen this, but just in case. Here are some traits you want to make sure you have as an Inventor.

Persistence- Dictionary.com defines persistence as “the act or fact of persisting.” I would expand on that definition to add “A controlled steady movement towards a goal”. Many Inventors tend to be overly pushy and demanding wanting answers immediately from the company they are trying to get interested in their product idea. There is a fine line between Persistence and being a Pest. Once that line is crossed your chances of success are lost.

Patience-If you don’t have it, you better start learning it. Inventing is a love/hate relationship. You love your idea and want the world to buy it, but you hate the time it takes to get it to market. No matter how much control you think you have over your project there are always obstacles you can’t control. So, unless you are the sole person doing every aspect of the design, gathering materials, manufacturing, shipping, sales, marketing, product placement and own a chain of stores to sell it, you will be waiting on someone.

Positive Attitude- The final P is Positive Attitude. Without it the first two mean nothing. Your attitude can make or break your success. Whether it is a meeting with potential investors, a presentation of your idea to a company or speaking with a consumer about your product your attitude is key to your success.
You have to have faith in yourself and your idea. If you don’t why should anyone else? You don’t see an infomercial on T.V. saying “We think you might like our product.” Instead they are saying “You will love how it does _________ faster, better, easier.” Why, because they know these are words that are positive and tell the consumer the benefits of their product. They are stating all the positives to get you in that same frame of mind.
Ask yourself why you came up with this idea. Do you truly believe it will accomplish what you say it will? If you can be positive about your product and its benefits are real, not just hype, it will sell.

Remember- “Dreams are accomplished by people who do, not by people who wish”.

http://www.rogerbrown.net

That is really a good tip regarding using the word receptionist just because they answered the phone…So I guess another reason why ‘not to assume’

And the ‘3 Rules of P’ -Persistance (not Pest), Patience, and Positude (Positive Attitude)

Totally Wonderful!
Allow me to say Thank You yet again!

That will be $19.99 plus shipping and handling. If you order now I will throw in the Ginsu knife and peeler for free, plus shipping. LOL

http://www.rogerbrown.net
Junqdiva, you might want to check out my website and look at the samples of sell sheets and see the actual products that came from them.

Roger, that is very good advice that will be put to use as I move forward as an new inventor! If you were to give an inventor the #1 trait needed for licensing success, besides a great idea, what would it be? Thanks in advance.

Something of a recap, but here’s 2 for 1;

- Don’t tell them how clever you or your invention are
- Don’t tell them how its going to make you rich

- Do tell them how its going to make money for them.

Roger, I just learned a great lesson in FEATURE CREEP, I would love to hear your thoughts on it!

Andrea, are you referring to Feature creep, also called scope creep, refers to the tendency of project requirements to exceed their original estimations. It is common with the development of major computer projects, in which engineers decide that additional features should be added to the product before release to make it more usable and enjoyable for the target market. It can also happen when the client contracting the project keeps adding to the wish list. Feature creep can affect the overall budget for a project, as well as delaying the release time considerably, causing frustration to company executives. It can also ultimately weaken a product by clogging it with interesting but unneeded features, so companies need to take care to avoid it.

This type of issue comes up on every project as more people put their two cents into a project wanting to have their name attached to the project. This can be a good thing if the additions are cost effective and give value to the product. But you can end up adding so many features that what started out a good product ends up a Swiss Army knife with to many extras.
Some extras are added after a product comes out and the feedback is not good. A prime example is the new Ipod Nano. It does not have an On/Off button. It only has a sleep button that after 36 hours of no activity the unit finally shuts itself off. Consumers are bringing the units back because it is constantly running the battery down and needing recharging when the consumer wants to use it. I am not sure who thought of this no On/Off feature, but I am sure they have been talked to by Apple.

http://www.rogerbrown.net

Update, Ipod fixed the On/Off issue with a software update when you plugged in your Ipod to your computer. They saw the issue was costing them money and customers and fixed the problem.

Good to see this thread again, might have a number 20 related to the biggest problem of feature creep: Cost.

20. Understand the cost to manufacture your product and that your shelf price will be at least 4 times that cost (and you don’t make royalties off of the shelf price.) Features add cost, the later in the design a feature appears the higher the likely impact on price. A feature unrelated to the basic operation will generally not enhance the price a customer wants to pay: they will compare apple peelers to apple peelers and not apple peelers to apple peelers with back scratchers.

As a software developer, we have a relatively new tool to fight feature creep. It’s called Agile development. Your product has versions, the first version is the golden purist version of the solution with a minimal number of features needed to function. When that is a rock-solid product, then add the next most valuable feature for the customer and retest, reprice, review w/ customers.

Can you add any other mistakes Inventors make?