Sugggestion #1 call them… Dont give them two much info………..Why would you think they think you have a finished product

gizmo, just not familiar with the process and assumed a buyer dealt with shelf ready products.

Jason,

Send Jim Debetta or Roger Brown a note. They are experienced in this area.

Good advice from Margaret and I would also do some research about the ‘buyer’ – maybe even write their name in the ‘search’ box above and see if anyone has written about them already.

As Gizmo said, don’t give them too much information – and let’s hope that your original submittal doesn’t show too much. If you have to give THEM money, run.

I hope Jim or Roger will post their suggestions here….

just ask them a questions to clarify the potential misunderstanding..

sometimes i am talking to someone on the phone who doesn’t understand what licensing is and then they just continue on with the conversation like they want to carry my product on their website or in their store…

and then i have to explain to them that i want to license the product idea to them…and then they realize that i need to be talking to someone else and they forward me to the right person….

a buyer is not necessarily the person who can make the decision to license a product…but it’s a good idea to talk to the buyer to ask him about the potential of your product, get the buyer excited about your product and have them put you in contact with the appropriate person who can make those decisions…

also, there is the situation where you are interested in licensing your product but you don’t have a prototype and they think you do….you just tell them that all yoiu have is an illustration….

then there’s the situation where the company will only consider licensing if you have a prototype in addition to a drawing….

Jason, Eva has a good point most of the time the buyer isnt the one to deal with on a license agreement. One thing I can tell you with retailers like Home Depot,Ace,True Value, Sears, etc is the buyer make the decision if a product is brought into the store. HD has Global Merchants that make the decisions. The others have buyers in different product catagorys. One buyer may be for power tools another for hand tools for example………..See what they have to say without spilling your guts…………

gizmo is right, no gut spillage…you need to make sure you are talking to the right person before you start to reveal more cards….but even then, you always need to be covering some cards….i’m covering some cards right now myself…i can’t say what until later, but i have a couple….nothing deceitful, just not neccessary unless they ask….

i have a CAD drawing and a rough, ‘ugly’, functional prototype of my product….i sent a pix of my daughter using my product….but the prototype i have would most definitely NOT be what would be sold…

so i forwarded ‘just’ an image of how i envision the final product to look…(mark and i won’t spend the money to get a prettier prototype)….they’ve seen that the product can work, now they need to invest their funds to get it pretty….

Jason, Gizmo and Eva are giving you great information. One thing I would ask that I did not see you post is how did they know to contact you to begin with and do you have a signed NDA? I agree the buyer is not the “Yes” person but is a good person to put you in touch with the right person. Be upfront and let them know you do not have the prototype and that you are interested in a licesning deal if they are interested in your product.
What exactly did you send them and how much of the idea did it give away? As I tell most Inventors you want to give just enough to peak their interest but not so much they don’t need to see more. The other question would be why did the buyer contact you versus someone in product development?

At this point you are still in a good position since someone there seems to like what you first sent. Build on that and use that advantage to get it in front of the right person. You can contact me directly if needed via my email rbrown@rogerbrown.net
Keep pushing ahead. You have the drive to succeed.

http://www.rogerbrown.net

I should have such problems

I agree with Roger….and Eva….just give enough info to engage a further conversation. Retail buyers that I deal with do not engage in licensing deals. There are others in those organizations that can do deals but most retailers buy finished products as they are in the business of selling packaged goods to consumers.

Jim