USPTO and NIST Launch Online Intellectual Property Awareness Assessment Tool

Intellectual property (IP) is the creation of the human mind. It can include unique technological innovations, works of art, brand and concept names, symbols, logos, design and other ideas made real and tangible by creative individuals. Yet many businesses and individuals may not realize that they regularly create and use valuable IP assets in their workplace—assets which they need to protect and keep from being exploited or appropriated by competitors. To better serve the independent inventor and small business communities, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have released a free online tool that will allow creators of intellectual property to recognize when they have an asset that can give them a competitive edge in the marketplace and when they should seek IP protection.

The IP Awareness Assessment Tool, developed in collaboration with the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership, is free for all to use, but is particularly intended for innovative people who might not have the legal and financial resources of large companies and firms and may not be aware of what IP assets they need to protect. According to Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO David Kappos, “The IP Awareness Assessment Tool will help entrepreneurs turn their ideas into reality and bring them to market faster, thereby creating jobs more quickly, too.” Supporting independent inventors is one of the key objectives of the America Invents Act (AIA), which recognizes the spirit of innovation as the force behind American economic success. “This administration is committed to supporting innovative business tools, which help drive U.S. technological leadership  worldwide and support a 21st century economy that is built to last,” said Kappos.

The IP Awareness Assessment Tool helps users increase their awareness of IP issues relevant to their creative projects and business goals. Users first answer a comprehensive list of questions regarding IP, after which the tool prepares a set of training resources tailored specifically to the needs of the user as identified in the assessment.  The question component is designed to be efficient, allowing users to skip over areas they are already aware of, or even forgo the full questionnaire and opt for a pre-assessment to determine their potential IP protection needs.

 “Understanding and protecting IP is an important part of the process of bringing innovations to the marketplace,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Patrick Gallagher. U.S. patent laws provide these exclusive rights for up to twenty years. Protecting IP with a patent, copyright or trademark allows holders to expand their business by permitting others to sell their products or services in exchange for a fee.

The USPTO and NIST developed the IP Awareness Assessment Tool as a way to educate innovators about these rights and encourage growth in the marketplace.

For more information about the tests go to http://www.uspto.gov/inventors/assessment/

Reprinted from http://www.uspto.gov/inventors/assessment/.  This site will take you to the assessment test.

Welcome to the Intellectual Property Awareness Assessment Tool, a web-based tool designed to assess intellectual property (IP) knowledge and provide personalized training resources for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and inventors. The assessment is designed to help evaluate a user’s IP asset awareness and target areas specific to those related business needs. The tool provides access to educational materials based on the assessment results. The full assessment includes questions in five IP protection categories (Utility Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Trade Secrets, and Design Patents) plus five general IP categories- IP Strategies & Best Practices, Using Technology of Others, Licensing Technology to Others, International IP Rights and IP Asset Tracking. The questions presented in each category have been designed to discover the participant’s overall IP awareness as they relate to their IP asset protection needs.

Full assessment (62 questions) takes approximately 20-30 minutes. If you are not interested in taking the full assessment, a pre-assessment (five questions; takes about three minutes) is available to help you identify your potential IP assets. Based on the pre-assessment results, you can take a customized assessment specific to your potential IP protection needs. Customized assessment may take 10-30 minutes. Whether you are taking the customized or full assessment, you will have the opportunity to assess your awareness of all the general IP categories.

After completing the assessment, the results along with links for suggested training material will be displayed and can be printed or converted to a PDF format for future use and training.

Related posts:

1. USPTO has a New Blog
2. USPTO Announces Quicker Action on Patent Applications
3. More News about Patent Reform at the USPTO

Selling at Fairs and Shows

How can an inventor, with a relatively small inventory, sell $75,000+ in one weekend, with only one or two helpers?  The answer is a sales channel often overlooked by inventors: selling at fairs and shows.  Most inventors dream of getting their product into the big box retailers, but selling at fairs and shows can be both a great way to produce immediate income, which is enough for some inventors, and also a great way to gain enough momentum for your product to be picked up by the big retailers, which is why other inventors start selling at fairs and shows.

County fairs, state fairs, renaissance fairs, craft shows, home shows, home and garden shows, sports shows, and auto shows are just a few of the events you can attend to sell your product.  What kinds of sales figures can you expect at shows like these?  Experienced show goers would consider selling $7,000 worth of products to be a bad weekend.  If you are currently selling your product, how long does it take you to sell $7,000 worth of product?

What would experienced show goers consider a good weekend?  A good weekend can involve selling anywhere from $60,000 to $90,000!  Obviously, it will take you awhile to be able to produce these kinds of sales–you must hone your sales tactics and booth–but these are the kinds of results people have selling at fairs and shows.  By now, you are probably interested in how this is done, so let’s talk about what kinds of products sell well at fairs and shows and how to sell effectively.

Perfect Products

Products that sell really well at fairs and shows have the following characteristics:

Demonstrates or Tries Out Well

This is perhaps the most important factor for sales at fairs and shows.  If your product demonstrates well, you will get attention, people will believe in your product’s promises because they have seen it works and often, if the product meets a need in their life, they will buy.  It often helps to have a before and after demonstration.

A great example of this is Dr. Juice’s fish scents.  Dr. Juice would demonstrate how fish don’t like the smell of people, which gets on fishing lures and hooks as you handle them, and how his scent would eliminate this problem.  He would bring a tank of fish to shows and put his hand in the tank, which caused all the fish to swim away.  Then he would put his scent on his hand and put it back in the tank and what happened?  The fish swam right up to his hand!  This great demonstration drew a lot of attention and was extremely effective with anglers, who immediately understood the product and its promises.

If your demonstration also creates something that people can carry around, like a hairstyle, a decoration, or anything else that people can wear, that is even better.  Then other attendees will see your product’s end result and ask where they can get one.  You will have people lined up at your booth.

If your product doesn’t demonstrate well, you can still have success if people can try it out.  This often works well with toys, puppets, musical instruments and food products.  By allowing people to try out your product, you will gain lots of attention and, if people like it, they will often buy.

Simple, Direct Message

When selling at fairs and shows, you need to make sure your product has a very simple message.  This is very important for all sales channels, but with shows and fairs you need to make it even simpler.  For instance, when selling at retail stores, you can have your packaging list a few benefits, but when selling at fairs and shows, you want to tout your best single benefit using a short phrase.  There is so much activity at fairs and shows that your customers will become distracted and move on if your message isn’t immediately understandable.

Low-Priced

Products that sell really well at shows and fairs are usually priced between $10 and $30.  This price encourages impulse buying, meaning that if someone likes your product, they will just go ahead and buy it without thinking too much about it.  When the product is priced higher than that, people will think more about it and buy less often.  Some inventors think that they can get leads at a show for a higher priced product and follow up on those leads later.  This is usually a mistake.  The impulse to buy after the show is significantly lower and most of those leads don’t turn into sales.

Also to make sure you are making enough money to cover all the show costs, the product should be priced five to six times its manufacturing cost.  This means ideal products cost between $1.67 and $6 to manufacture.

How to Sell Successfully

Even if you have a perfect product, your sales success will depend on the following things:

Sales Tactics

Sales tactics are what usually separate unsuccessful show and fair salespeople from the successful.  There are many different tactics that work and the best way to get a sense of these tactics is to go to a show, observe the successful salespeople and choose a style that fits with your personality.  You will find that all styles have three main parts that experienced show goers call, “grind, tip, and flash.”

Grind is the tactic you use to get every passing person’s attention and try to get them to talk with you when there are only a few people at the show or in your area.  Tip is getting the first person to come to your booth and start talking with you.  And flash is how you move around outside or inside your booth to attract people to come and talk to you.

Once you have found your style, you will need to try variations within that style to see what is more successful.  Practice makes perfect, so set your expectations reasonably for your first few shows.

Right Shows

You will have a hard time selling a lot of product unless at least half of the show’s attendees are potential customers.  This means you need to choose shows or fairs where your potential customers will be.  If your product has a broad appeal, like the kinds of products that sell well in supermarkets and department stores, nearly any show or fair will work for you, but you will want to make sure you are in the right area.  For instance, if you have a home product and are selling at a state fair, make sure your booth is located in the home and garden pavilion.

Right Locations

If you want people to stop at your booth, you need to make sure you have a good location.  Bad locations are either ones where people don’t feel comfortable stopping because they create a traffic jam or are next to big, attention grabbing booths which will take their attention away from yours.  Good locations have enough space in front of the booth for 10 to 20 people to observe your demonstration and are located in the middle of the show where people are likely to walk by and stop.

Booth

Obviously, you want your booth to grab attention as people pass by, but a successful booth is more than just attention grabbing.  You want your booth always to feel busy (no one wants to be cornered by three sales people just waiting for their first customer), but not so busy that there is no one available to talk to them.  This means you’ll need enough helpers, who if have nothing else to do, give at least the impression of being somewhat busy, but still available to talk to.

Getting Started

Locate Potential Shows and Fairs

You want shows that appeal to your target customer, where at least half of the people are potential customers.  You also want to start with local shows.  Local shows will be much cheaper to attend because you won’t have any travel costs, and they also allow you to work closer with the show’s promoter.

First contact your local chamber of commerce or convention center to get a list of upcoming shows or fairs.  Then get the name of the show’s promoter and call him or her and ask for a guide from last year’s show or fair.  Also tell the promoter that you are interested in having a booth at the show and ask if he or she can give you tips on things like booth location, booth design, and how to sell to the show’s attendees.  The promoter has it in his or her own interest to help you succeed, so use him or her as a resource.

Then call at least three or four of the people listed in that guide as exhibitors and ask them how many years they have been attending and how that show does for them.  Exhibitors will keep on going back to good shows, so you want to make sure that it is a show exhibitors want to go back to.

Also ask past exhibitors what types of products and prices do best at the show and where else they exhibit.  They may be able to point you to smaller community shows and fairs that can be great places to start your sales and hone your sales tactics.

Your local newspaper can also be a great source for local events.  The local library usually keeps a few months of local papers’ back issues and you can go through those, call the events’ organizers and ask what other events are coming up.

Inventory

Most exhibitors try to carry just enough inventory so they sell out right at the end of the show.  Of course, you will need to attend quite a few shows to get a sense of how much inventory you will need.  When just starting out, predict how much you might need based on what other exhibitors told you and then add 20 to 30 percent.  Even if you sell out early, it will still be a successful show.

Start with one Show at a Time

When you are just starting out, only commit to one show at a time.  You may need to make changes to your booth after your first show, or even change your product and if you commit to a number of shows right away, then you won’t have time to make all the necessary changes.  Once you are sure your product, booth, and sales approach are right, and that you are making money after all the travel and show expenses, then go ahead and schedule as many shows as you want.

Related posts:

1. How to Sell $75,000 worth of Product in One Weekend
2. Start Selling Locally to Launch Your Product
3. Selling to Mass Merchants

Step 1.  Be sure you know the production term for your product.  For example, is it extruded plastic, thermoset plastic, machined, stamped and a host of other terms that distinguish different ways to make products.  You will have trouble finding the right manufacturer without being able to describe the production process accurately.  If you don’t know the process name itself try contacting these groups:

• Your local inventors club, which you can find at www.inventorsdigest.com/resources/inventor-organizations  These groups typically have monthly meetings and they often have protoypers or other engineers who attend who can help you understand the process needed to make your product.
• Your local SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) organization,  www.score.org. This organization typically has several retired plant engineers or related people that can help recognize the type of production you need to make your product.
• Your local small business development center, www.asbdc-us.org   If your local group can’t identify the process they normally can direct you to someone who can.

Step 2.  Find potential manufacturers.  I found the best ways to do this are by:

• Check the MacRae’s Bluebook, www.macraesbluebook.com which lists manufacturers by state by category.
• Check the Thomas Register, www.tomasregister.com, which also list manufacturer by category.
• Look for trade associations for the industry which will typically have a membership directory.  For example do an Internet search for plastic injection molding manufacturing trade associations.  Most of the time you find a trade group that most of the manufacturers belong too.  If that doesn’t work you can also search for trade shows for your type of manufacturing.  These are typically run by the trade association, where you will find a member directory.  If those tactics don’t work, you can also check at larger libraries in your area who might have the Book of Associations to find the right group for your product.

Step 3.   Shortcut –  Rather than contacting companies and evaluate whether or not they could make your product, I’ve found it useful to contact instead companies that make the equipment needed to make your product.   For example, if your product requires injection molding equipment, contact manufacturers of injection molding equipment and ask the salesperson there to recommend people in your area that have the right type of equipment.  You can also tell the person that you are looking for companies that would produce small run.  The salespeople selling the equipment you need a manufacturer to own often give you the best list of manufactures to contact.

Step 4.   Call companies, see if they can produce your product and get an estimate for small and medium volume production appropriate for your part.  If could be an order of 500 and 2500 parts for one product, and 50 to 5,000 for another.  This way you can see if the companies might be a good fit for you.  Don’t be discouraged if companies don’t want to quote you.  Just keep calling till you find one that wants your business.

Step 5.   Try to determine if a manufacturer has an underused plant.  Every manufacturer has overhead, or fixed, costs (i.e. salaries, rent, and phone bills) that they need to pass on to the products they produce.   So the fewer products they produce, the higher overhead cost per product. Usually these will be the manufacturer that can offer you the shortest lead time to fill your order.

Now it may seem that you will want a manufacturer that is running their plant near capacity to have the lowest overhead cost per product, but what is good in finding a manufacturer with an underutilized plant is that they will want your business and should be willing to make concessions.  For instance, if you can have extended terms for the first six months to a year you will need much less operating capital.  Or you could get whatever start up costs they have amortized, which mean that for the first run of your product, the start up costs are spread out on each product produced as a small fee.  All of these concessions can make a big difference for an underfinanced inventor.

Step 6.  Consider the manufacturer’s financial status.  While you want a manufacturer with an underused plant to offer you concessions, you don’t want a company that is about to go bankrupt.  Request a financial statement from all of your potential manufacturers.  Then find an experienced business person to review this document with you.  If the company is in financial trouble, it is probably too risky for you to produce your product with them.

So in a manufacturer you want to find a plant with all of the right equipment that is not running near capacity, but not so slow that they are in financial trouble.  This may seem difficult to ascertain, but by following the above steps you should be able to find out all of this information from them.  Don’t be shy in calling companies, they usually tell you much more than you would expect.

Related posts:

1. How to Find the Right Manufacturers
2. Selling on Commission
3. Can You Make the Product for 20 to 25% of the Expected Retail Price?

Getting Started Raising Money

Keep on Working

Most inventors use personal loans or credit cards to fund the first phases of their product introduction. If you are not working, you will have a hard time securing these loans. Some inventors get so excited about their idea that they quit their job to dedicate all their time to their new project. But this is usually not wise. In the early stages of your product development, you should keep on working, dedicating evenings and weekends to your project, until you are sure your product will succeed. Then once you feel it is wise to quit your job, make sure you apply for any loans or credit cards you may need before you quit. This way, you will have an easier time getting loans and credit cards and you won’t be going into debt just to pay your regular bills.

Founders’ Equity

When you are starting to develop your new product, it is a good idea to get a pool of money from founding investors, which includes you. This can be just family and friends, although someone within your industry is even better. Ask the group to invest a small amount, say a couple of thousand dollars, and then you match whatever the other founders invest. Then reward yourself around 500,000 shares of stock, since you came up with the idea, and give the other founders 10,000 to 25,000 shares. Then as your need for more funding grows, ask your founding investors for more money.

Outside investors always like to know how much money you have put into the project and are putting into each additional stage. By having a founders’ group, you can say how much the founders are investing and it will help you not run out of money and be unable to invest in the next stage. If you approach an investor to finance, for instance, your patent and you say you aren’t putting up any money for the patent since you have none, you probably just lost your investor. In that case, you will look like a poor planner. Having founding investors helps you always have at least a small supply of funds.

Business Experience

If you don’t have business experience, you will have a very hard time finding serious investors. Find a mentor, hire a consultant, or take on a business partner to let the investors know the project is in reliable hands.

How can you find people with business experience?

First, check with your family and friends. Often, they will know someone in the industry you are targeting and even if that person does not have the experience you need, he or she might know who does. Also keep your eyes and ears open and ask people what they do for a living. You can meet the contacts you need almost anywhere: at religious gatherings, at your children’s sporting events, at community gatherings, etc.

Another good way to meet mentors is through business courses offered through the SBDC (Small Business Development Center), SCORE, and local universities. Both those teaching and those attending might be good contacts for you. The same goes for events at your local chamber of commerce and your local inventors club.

Join trade associations in your industry. Seminars and meetings of the trade association will introduce you to many important people in your industry.

Read articles about your product category. Write or call the authors and ask for input. If they aren’t open to helping you, or don’t have the experience you need, ask them if they know someone else who might be interested in being a part of your project.

Related posts:

1. The First Steps in Raising Money
2. Need Money for Your Invention?
3. Should I Call Myself An Inventor When Raising Money?

Hi There,

My name is Joey and I’m a TV Producer in Los Angeles. I came across your inventor’s group online and was hoping you may be able to help me!

I’m currently searching for amateur and professional inventors with big personalities to make an appearance on a new show that we are casting and I was hoping that you may be able to help me out by taking a look at our flyer (attached) and passing it along to the folks in your group, or anyone else that may be interested or know someone who may be interested. Direct referrals are also very helpful!

I’d greatly appreciate the help! We can’t possibly spread the word far enough. Generally forwarding via email/email blasts, sharing our info on social networking sites, etc. is very helpful!
What we are looking for are inventors with fun, wacky ideas or NOVELTY INVENTIONS. If they are chosen for the show, they will be able to get their idea or invention in front of people who can help them distribute, manufacture, and bring their inventions to market. Even if they haven’t moved forward in taking their ideas to the next level, if they are a fun personality, we’d love to hear from them!

Our CEO made MILLIONS of dollars off of one crazy, wacky idea, and he is ready to help other inventors do the same.

It’s a really great opportunity anyone who’s ever had a great idea that they think could help them hit it big!

Please see flyer attached, and thanks for your time and help!

Best,
Joey

Joey Gemelli
Owner/Casting Director
Gemelli Entertainment
(O) 631.704.0217
www.twitter.com/joeygcasting
www.linkedin.com/pub/joey-gemelli/14/b02/261
www.imdb.com/name/nm4130498/

Related posts:

1. Everyday Edisons is looking for inventors to feature on season 4
2. Types of Distribution Networks Used By Inventors
3. Quick Strike Marketing Tactics for Inventors

I feel the best way to proceed with early rep(s) is to follow these steps when discussing a possible invention investment. Remember these are guidelines for your discussions to see if the rep(s) are interested, you need to have a lawyer draw up the agreement once you agree to terms. The numbers used here are illustrative, feel free to adjust them to your own circumstances.

1. At the beginning, set all shares up with a value. Typically $1 or $2 is a good starting point. Also state that your company when all the paperwork is in will have 1 to 5 million shares.  Explain that most shares are not issued now, but will be available later both as a reward for “sweat equity” and for new investors.
2. State how many shares you have for the idea, start with your shares being worth at least $100,000.
3. Tell the rep he can buy up to x of the shares for the value you set on the shares – i.e. if you set the value at $1.00, and you own 100,000 shares, you might let the rep buy up to 10,000 shares.
4. Explain clearly that you will receive a certain number of additional shares each month if you work more than 20 hours on the invention – for example you will earn 3,000 shares additional per month.
5. Explain the rep can earn up to 1,000 additional shares for each month where the rep works more than 10 hours on your invention.
6. Explain that you might later need to take on additional investors. The shares purchased by the investors will probably reduce the rep’s percentage ownership in the company.  This is a key point, the rep buys 10,000 shares, not 10% ownership in the company.  The reps percentage of ownership will varying depending on the overall number of shares owned.
7. Offer the rep the right to buy shares at the same price as the next investor. Explain the number of shares the rep can buy might be limited so you can keep your ownership percentage high.
8. If the rep stops actively promoting your invention, or his or her time drops significantly, you will have the right to buy back the reps shares at the price the rep paid for them.

If you discuss these concepts with the rep at the beginning, prior to seeing an attorney, you will know if the plan works for both parties.  There is no need to spend a lot of money on attorney fees only to find out you and the rep don’t agree with the overall terms you are proposing. I’ve also found that it is wise to wait about a month before seeing an attorney once you talk about the investment arrangements with your rep. As a rule this concept will be new to the rep and often they may have second thoughts about their acceptance of the terms. If you wait, you can ask the rep after two weeks, and then again after four weeks if he or she has concerns and then you can address them before seeing the attorney.

Related posts:

1. Licensing – Sales Reps Make a Great Partner
2. How to Approach Sales Reps
3. Getting the Investments to Get Your Product Off the Ground

The products that work the best for service businesses provide a service that people recognize they need and search for it; it should fit in the categories of the yellow pages so people will look for you and find you. For instance, in the example we used above, people with pest problems know they need a pest treatment and can use the yellow pages or the Internet to find appropriate businesses. The appeal can be limited or mass, just as long people search for your product/service business.

On the other hand, if your product provides a service that people don’t know they need, you will spend large amounts of money on advertising telling people that they need your service. In these cases, you are better off selling to other service businesses. For instance if you have a product that better protects driveways from different weather conditions, people don’t know that they could protect their driveways and won’t look for your service. But if you sold your product to a company that resurfaces driveways, they could offer the service to customers that are resurfacing their driveways. The driveway resurfacing company would probably have more success selling that service than you could as a separate company.

Selling a service instead of a product also works well when you have a product that is difficult for customers to understand, as long as the benefit of your product is easy to grasp. Many consumers won’t buy a product, or will be very slow to adopt a product, that is difficult to understand or difficult to use. As long as your product gives the desired result, you don’t need to worry about this. Also, many consumers are hesitant to try a product that is vastly different from competing products, but again, by providing a service, you will not face this resistance.

Finally, service businesses are also well suited for products that are very expensive. Customers are very hesitant to buy a product for even several hundred dollars, but with a service business you are not limited in the price range of your product since you are just using your product to provide a service. As long as you can recover your investment in the development and manufacturing of your product, your product can cost as little as 1 dollar or as much as millions of dollars.

Starting a service business is in many ways like selling a new product, but instead of selling the product, you are selling the results of your product. But that doesn’t mean you need to downplay your invention, in fact it can be your biggest selling point. Phrases like, “Using a new, patented technology, we can…” can help your business have an edge over existing service businesses in the same market.

Once you have success with service businesses you will be in a much better position to license the idea, or you might find you are doing so well with the product itself, that you can just keep selling to service businesses and possible set up your own franchise system.

Related posts:

1. Two More Ways to Sell Your Product
2. Industry Insiders Can Give Your Product a Quick Start
3. Licensing – Sales Reps Make a Great Partner

Start with a search at Google Patents

Goggle Patents, www.google.com/patents, has a feature called prior art searching. Typically, patents are granted only if the invention is new and not obvious, which means in patent language, that there isn’t prior art, which simply means the product hasn’t been publicly disclosed previously either in a patent, by being sold, or in some other fashion. The Prior Art Finder makes it easy to search multiple sources simultaneously for prior art. You can experiment with it by clicking on the “Find Prior Art” button from a patent’s main page, or on the “Related” link in patent search results.

The Prior Art Finder identifies key phrases from EPO (European Patent Office) and post-1976 US patent documents, combines them into a search query, and displays the results from Google Patents, Google Scholar, Google Books, and the rest of the web.

The key to being successful with a preliminary prior art search is to use multiple search terms that are broader than your idea. For example, let’s say you have plastic bag with a zipper to keep your shirts from getting wrinkled on an airplane. You might search for wrinkle free clothes bag, plastic enclosures for traveling, vacuum sealed bag for traveling, and bags for enclosure in travel suitcases or carriers.

Competition

You want to list competition and its sales price. Competition doesn’t have to be just like your product, but it has to achieve the same goal. For example if your product minces garlic, competition would be any type of product that minces garlic. You want competition so you can show your product along with competitive products to at least a few potential users so you can get their feedback on whether or not you have a saleable product.

The best way to get competitive information is from product directories that are published in industry trade magazines or industry trade shows. You might find these with a Google search, for example housewares trade magazine. But they can sometimes be hard to find. Larger libraries will have a reference source called Gales’ Source of Publications and Broadcast Media. That reference has a section called trade magazines where you can typically find the trade magazines for any industry. Once you have the name you should be able to find the source with Google and see if the magazine publishes an annual product directory.

Product Complexity

You should do a preliminary evaluation regarding whether or not your product will be difficult to design and manufacture. Inventors have a difficult time funding the four to 10 and maybe more prototypes they will need if the product has a complex design. Inventor’s should stay away from these types of products as the cost is just too high. This is a key question to ask any mechanical engineers or industrial designers that you might know. If you don’t know any I’ve found a good source for retired engineers or designers in SCORE, Service Corps of Retired Executives.  www.score.org. Their services are free and you can find a local branch at their web site.

Design – Does it Communicate the Product’s Benefit

Products that sell themselves are ideal for inventors because they don’t have to worry about perfect packaging or promotional campaigns. A product like the junk drawer organizer is a perfect example. The package just had decals in each compartment of what went in it. The product was easy to understand and it was an immediate success. The key point that inventors need to evaluate once they have a great idea is will the product be easy to sell. If it is too hard, inventors might fail.  A product immediately communicating the product’s benefit is a key consideration before you start spending too much money.

Price / Value Relationship

One of the reasons you research competition is that you can show people your idea and competitive products (along with the competition’s prices) and then ask them how much your product is worth to them. If you have four or five competitive products usually they will place your product in between a couple of the products which gives you an idea of what your product might be worth in the marketplace. That is the value. For you to make money, your price needs to be four to five times your cost to manufacture. That is a hard number to find, but I’ve found that SCORE once again typically has some manufacturing people who can help you get a rough estimate of your manufacturing cost. Your ideal situation is where the number that is four to five times more than manufacturing cost is less than the value people have placed on your idea.

Distribution

Everyone wants to be in Wal-Mart. But for the most part inventors don’t have the production capacity to step into a Wal-Mart. They are better off with a smaller distribution channel to get started. Inventors do well starting out in markets with smaller stores, such as kitchen stores, bike shops, scrapbooking and craft stores, hardware stores or auto supply stores. All of those markets have smaller stores that buy, and they all have well organized manufacturers’ sales representative networks to sell through. Inventors can get their sales started in these smaller markets, build up their sales and then go after the bigger chains. Look to see if you have “inventor friendly” distribution available for your product.

Conclusion

The guidelines I’ve listed are not hard and fast rules. You can still introduce products that have introduction obstacles. But it is wise not to go into a product with too many obstacles as you just might run out of time before you run out of money.

If you don’t feel confident doing this evaluation yourself, OneStopInventionShop.Net offers two invention evaluation services. Our full Invention Evaluation costs $450.00. For $175.00, you can have a less detailed Invention Evaluation that leaves out discussion of manufacturing processes and materials.

To request this service, fill out our Confidential Agreement and the Invention Evaluation Form and email them to info@onestopinventionshop.net or regular mail them to Don Debelak, PO Box 120861, New Brighton, MN 55112.  To see a template of our Invention Evaluation, click here.

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1. Ten Points in a Preliminary Invention Evaluation
2. Doing a Google Patent Search
3. How to Create a Presentation to Raise Initial Funds for Your Invention

You need to conduct meaningful market research for your idea within your target market.  Your results need to show how people compare your product to others, what price they think is fair, what product features they like, which they don’t and what features they think you should add to your idea. How you do this can vary tremendously but common forms of research are focus groups, surveys and interviews.

Create Something People Can Evaluate

Either create a brochure or a prototype of your product so people have something they can objectively evaluate.

If you create a brochure, you may need to hire a graphic designer or someone who can do technical drawings. You must make sure the brochure is attractively designed. People will be using your brochure to judge the merits of your product and if your brochure is low quality, people will probably think your product is low quality and you will not get the objective response required for meaningful market research.

Building a prototype is also an option. Again, if your prototype will be made out of plywood and duct tape, people probably won’t respond positively to your product. You may need to hire a prototype designer if you cannot create an attractive enough prototype.

Generally, creating a brochure is easier and more affordable and many inventors choose that route. For help designing a brochure, contact us at info@onestopinventionshop.net. Prices will vary depending on your needs.

Get an Estimate on How Much Your Product Will Cost to Manufacture

Ask an engineer or an industry insider if they can give you a rough estimate on how much your product will cost to manufacture. You can also look at products made of similar materials with a similar level of complexity and see what they sell for. Usually a product sells at four times its manufacturing cost. So if the product costs $19.95, the manufacturing costs are probably around $5.00.

Using your estimated manufacturing cost, estimate your retail price by multiplying your manufacturing costs by four.

Conduct Your Market Research

Create surveys, questionnaires or study groups to compare your product to other existing products. If you are using a brochure, make sure you obtain brochures of competing products so you are not comparing apples to oranges.

You do not want participants to know which product is yours since they will then soften any criticism to not hurt your feelings. You want them to objectively rank each product in the order in which they value each product, or in the order in which they are most likely to buy. You also want them to list strengths and weaknesses of each product.

After doing this, you should have an idea of what customers are willing to pay for your product. For instance, if they rank your product between a product that costs $24.95 and a product that costs $20.95, you can charge around $22.95 for your product. If this price is too low based upon your estimated manufacturing costs, you need to revise your product, either by adding value or by lowering your manufacturing costs.

Also after conducting this market research, you should have at least a few ideas on how to improve your product. Make these changes and repeat the market research until you are satisfied with your results. You will want your product to consistently be ranked as one of the participants’ top two choices.

Remember that whenever you change your product’s design, you will want to re-estimate your manufacturing costs.

Do You Need Help?

We offer a variety of services to help you do meaningful market research. For more information, or a quote on prices, contact info@onestopinventionshop.net.

• We can help you design a professional brochure. Prices will vary depending on your needs.
• If you can conduct the market research yourself, but need help in setting up the questionnaires, surveys or focus groups, we can do this for you. Prices vary per project.
• We also can conduct a variety of market research for you. Prices will vary per project due to varying methods and involvement of different research.
• Finally, we can evaluate your market research and translate that into possible changes in your product’s design and/or target market. The cost is $140.

We also have a 63 page product workbook that helps you with this step, as well as many others, and you can buy it now for only $5.95 here.

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1. Research That Helps Sell Your Product
2. Is Your Product a Good Value?
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Branding is important. Companies brand themselves to configure their ideals, benefits, identity and develop their ad strategies from this characterization. Branding helps keep their image consistent, ensuring that their message won’t stray away. Products need to do the same. What are your product’s advantages? How is it different from the competition? What is its personality? You have to do more than inform customers. You must provoke emotions by branding your product with logos, advertising, press releases, etc., and, of course, the packaging. The following are basic steps that all designers must follow for successful packaging.

Research

You’ve researched plenty during the development of your product and you’ll continue to do so throughout the duration of its life. Assuming you’ve already studied the market and potential audience, you should now begin learning about packaging. Your designer is also an avid researcher, but it never hurts to figure out what attracts you and to bounce ideas off of each other. Go to different stores and look at packages. Focus within your product family and the stores you’d be featured in, but also look beyond. You never know where you may discover something useful. Search the Internet with Google web and image searches. Look through publications for packaging info and examples—magazines, books, online—both packaging sources and your product category’s industry publications. Find a handful of inspiring ideas and trends.

Structure/ Materials

A package’s shape and material play a big role in communicating to the customer. Take a stroll down the grocery aisles and notice all the competing brands within the same product category in all their different shapes, sizes and containers that create unique perceptions. Some products aim to be higher end, others affordable. Some are concerned with being all-natural, others would rather be a fun part of your day. A straight and narrow glass bottle will look more classy than a plump, plastic one. An uncoated cardboard box will look more environmentally savvy than a plastic wrapped container. How can your package’s structure and materials expand your brand?

Copy

Figure out what will be written on the package before you dig deep into the design. Space is limited, so be brief and figure out a hierarchy. Leave room for the brand name, the company name, a slogan (if desired), some quick, but important attributes/ benefits/ descriptions and any supplementary copy (instructions, storage info, warnings, etc.). Copy is another branding tool where you can be creative. If you want to be as clever and brilliant as possible, you may consider consulting a copywriter.

Graphic Design

Graphics compel the audience and quickly communicate significance. They can either be printed on the packaging materials or may appear on a label or tag of some sort. The basic design essentials are: color, typography, composition, logo use/ development, photo/ illustration use and the overall style/ concept of it all. This is another area where research is important. Setting up all the elements neat and orderly is a start, but it does nothing for your brand. Let’s say you have an exercise product that’s branded as a high-quality, high-energy, extremely efficient piece of equipment. Research those themes to inspire provocative imagery. What are some sources of energy that you could conceptualize around? How can you tweak it to connote quality and efficiency as well? With these rough concepts in mind, what fonts, colors and graphic elements could interplay in harmonizing your brand identity?

Remember to be practical. Of course you want to stand out, but your package can’t be too outlandish without the budget. Research pricing and be honest with manufacturers about your need for short runs where custom packaging would be too expensive. There are plenty of stock options that can be tailored to your needs, so spend more time thinking intelligently about branding with graphics. Besides, you’ll always continue to make improvements along the way, so this allows flexibility until your product’s growing demand provides you with a larger budget to spend on more drastic branding measures.

Do you think the package is the product? When it’s on the shelf introducing itself to shoppers, the answer is definitely yes. You want your products to fly off the shelves, so this is not the place to cut corners.

Related posts:

1. Is the Package the Product?
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