Invent It, Sell It, Bank It!: Make Your Million-Dollar Idea Into a Reality (12 page)

An inventor doing market research for a new product is a bit like a new parent introducing his or her baby to the world. However, only a monster would peer at a new parent’s infant and say, “Wow, that is one ugly baby.” New inventors out in the field have no protection against such blunt assessments, however. You need to be okay with that before heading out. In fact, you need to insist on brutal honesty, regardless of how much it hurts, because doing so will save you from potentially much greater pain later.

Make sure the people you talk to understand that they will be doing you a disservice if they sugarcoat their feedback. In fact, when I did market research for my first invention, I found that one of the best ways to ensure objective replies, and avoid making people feel put on the spot or obligated to be nice, was to avoid telling them that the product I was asking them to evaluate was mine. I’d just tell them I was conducting market research on a new product, and no one ever thought to ask me who had designed it. Only if someone was really going crazy over it would I admit it was mine, because I thought they might be willing to spend a little more time with me so I could continue to delve even deeper with questions.

You might think that it could be nerve-wracking and uncomfortable to ask perfect strangers to pass judgment on something that means so much to you. Maybe it is for some, but it wasn’t for me. I like honesty. I can deal with it, and I feel it helps me to make good, smart decisions. Most entrepreneurs I know felt the same way when they did their market research. I couldn’t wait to
get out there and find out what consumers had to say, because my financial success or ruin depended on it.

If you do feel awkward, never let people know it. Think about it this way: you’ve got an advantage over telephone pollsters in that you can show a friendly face, make a little joke, and use props. Do not be shy, yet do not be pushy. Don’t start out with the sales gimmick of asking some kind of goofy question to which most people can say yes. Be extremely careful not to get too close and invade people’s physical space so that you make them feel uncomfortable. Simply approach people in a friendly and unthreatening manner, and in your nicest, most polite tone, say, “Would you mind giving me your opinion about a brand-new product?” If they’re not in a hurry to get anywhere, and you don’t make them feel pressured or uncomfortable, a surprising number of people will stop and hear you out.

Use levity always. No one minds spending time with a person who makes them laugh. You might offer them a small trinket like a pen or a flashlight in appreciation for their time. Everybody loves freebies, no matter how small, and, hey, if you’re trying to build a brand, handing out inexpensive promotional gifts is a good way to start getting name recognition.

You can conduct face-to-face market research anywhere, such as at carnivals, flea markets, festivals, shopping malls, and parks. You’d be amazed at how productive a few days at a street fair can be. Anyplace where a large cross section of the population congregates, and that doesn’t charge you an arm and a leg to set up a booth or table to exhibit your prototype, is where you want to be. Be creative, and be brave. Some of the most prolific and successful inventors got their start demonstrating their products out of the backs of their cars, on the side of the road, in parking lots, and on street corners.

I know that pounding the pavement works, because that’s
what I did. When I designed my first invention, I felt in my gut that I had created a unique solution to a near-universal problem for women who wore earrings. I knew my own mother had been late to countless events because she had been digging through her cavernous jewelry box hunting for an earring. But if it turned out that Pam, my friend the massage therapist, and I were the only two women in Chicago driven crazy every day by our ineffective jewelry boxes, I wanted to know immediately, not after sinking my life savings into a product no one wanted.

One of my
Shark Tank
deals from Season Four, the Drop Stop “Boyz,” as they jokingly want me to call them, came up with a creative way to conduct their research without people even knowing it. They would install the Drop Stop into people’s cars and tell them that something had been placed there that was eighteen inches long and in plain view, and give them five minutes to find it. When they couldn’t, the “Boyz” would take their keys, drop them on the Drop Stop, and observe. People’s reaction was so excited and positive that the inventors knew they were on to something great.

So as soon as my prototype was complete, I visited as many of Chicago’s socioeconomically diverse areas as I could, and I asked people to fill out my marketing questionnaire, look at my earring organizer, and tell me if they would buy it. I started out right in front of the beautiful Fourth Presbyterian Church on Michigan Avenue, across from the John Hancock Building. Why a church? Michigan Avenue is like Fifth Avenue in New York City or Rodeo
Drive in Los Angeles—it’s not the kind of neighborhood where retailers take kindly to people sitting anywhere near their storefronts. But it does attract a wide array of shoppers and tourists from all over the world. I needed to be there. I chose to sit in front of a church because I thought a church might not shoo me away or call the police to report me for loitering. A church kind of has to be nice to you.

I discreetly parked myself at a little table in a small corner at the front of the building, my organizer hidden beneath a small piece of black fabric. I’d carefully approach every woman who passed by with a huge smile on my face and ask if she could take five minutes to answer a questionnaire about a really cool new earring organizer. “And look,” I’d say, “I’ll give you this pen if you’ll give me five minutes!” like it was the greatest gift in the world. People would generally laugh. That small gesture would often break the ice. I probably got about 75 percent of the people I approached this way to talk to me and answer my questions. If you’re fun and jovial, people won’t find you threatening.

Every time I showed my invention to a stranger when doing my market research, it would cross my mind that there was the possibility that person could steal my idea. But I knew I didn’t have a choice. You probably have the same reservations. But you can’t live in fear. Fear can be paralyzing, and if you’re not always moving forward, you might as well give up now. I didn’t have a choice back then, and neither do you. If you don’t let anyone see your product, you can’t get the information you need. So just be careful. Let people handle your invention and give you their honest opinions. Keep your product under wraps, literally, if you can, as I did by hiding my organizer under black fabric unless a woman had it in her hands. It will work to your advantage. There’s no better way to pique people’s curiosity than to offer them a chance to see something no one else is allowed to see. Take every step you
can to protect yourself and still get the information you need. And whatever you do, do not allow anyone to take pictures!

I performed my routine hundreds of times on Michigan Avenue, from sunup to sundown. Maybe a day or so later I headed to a shopping mall on the west side of Chicago. The day after that, I was approaching women at a mall on the South Side. And the next day, I was at a mall on the North Side. In less than a week I presented my product to every socioeconomic demographic the city had to offer. I also hit the Taste of Chicago, the biggest food festival in the world, where hundreds of restaurants set up booths for people to taste their preparations. It’s a huge city event that attracts an enormous cross section of people, and it was the perfect place for me to canvass potential customers.

Sometimes if you expose your idea too soon and too widely, you risk losing it. Conversely, sometimes people are so afraid to reveal their ideas that they sit on them and don’t get anywhere. Strike a careful balance between the two extremes.

Unfortunately, booths for the event had to be reserved months ahead of time. Normally I’m very legal eagle and big on following the rules. But six months earlier I didn’t have an idea for an earring organizer or the need for a booth, and now I did, and this was too good an opportunity to miss. So I snuck in. There was a little section at the end of the fair set up for local artisans to showcase their wares. I asked some of the jewelry makers if I could sit between them and display their earrings on my organizer. I would help them push their jewelry while people filled out my questionnaire. It was a perfect symbiotic relationship. I helped increase these artists’ sales by
drawing attention to their earrings, and they helped me demonstrate how useful my product was and get my questionnaire answered. I probably sat there for two or three hours before the police finally came and shooed me away because I didn’t have an official booth. They were right to do so, of course. By then, though, I had gotten all the information I needed anyway. And my information told me that this organizer was going to be on every jewelry-lover’s wish list. My gut had always told me this invention was a hero, and now I had the closest thing I’d ever have as proof until it went on sale.

   TIPS 

1. If people criticize your design or otherwise offer a critique, don’t argue back. Don’t try to convince them that their initial reaction is wrong. Listen, take notes, and pay attention to patterns. You’ll never please everyone, but if you go out there and hear a resounding and consistent “No,” pay attention. Be grateful you’re able to find out now that no one wants or understands your invention, not after you’ve got units sitting on the shelves gathering dust. If, on the other hand, you get enthusiastic responses like, “Wow, I wish I’d thought of that,” or, “I would definitely buy that,” that tells you people are excited by your idea and are likely to buy it.

2. The percentage of reviews that need to be positive in order for you to trust your data depends on your product. If you’re selling something brand-new, you want to see an approval rating between 60 and 70 percent. This means that your concept has resonated with the population. But if you’re simply adding a new option to
a competitive market, your numbers don’t have to be quite as high.
Apple’s iPhone has 14 percent of the U.S. mobile market. Fourteen percent wouldn’t be a great number if Apple were only competing against one other mobile company, but given how much competition there is for market share, 14 percent is still a lot of units being sold. No one can say the iPhone isn’t working.

3. Use this time to understand your product and hone your pitch. Before you show your product, you should have all your top-selling features down cold: (a) what problem your invention solves, (b) how it works, and (c) why your consumer needs it. Once your product is sitting on a shelf, your packaging will answer those questions for you, but when you’re showing it to people, you need to present it in such a way that consumers quickly understand its qualities and whether they would use it. If it’s hard to explain now, no one is going to get it when it’s sitting on the shelf without you, either.