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Here is a recording that
will excite both inventors as well as anyone who likes a good
story. Get ready for an education in invention and marketing that
you cannot get anywhere else!
John has been the
inventor of many successful products. One in particular is
a product named EasyGlide, which is basically a polymer that John had
packaged into an aerosol can. When sprayed into drapery or
sliding door tracks, it facilitates the movement of the draperies or
sliding doors by more than 50%.
He worked very hard and
actually got his product into the giant Home Depot chain of stores,
where his product’s price undercut all of the competition. It
was, and still is, a very successful product.
John explains to me that
a large company that had almost two hundred products in Home Depot, had
approached him to not only buy the rights to EasyGlide, but to hire him
at a handsome salary plus royalties to operate that division as
well. John accepted their offer and, although his current salary
is lucrative and his job is enjoyable, John wants to do something new
and different.
You see, John not only
loves inventions – he also loves to help people. For years, he
has been approached by people who have invented products and want to
know how to get that product into Home Depot or its largest competitor,
Lowe’s. If John believes the product is right for the market, he
becomes a consultant to the inventor, giving the inventor all of the
tips and secrets that he knows to get the product into the desired
marketplace.
The problem was that John
always gives his information away for free!
One of his good friends
and trusted advisors kept telling him that he had to stop giving this
information away for free. In calling around for advice, he ended
up calling me. John tells how his EasyGlide product came to
fruition and new plans for the polymer in other industries. You
will also hear about some of the other products invented and sold by
John – and you’ve most likely heard of all of them.
In this recording you
will hear me do a consultation with John, asking him what ideas he has
about what he wanted to do with all of his experience.
As I ask John what
specific questions people have asked him (it is mainly, “How do I get
my product into Home Depot?”), it occurs to me that the answers to all
of these questions would make a GREAT information product!
Listen as I give John
some ideas about what his information product could consist of and how
he could generate leads and market it. We also discuss how I
could help him to actually develop his information product with audio
interviews and perhaps copywriting for sales letters and written
content. I also give him some ideas about pricing the product.
John digresses to an
incident experienced by one of his mentors, the actual inventor of the
vice grips sold by Sears/Craftsman and several other stores.
Listen to how this unfortunate gentleman actually lost the rights to
this now popular product and only received a pittance for all of his
hard work.
Even though John was
aware of what had happened to his mentor, John actually got into a
similar situation with a key-based product that he had invented and
produced. He got involved with another company who contracted
with John to sell them millions of this product. Listen as John
explains that he now believes that they had absolutely no intention of
paying for the products. Instead, they offered to buy his
company. John refused and the result was that they went to
court. You’ll hear how this large company tried to settle with
John and how John refused. John’s story is a lesson in itself in
what to look out for when doing business with big, ruthless companies.
Going back to an
information product for inventors, you will hear me explain how this
type of product could be immensely successful because of all of the
people who have patented inventions and would give an arm and a leg to
know how to market their product to giants like Home Depot.
You’ll hear my best
advice about how John might market his information product, including
conducting seminars versus other types of lead generation techniques
without having to travel constantly.
As John tells me of some
of his recent experiences helping other inventors package and market
their products, another idea comes to mind. Perhaps instead of
creating an information product, John should become a consultant as an
expert in the field of successfully marketing new products. You
will hear my ideas and advice about how John could have a fun and
lucrative business as a consultant. How about combining
consulting with an information product? With all of the
high-powered contacts that John has in several industries, what a
perfect business this would be!
At first, John is
doubtful that his knowledge is worth anything. But as we talk,
John starts to realize that he is undervaluing his services and needs
to start charging for his work and advice. John definitely sounds
excited, wants to think about it and promises to call me back about
where he wants to go from here. John needed to go over his
contract with his employer with a fine-tooth comb to make sure that
being a consultant or developing an information product would not go
against any provisions in the contract.
Unfortunately, I never
did hear from John again. My educated guess is that, after
looking into his contract, John probably found that anything he
develops would be owned by his employer.
Although the outcome of
my interview with John is unfortunate, I must say that the interview,
itself, will make you realize many things about inventing, marketing
your invention to large companies, selling the rights to your product
to large companies, and I hope that the mistakes made by John as well
as his fellow inventors will help you to be aware of the good and the
bad things to look for on your road to success. Enjoy!
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