Want Some of This?
A good product is nothing without a customer who wants to buy it.
URL:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2002/june/51926.html
Last year, 32,025 new domestic products were
introduced—more than twice the amount in 1991, according to
research from Market Intelligence Service. The sheer volume of new
products coming out creates problems for inventors; retailers and
customers can only buy so much. But this obstacle is not
insurmountable, as evidenced by the many inventors who succeed all
the time.
The secret to raising your odds of success is to carefully
research your market ahead of time to determine whether potential
customers are really interested in spending their hard-earned
dollars on your product. The right strategy requires three key
steps, each of which can be done inexpensively: 1) find out about
similar products that already exist on the market; 2) ask users
whether they see the same problems you do with current products
available; and 3) get real-life input from actual users willing to
try out prototypes or models of your product. Neglect any one of
these steps, and you're looking at a challenging road
ahead.
Research Rules
Thorough research helped Stephanie Kellar, 45, successfully
launch her innovative eyelash curler, which features a new take on
an old design dating back to 1928. She got inspired after literally
pinching her face with the casing (the part that allows the metal
parts to curl the lashes) on a traditional model.
With dreams of inventing a better eyelash curler, Kellar set out
in 1995 to make two specific improvements: 1) move the casing away
from the face so it's not a pinch hazard; and 2) design a
larger, rounder curling surface that minimizes the possibility of
over-curling lashes. That same year, she launched her Chestnut
Hill, Massachusetts, business, Corionne Consulting Co. Inc.
Kellar decided to start by finding out whether other potential
users had the same complaints about eyelash curlers she did. She
used a Usenet newsgroup called alt.fashion to gather information.
According to Kellar, "I didn't want to tell people exactly
what I was doing, so I would pose questions on the Usenet like,
'Has anyone had problems pinching their face with an eyelash
curler?' " Over a few months, by continually posing
questions on the Usenet, Kellar was able to get input from more
than 100 people. The overall consensus was that the eyelash curlers
currently on the market clearly had problems. Kellar was sure this
was her great opportunity.
Next, Kellar decided to make a pilot run of products so she
could ensure the product was just right. "The biggest error
people make is to put a product on the market before it's
ready," she explains. So in 1996, Kellar produced a small run
of eyelash curlers and gave test units to about 50 of the users she
had met through the Usenet to see if they felt the product actually
delivered the results Kellar promised. The product testers
suggested a few adjustments, which she made.
With close to 5 million eyelash curlers purchased every year,
Kellar was confident her new and improved eyelash curler would have
an adequate user base. She visited Boston Public Library's
Patent Depository section to research past patents on eyelash
curlers. (You can also do an online search at www.uspto.gov.) "I
wanted to do the patent research myself so I could see all the
improvements people had proposed, just as much as I wanted to see
if anyone had already patented my idea," Kellar says. After
finding that other inventors hadn't really pursued her approach
to the problem before, Kellar decided to apply for a patent, which
was eventually granted in 1999.
As her experience suggests, Kellar's research paid off. She
launched her innovative eyelash curler—the Lashpro, which
retails for $19—in 2000 and reached $100,000 in sales in 2001
selling primarily to high-end retailers like Henri Bendel and
Nordstrom. Today, 50 stores carry Kellar's product, and she
hopes to double the number of high-end outlets by the end of the
year. Kellar is also approaching mass-merchant accounts and beauty
supply shops and hopes to land a major account by the end of the
year. Not bad for an innovation based on a product first patented
more than 60 years ago.
| | SMART AS A POST | |
| Entrepreneur Stephanie
Kellar used a fashion-related newsgroup on the Usenet not only to
conduct initial research, but also to find people willing to test
out an early version of her innovative eyelash curler. The Usenet,
an online bulletin board system that lets users post what they have
to say in ongoing discussions about specific topics, is a great
market research tool if you can find a newsgroup that fits your
product category. To access Google's extensive Usenet
directory, log on to www.google.com and enter
"Usenet" as a search term. Another site that you can use
to find the right newsgroup is www.ii.com/internet/messaging/newsgroups;
click here to search through 18,000 newsgroups. |
Despite what you might think, success is not based on how much
people like your product. Instead, according to Shelia Mello, a
market research expert in Boston, "The crux of the problem is
how strongly people feel about solving their problem." To
Mello, the most important point to learn is what percentage of
potential users feel the new product is essential rather than just
nice to have. "The classification of how much someone likes
something is not really relevant," Mello explains. "It is
a matter of how much they value solving the problem, so that they
will spend money to get it solved or spend money to switch how they
solve it."
In Kellar's case, she knew from her research that 25 percent
of mascara users use eyelash curlers. When she was using the
alt.fashion Usenet, she concentrated on how anxious people were to
switch to a new product. She was trying to answer the same question
Mello recommends asking: "Is there a significant number of
people motivated to buy your product?"
Inventors often get so caught up with their ideas, which
they've often worked on for years, that they start to believe
they're true experts. This is a big mistake, as inventors
usually don't have the same buying motivation as most
consumers. So if you want to make sure you're spending your
money and time wisely, take time to find out what potential buyers
think of your idea. That small step will stop you from making
costly mistakes, and it will give you the best shot at successfully
introducing the best possible product.
| | FOR MORE INFORMATION | |
- Customer-Centric Product Definition:
The Key to Great Product Development (Amacon Books) by Shelia Mello
explains the ins and outs of how to find out what customers want
and then give it to them. Although the book draws on market
research techniques from experts at MIT and the University of
Chicago as well as experiences at large companies, its advice will
help inventors and growing businesses produce the right
product.
- The Market Research Tool Box: A
Concise Guide for Beginners (Sage Publications) by Edward F.
McQuarrie, a great resource for both inventors and new marketers,
explains the differences between various research phases such as
market assessment, final go or no-go decisions, and how to
formulate a research plan and assess the results for each
phase.
- Small Biz 911 (www.ndsu.nodak.edu/smallbiz911/main) is a
useful site that explains the main steps inventors need to take to
get their product to market. Areas covered include idea evaluation,
idea assessment, product design based on market research and early
stages of product development.
|
Don Debelak is a new-business marketing consultant and author
of Think Big: Make Millions From Your Ideas. Send him your
questions at dondebelak34@msn.com.
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