The Entrepreneur: Missy Cohen-Fyffe, 43-year-old founder
of Babe Ease LLC in Pelham, New Hampshire
Product Description: The Clean Shopper is a quilted
cotton cover for shopping carts to prevent children from being
exposed to disease-causing bacteria. The product features Velcro
strips for the shopping cart's handle, two loops for attaching
toys, and a strap to hold the baby safely in the cart. The Clean
Diner is a similar product for restaurant highchairs. Both products
are sold in 400 independent baby stores; several midsize baby store
chains, including Learning Express; and some grocery stores, such
as Whole Foods Market.
Startup: approximately $20,000 for patents, a phone
system, attorneys fees, trademarks and early production runs in
1999, prior to selling the product online (www.cleanshopper.com) and via a toll-free number
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Sales: approximately $1.8 million in 2004, $3 million
projected for 2005
The Challenge: How to "brand" your invention
from the beginning so that you're prepared to expand beyond one
product to an entire product line
When Missy Cohen-Fyffe started out, she only sold her product
online and via a toll-free number-primarily because her
manufacturing costs were so high, she couldn't discount the
product 50 percent for retailers. In 2002, however, with help from
the Juvenile Products
Manufacturers Association, she found a lower-priced
manufacturing source and was ready to approach the retail market.
People who were interested in her idea suggested that she would
have an easier time selling if she built her brand with a
multiproduct line. The effort paid off--her sales immediately
jumped 20 percent when she introduced the Clean Diner.
Steps to Success
1. Establish a brand name. "I wanted to create a
brand name everyone could identify with," says Cohen-Fyffe.
"I also wanted the name to be easy to remember. That's why
all our products start with 'Clean.' The term clean is
important because our products are designed to protect infants and
toddlers from the disease-causing bacteria found on common
surfaces." Inventors should consider branding possibilities
when deciding on both their company names and their first product
names. The best names clearly reflect benefits the products offer
consumers. In Cohen-Fyffe's case, the word clean is a
better branding tool than her company name, Babe Ease, as it more
accurately conveys the product's benefit.
2. Create a unified look. Inventors can reinforce the
brand name by having a packaging strategy that clearly identifies
the product's brand. Cohen-Fyffe's packaging strategy
reflects a uniform look. "I wanted a recognizable look that
reinforced the brand name," she says. "That's why all
of our packaging now sports our signature color splash."
3. Make quality a priority. A branding strategy only
works if your first product has a high-quality reputation. In fact,
Cohen-Fyffe absorbed big losses early on to ensure every customer
was satisfied. In 2003, when her Clean Shopper product was just
gaining popularity, Cohen-Fyffe's staff unknowingly shipped out
some defective products. "We started to receive calls from
customers complaining of sewing defects and other problems,"
she says. "We had never had complaints like [that]
before." So Cohen-Fyffe recalled the defective items,
exchanged them for high-quality replacements and refunded some
customers' money. "I thought the costs might bankrupt my
company, but my customers stood with us because we took care of the
problems."
4. Find complementary products. A new product does better
for your distribution channel of reps, distributors and retailers
when it's part of a multi-product line that can be sold at the
same stores to the same target customers. According to Cohen-Fyffe,
"Once we offered the Clean Diner [in addition to the Clean
Shopper], getting it onto store shelves proved much easier than
anticipated. I believe that having only one product significantly
limited our sales potential."
5. Show new product activity. A steady stream of products
is key. Cohen-Fyffe came out with the Clean Changer and the
Disposable Clean Shopper in 2004, and plans to come out with the
Twins Clean Shopper and the Disposable Clean Diner in 2005.
That's good news to her distribution channel, and it will help
Cohen-Fyffe add new reps and retailers in 2005.
Lessons Learned
1. Brand from the start. Branding includes a naming
strategy, a product look and a packaging strategy. Before launching
your first product, try to choose a name and package with elements
that can be used for any subsequent products. Neglect to do this
upfront, and you may be faced with a costly overhaul when you
finally decide to pursue a branding strategy.
2. One-product vendors face strong resistance.
Independent manufacturers' sales agents and retailers incur
high costs--due to phone calls, record keeping, inventory tracking
and paying invoices--when dealing with vendors. For that reason,
agents and retailers prefer vendors with multiproduct lines.
One-product companies need an innovative product with strong
consumer appeal to overcome this resistance.
3. Customer requests are your best sources of new,
complementary products. Customers who like your product will
often send in requests for similar products for other applications.
Listen to those customers--they often suggest products that could
be big winners.
4. Create a high-quality product. Reps and retailers
worry that a startup will go out of business, and they'll be
stuck with inventory and no support. The worry increases with
quality problems. Reps and retailers may stop supporting a product
after just one poor-quality lot.
Patent value
Capitalize on your intellectual property by making your patent
work for you.
Millions from the Mind: How to Turn Your
Invention--or Someone Else's--Into a Fortune (Taletyano
Press) by Alan R. Tripp provides a different take on the inventing
process. It's written by a patent attorney who doesn't
believe in patents for patents' sake, but is more interested in
examining how inventors can use a patent to add real value to a
product.
The book shines in the areas of using a patent as a business
weapon, capitalizing on intellectual property and striking a
licensing agreement. Read it for a balanced view of what makes a
strong patent, when a patent is worth getting, and how to use a
patent as a tool to enhance a product's introduction.
Don Debelak is author of Entrepreneur magazine's
Start-Up Guide #1813, Bringing Your Product to Market (www.smallbizbooks.com), and host of inventor-help
website www.dondebelak.com.