Want Some of This? A good product is nothing without a customer who wants to buy it.

Last year, 32,025 new domestic products wereintroduced-more than twice the amount in 1991, according toresearch from Market Intelligence Service. The sheer volume of newproducts coming out creates problems for inventors; retailers andcustomers can only buy so much. But this obstacle is notinsurmountable, as evidenced by the many inventors who succeed allthe time.

The secret to raising your odds of success is to carefullyresearch your market ahead of time to determine whether potentialcustomers are really interested in spending their hard-earneddollars on your product. The right strategy requires three keysteps, each of which can be done inexpensively: 1) find out aboutsimilar products that already exist on the market; 2) ask userswhether they see the same problems you do with current productsavailable; and 3) get real-life input from actual users willing totry out prototypes or models of your product. Neglect any one ofthese steps, and you're looking at a challenging roadahead.

Research Rules

Thorough research helped Stephanie Kellar, 45, successfullylaunch her innovative eyelash curler, which features a new take onan old design dating back to 1928. She got inspired after literallypinching her face with the casing (the part that allows the metalparts to curl the lashes) on a traditional model.

With dreams of inventing a better eyelash curler, Kellar set outin 1995 to make two specific improvements: 1) move the casing awayfrom the face so it's not a pinch hazard; and 2) design alarger, rounder curling surface that minimizes the possibility ofover-curling lashes. That same year, she launched her ChestnutHill, Massachusetts, business, Corionne Consulting Co. Inc.

Kellar decided to start by finding out whether other potentialusers had the same complaints about eyelash curlers she did. Sheused a Usenet newsgroup called alt.fashion to gather information.According to Kellar, "I didn't want to tell people exactlywhat I was doing, so I would pose questions on the Usenet like,'Has anyone had problems pinching their face with an eyelashcurler?' " Over a few months, by continually posingquestions on the Usenet, Kellar was able to get input from morethan 100 people. The overall consensus was that the eyelash curlerscurrently on the market clearly had problems. Kellar was sure thiswas her great opportunity.

Next, Kellar decided to make a pilot run of products so shecould ensure the product was just right. "The biggest errorpeople make is to put a product on the market before it'sready," she explains. So in 1996, Kellar produced a small runof eyelash curlers and gave test units to about 50 of the users shehad met through the Usenet to see if they felt the product actuallydelivered the results Kellar promised. The product testerssuggested 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 havean adequate user base. She visited Boston Public Library'sPatent Depository section to research past patents on eyelashcurlers. (You can also do an online search at www.uspto.gov.) "Iwanted to do the patent research myself so I could see all theimprovements people had proposed, just as much as I wanted to seeif anyone had already patented my idea," Kellar says. Afterfinding that other inventors hadn't really pursued her approachto the problem before, Kellar decided to apply for a patent, whichwas eventually granted in 1999.

As her experience suggests, Kellar's research paid off. Shelaunched her innovative eyelash curler-the Lashpro, whichretails for $19-in 2000 and reached $100,000 in sales in 2001selling primarily to high-end retailers like Henri Bendel andNordstrom. Today, 50 stores carry Kellar's product, and shehopes to double the number of high-end outlets by the end of theyear. Kellar is also approaching mass-merchant accounts and beautysupply shops and hopes to land a major account by the end of theyear. Not bad for an innovation based on a product first patentedmore than 60 years ago.

Getting Results

Despite what you might think, success is not based on how muchpeople like your product. Instead, according to Shelia Mello, amarket research expert in Boston, "The crux of the problem ishow strongly people feel about solving their problem." ToMello, the most important point to learn is what percentage ofpotential users feel the new product is essential rather than justnice to have. "The classification of how much someone likessomething is not really relevant," Mello explains. "It isa matter of how much they value solving the problem, so that theywill spend money to get it solved or spend money to switch how theysolve it."

In Kellar's case, she knew from her research that 25 percentof mascara users use eyelash curlers. When she was using thealt.fashion Usenet, she concentrated on how anxious people were toswitch to a new product. She was trying to answer the same questionMello recommends asking: "Is there a significant number ofpeople motivated to buy your product?"

Inventors often get so caught up with their ideas, whichthey've often worked on for years, that they start to believethey're true experts. This is a big mistake, as inventorsusually don't have the same buying motivation as mostconsumers. So if you want to make sure you're spending yourmoney and time wisely, take time to find out what potential buyersthink of your idea. That small step will stop you from makingcostly mistakes, and it will give you the best shot at successfullyintroducing the best possible product.

Don Debelak is a new-business marketing consultant and authorof Think Big: Make Millions From Your Ideas. Send him yourquestions at dondebelak34@msn.com.

Contact Sources

• Corionne Consulting Co. Inc.
  www.lashpro.com
• Market Intelligence Service Ltd.
  (800) 836-5710, www.productscan.com
• Product Development Consulting Inc.
  www.pdcinc.com,smello@pdcinc.com