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Volume 8, Issue 11 - November, 2008
Robert (Bob) Cannon
The most optimistic success rate I have run across for new product
ideas is about 3%. In other words, 97% of product ideas
never successfully enter the market. There are lots of reasons for
this low level of performance, but there is a consistency around
a few common mistakes that routinely present themselves with inventors
and new product marketers. These are not the only reasons, but if
you can avoid these mistakes, you can greatly improve your chances
for success.
The Product: The single biggest shortcoming in
new product introductions is not fully understanding the product,
its usage and the target market. A dead give away to this problem
is when I ask inventors to define the target market and they tell
me, "Everybody." If your target market is everybody, you
are doomed to failure. It is like shooting a gun at a bull’s
eye. You will most likely never hit the bull’s eye if you
are aiming at the whole target.
The Opportunity: One of the most difficult questions
to answer in preparing a new product for market is defining the
opportunity. Sadly, there is not enough information available about
most product categories and if you have something that is entirely
new, there are no reference points, but this is critical information
for the decision- makers you will be dealing with. You must have
some verifiable estimate for the potential of this product.
The Channels: With most products, there are going
to be intermediate steps between you and the end user of your product.
What Channel or Channels will you choose? What are their expectations?
Can you provide what they require? What do they require? Are there
any trends that could affect your successful launch?
Your Circumstances: There are usually three factors
that each inventor / marketer must understand about themselves before
they go to market. Do you know what those 3 factors are and what
options are available to best match your circumstances?
Research: Many people think they are marketing
their new product idea or invention. The truth is you are also marketing
actionable information and knowledge, but where do you go to get
that information and knowledge? Once you do get it, how do you put
it together?
The Fuzzy Front End: The people you are trying
to sell your new product or invention to have a perspective that
is different than yours. Do you understand their perspective and
can you provide answers to their questions both asked and unasked?
Your Offering: Successful new product introductions
require more than just the product. If we all just bought products,
we would all be driving the same make and model of automobile. People
don't just buy products, they buy features and benefits and image
and status. How are you going to package your product for success?
Infomercials: Sadly there are a great many people
in the market eager to take your money to produce an infomercial
to help you sell your product before you have answers to the above
questions. Far too many inventors produce products and invest in
an infomercial before they have answered the previous questions.
Then they find themselves with all their resources tied up in inventory
and an infomercial. They are then without the resources to go back
and do the work they should have done in the beginning.
If you don’t have answers to the first seven issues, you are
not ready to go to market via an infomercial. In fact, you are not
ready to produce product. New product ideas have negligible value.
The value increases geometrically as the product approaches commercial
success. You must know the answers to these questions to add value
to your new product idea and create a successful new product offering.
I am so grateful for this time of year. I look forward to spending
time with family members and friends. I am grateful to get out in
the woods and enjoy nature. I am grateful for the successes and
the lessons of the year. I am also grateful for the people who have
been so helpful during the year. Thanks first to Peg, without her
I would not be.Thanks to Linda, Mike and Hub for their help with
all things internet. Thanks to my mastermind group including: Tammy,
Janine, Kordell, Glenn and Eddie. Thanks also to Jim C for his advice
and direction. It has been a great year and as a result, 2009 will
be even better.
The world keeps on changing and I keep trying to hang on. This year
I have jumped into web 2.0 with:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB37DUtwVMQ
http://www.twitter.com
Decision Doc
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1144771686
http://www.linkedin.com
Robert E. (Bob) Cannon
If you have a subject that you would like to see covered in future
issues of “Taking Aim,” please send me an email at aim@CannonAdvantage.com.
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Robert E. Cannon
Management Consultant
13985 Aquilla Road
Burton, OH 44021 USA
866.598.8450 phone/v-mail
440.834.1052 facsimile
aim@cannonadvantage.com
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A government big enough to give you everything you
want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
Thomas Jefferson
What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
Edward Langley, Artist
(1928 - 1995)
The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite
at one end and no responsibility at the other. Ronald Reagan
Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors
to live at the expense of everybody else.
Frederic Bastiat, Economist (1801-1850)
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