© 2006 Dream Merchant • 2309 Torrance Blvd. #104, Torrance, CA 90501 (310) 328-1925 email: Jkm316@aol.com
In the Early Stages of Development, You Must Look at Your Product From Every Angle.
By Ken Tarlow
Evaluation--this is the work that firms up the foundation of your creative genius. This work should be seen, not as tedious and boring, but rather as a great Sherlock Holmes adventure.
Becoming a Super Sleuth will enable you to find out everything about a product category. It's like solving a great mystery.
* Has anyone done anything like my idea?* Is it possible to make my product for a low enough cost so that people will buy it?
* Where can I find the parts to make my model?
These are just a few of the questions you'll be answering.
Once I was designing a food dehydrator for a client. At the time, I was looking for the most inexpensive heating source. My experiments showed that a 75-watt light bulb could be used as a perfect heat generator to dehydrate the food. So, I was looking for the most inexpensive light bulb. All the U.S. bulbs seemed to be about the same price.
Finally, one of the U.S. suppliers said, "If you really want cheap bulbs, you have to get them from Hungary."
"From Hungary?" I said. "Where? Who are they?"
He said, "I can't tell you any more."
What to do?
I called the Hungarian Embassy in New York City, asked them about it, and they said, "Oh, yes, Action Tungs Ram," a state-run light bulb factory. The bulbs were half the price of U.S. bulbs and my client ended up buying more than 500,000 of them. To me, this was an exciting hunt. Sherlock Holmes would have been proud.
If your product idea has a fatal flaw, it's best to find out now before you spend a lot of time and dollars on it.
A product developer once brought me a completed prototype to see if I could help him license it. It was a steering wheel cover with switches built into it. The switches transmitted to an amplifier and speaker that produced various drum sounds as you tapped on different parts of your steering wheel. So you could accompany the music that was playing on the car radio.
Much time and effort had gone into making the prototype. The product developer had high hopes, but the product had a fatal flaw that should have been discovered in the evaluation stage.
As soon as one driver got into an auto accident while drumming happily on his steering wheel, the manufacturer of the "Steering Wheel Drum Machine" could be sued and most likely forced to pay damages and stop the manufacture of the item. Don't let your love of your product ideas blind you to the truth.
On the other hand, obstacles are meant to be overcome. If it was easy, someone else would probably have done it already. Product development requires a constant checking and rechecking as you progress with your idea.
It's time to put on your Sherlock Holmes Hat and solve the mysteries of your new product idea. Make it fun, folks! It truly can be.
The above article was excerpted from Ken Tarlow's MIND TO MONEY, a cassette tape/workbook package that can help you develop a new product from the idea stage to the marketplace. MIND TO MONEY may be ordered from the Dream Merchant at $59.95 plus $4.95 CA sales tax and$5 shipping and handling ($69.90 total). Send orders to the Dream Merchant, 2309 Torrance Blvd., Suite 104, Torrance, CA 90501.
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