Create For Cash

How Well Do You Know Your Customer?

How well do you know your customer? The more you know about them, the better you’ll be able to serve them.

I just got back from speaking at the California Public Information Officers Conference on the topic of “Getting Your Message Across: What Great Leaders Know About Storytelling”.

I really didn’t know what these people did, but I decided to do a lot of homework to find out. I’m glad I did because it paid off and they noticed.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because it’s important to know who your customer is. Since I was speaking at a conference, my customer was the meeting planner that hired me. But the “end user” was the people who were in the audience. So I actually had to know both for different reasons.

Let’s say, for example, you have a product or service to sell. You could sell that product directly to the end user, or you could sell it to a distributor, wholesaler, or retailer. With each one, you need to know the needs and concerns of each customer. And some of their concerns overlap. [Read more…] about How Well Do You Know Your Customer?

Product Prototype

product entrepreneur — product prototype

I remember trying to explain my first product, swiggies, wrist water bottles when I didn’t have a tangible prototype to show. “It’s a bottle that straps onto your wrist and has a pull top like a regular sports bottle.” People were picturing a regular water bottle that simply strapped onto your wrist.

Even when I made a clay prototype, it still didn’t quite register. The clay was molded into a small bottle type figure that sat on top of the wrist and had a vel-stretch band through it to keep it from moving. The cap opened and closed like a sports bottle.

It wasn’t until I had the finished product in the packaging that people finally went “Oh, I get it!”

Because most people can’t visualize something exactly the way you can with your own vision. So, if you plan on licensing, or even manufacturing yourself, it’s good to have some type of prototype for several reasons. [Read more…] about Product Prototype

Product Entrepreneur – Inventor’s Notebook

An inventor’s notebook, or also called a logbook, is a special notebook designed for inventors to keep track of all of the details of their invention. This has always been important in the U.S. because we’ve always been a first to invent country. But that will all change on March 16, 2013 when the America Invents Act kicks in.

The first to invent means that the inventor has conceived and “reduced to practice” their idea. So, until March 16, 2012 the inventor’s notebook will be critical. Even after that date, keeping an inventor’s notebook will still add value to your invention. Why wouldn’t you do it anyway? It’s free. And just added proof that the idea is yours and you have been actively working to get it on the market.

You can technically use any kind of bound notebook that can’t be changed or altered, but I like to use ones like The Inventor’s Logbook: An Essential Record Keeping System It includes everything you need to know to document your idea and shows you how to do it step by step.
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Product Entrepreneurs

I just got back last week from speaking at the ASD international retail conference in Vegas. The speech was on using innovation for competitive advantage. I was happy to see such a good turn out, not just for my speech, but for the whole conference.

ASD is a consumer goods trade show, which is actually 6 shows in 1. Gift, fashion, jewelry, health, beauty, and toys/novelty. It was a huge gathering of manufacturers from around the world and was hard to take in the whole show in one day.

What surprised me as I walked the show was the number of products that have been on the market for years that I’ve never heard of. Like the all natural, non toxic insect repelling Bug Button and Super Band. Or the Chillit Bags beverage coolers.

Then there were the new products like Kisstixx. Dallas Robinson and Mike Buonomo were big winners on Shark Tank when one of the sharks, Mark Cuban, took a liking to their products and made them partners. Kisstixx is a great example of putting a new twist on an old idea, chap stick. The idea is that a chemical reaction is created from two different flavors when 2 people kiss. Their new product is just as cool…breath spray that does the same thing. Even without the kissing partner, their chap stick is the best I’ve ever tried. I met them at their booth at the show and they are genuinely nice, down to earth guys. I wish them the best. [Read more…] about Product Entrepreneurs

How to Market Like a Jack Russell

For anyone that’s ever had a Jack Russell and given them a task to do, you know that they absolutely won’t quit until they figure it out. I had a Jack Russell named Chloe, that I nicknamed Houdini. She could figure out how to get into or out of anything. I still don’t know how she managed to get out of her locked crate.

I once put a treat just out of reach of her on top of a pile of boxes, and watched to see if she could get it. She tried jumping at it, but that didn’t work. She tried climbing on a table and leaping in the air to get it, but that didn’t work. For at least a couple of hours, she tried every clever way she could think of to get that treat. There was no such thing as ‘can’t’ to Chloe. She was going to get that treat. She eventually used a nearby broom and pushed the top box off.

If you want to market your product, service, or business, you have to think like Chloe. You have to market like a Jack Russell. Most things you do probably won’t work on the first try. You might get lucky once, but marketing is an ongoing process. You can’t just set it and forget it. [Read more…] about How to Market Like a Jack Russell