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President's
Corner
Kellie
Olver gave us an exciting, fact packed performance on July 10th and although
many of the attendees told me how much they enjoyed the presentation, just as
many missed the correlation to their own projects.
I
personally take seminars, read trade magazines and E-letters, go to tradeshows
and conferences that are seemingly unrelated to my field and believe me it is
NOT because I have soooo much time on my hands that I love to study reeeeally
boring stuff just to keep busy. I find it vital to keep abreast of various information
that IS directly related to my quest to get my products to market. So, any new
trick or technique is warmly welcomed.
You
see, everything is related to SALES… Period! I don't care if you are selling
a new type of jet engine or copy paper to Boeing the basic concept is the same.
You have an End-user, a Buyer and several Gatekeepers. You need to make a compelling
case to each of these links in the chain as to why they should replace the product
that is already making them money with yours. How we do this is by expressing
the value that your product has over the incumbent, as directly related to the
particular needs of each Gatekeeper.
Your product, no matter how wonderful, is simply another solution to a problem
experienced by the End-user but at this point NOBODY cares about the End-user
and the End-user will never even know about your solution to their problem unless
you get past the Gatekeepers.
Many of the speakers we bring in and articles we bring up in the newsletter
are relating tips on how to overcome the Gatekeepers. Whether they are the buyers
from QVC, a patent examiner or a potential licensee, you must see your product
through THEIR EYES to get them to let you through to the next level. To do this
you must take the information we give you and relate it to YOUR PROJECT.
For
example, this month, Eileen Fischlschweiger will be giving us a guided
tour of the New USPTO website at the Main Branch of the Broward County Library.
There is a ton of useful information YOU NEED right at your finger tips on that
site.
Just
on the first page of a patent it gives you a list of some of the Gatekeepers
you must overcome. There is the:
- Assignee, or
the company who owns the rights to the patent (read potential licensee for
your own project or major competitor)
- Attorney (read
level of competence Required in your industry)
- Current US and
Foreign classifications (this IS your direct competition)
- Examiner (possibly
a person to contact with questions relating to what you might expect to own).
You
can get contact information on most of these as well as the inventor on the
website so you can ask questions relating to the involvement of each. The entire
process and correspondence between the patent examiner and prosecutor is there
as public record, which can show you how you might fare with your own product.
There is also information on new programs, legislation and practices that can
directly influence the Gatekeepers for your project.
On
September 11th (that is the second Saturday of the month due to Labor Day),
we are going to have Gus Bigos of Evergreen IP, who, among other
things, will be telling us what his company and in particular what Clorox looks
for in a potential product.
OK,
so your product has nothing to do with soap but don't you think the gatekeepers
in your industry are basically looking for the same stuff? Don't you think they
are looking for the answers to the same basic questions or might be impressed
with a similar presentation? You need to put all of the techniques you learn
together into the biggest, baddest, battering ram you can make to bust through
those gates and finally get your product to your End-user so they will have
the opportunity to decide if they like it or not.
Next,
and many of you know, I have been chanting this like an enraptured monk, YOU
NEED A VIDEO! There is no way around it; everybody in the industry now is looking
for videos. And, although "they say" it can be just a rough homemade
production, they are going to be looking for Real Professional Top Quality Information.
Don't forget, they will be judging you against your competition. You will need
to put in everything Kellie talked about but directed to that particular Gatekeeper
in a SHORT exciting presentation.
In
a way, it is not unlike trying to get into an exclusive South Beach Dance Club.
You've got to make it past the doorman before you can shake your booty! Don't
look now but my age is showing!
ROCK
ON!!!
Leo
Mazur
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