How to Sell Your Product or Invention on a Home
Shopping Channel: Even if you Don’t Have One
8 Part Mini-Course
www.SuccessOnTV.com | www.MillionsOnTV.com Copyright © 2009 MillionsOnTV.com. All Rights Reserved. MillionsOnTV.com and Willow Tree Management Company, LLC, and its successors or assigns (collectively referred to as “the Publisher”) own all rights, title, and interest in this publication. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, including storage and retrieval systems, or otherwise, without permission in writing from the publisher. Further, you may not alter this document, nor sell it, nor offer it as a download on any internet site, nor incorporate it into any other document, printed or online Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to: Willow Tree Management Co., LLC 3225 McLeod Drive, Ste 100 Las Vegas, NV 89121 Published by Willow Tree Management Co., LLC 3225 McLeod Drive, Ste 100 Las Vegas, NV 89121 Printed and bound in the United States of America. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. The publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services, and you should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. All product or brand names are trademarks of their respective owners. ER Marks, Inc. is the owner of the QVC trademark and has not endorsed, or sponsored, or is associated with this informational item in any way. Please note: if you notice any dead links, please contact us. Unfortunately, link destinations change frequently in the fast paced online world. www.SuccessOnTV.com | www.MillionsOnTV.com Table of Contentss Part 1: Fiind, Create, Acquire a Prroduct…………
……………………
…………….. 4 Part 2: M
Market Reseaarch ……………
……………………
……………………
…………….. 7 Part 3: Asssess Producct Against TV
V Shopping C
Channel Standards…. 10 Part 4: Prrotect Yoursself………………
……………………
……………………………….. 12 Part 5: Co
osts, Pricing and Manufaacturing………
……………………………….. 14 Part 6: Fiinancing You
ur Product………………………………………
………………. 17 Part 7: Prreparing You
ur Presentattion/Testing Your Producct………….. 18 Part 8: Co
ontact the TTop Shoppingg Channels o
or Find an Aggent……… 20 www.Su
uccessOnTV.com | www.M
MillionsOnTV.ccom PART 1: FIND, CREATE, OR ACQUIRE PRODUCTS TO SELL ON TV
Welcome to the eight part mini‐course designed to help you take immediate steps toward realizing your dreams. This section will outline how to find, create, or acquire products to sell on the television home shopping channels. Firstly, let it be said that the highest reward and the highest risk comes from products that you own outright or make yourself. The reason for this, when it comes to reward, begins with cost. When you make your own product, all things considered, your costs of manufacturing are the lowest. By contrast, if you are reselling someone else’s product, they will have their profit margin tacked on top of their manufacturing costs and both will be passed on to you. Further, if you are licensing a product from someone else to resell where you are the manufacturer, you will have a royalty fee tacked on top of your manufacturing costs. So, given all things being equal, you will pay the least amount for a product when it is your own product. But this should not deter you in any way from licensing someone else’s product or selling another person’s product and gaining a portion of the proceeds. Success is success, and you might find a product created by someone else, bring it to television, and have a runaway success. All that said, let us take a look at how to find, create, or acquire products to sell on television shopping channels. GOAL: FIND A PRODUCT Let me define the relationships you can have with products and the home shopping channels when it comes to finding products. You can be a conduit. By this I mean you can find products and bring them to the television shopping channels. This is also known as sourcing. You can do this in a number of ways. You can act as an agent, whereby the product developer will pay you an intermediary fee for bringing their product to the television shopping channels. Secondly, you can license a product from a manufacturer to bring to the television shopping channels. Thirdly, you can outright acquire the rights to a product and become the owner. Great products with poor marketing are everywhere. So if you want to act in any of the above mentioned capacities the potential for profit is a very realistic possibility. That said, you can find products by opening a magazine of interest to you and peruse the pages for any product that may be suitable for the television shopping channels that have yet to be discovered. Just because there is an advertisement in a magazine doesn’t mean that the www.SuccessOnTV.com | www.MillionsOnTV.com product h
has a strongg marketing d
department and the ability to reach
h the television shoppingg channelss. You can aalso find pro
oducts by vissiting trade sshows. Quitee often, the television sh
hopping channelss do not have
e the manpo
ower to attend every traade show on
n the planet. Again, as with magazinee ads that yo
ou see, just b
because a prroduct and tthe companyy exhibits at a trade show does not mean that iit has a savvvy marketingg departmen
nt and the ab
bility to reach the televission shoppingg channels. YYou can find listings for ttrade showss in industry magazines, online, or byy calling large conventtion centers and asking ffor their schedule of upccoming even
nts. For example,, the Jacob Javits Centerr in New York City is a ho
otbed for ind
dustry trade shows. Onee can attend th
he Consumer Electronic Show for on
ne, and find a multitude of viable products in neeed of nation
nal television
n exposure. Another great place to find products is to search the pattent databasse. Here you
u can find m
many great pro
oducts that n
never got offf the ground
d. And you m
may be able tto contact th
he owners and set up an
n arrangeme
ent, whetherr it is a licenssing arrangeement, or an acquisition,, or possibly even a paartnership. YYou can begin by going tto www.uspto.gov or http://ww
ww.google.ccom/patentss ‐ where yo
ou can type in a keyword
d and get a p
plethora of results. GOAL: CR
REATE A PRO
ODUCT While on
n the subjectt of research
hing patents,, the patent database is a great placce to find inspiratio
on to create a product. What I mean by this is yyou can often find old prroducts or out of date prod
ducts and id
deas in the patent databases. Oftenttimes, you m
may find a viaable solution
n to an existin
ng problem, and yet thee product or idea may bee obsolete or out of datee. This doesn’t mean thaat it can’t be
e improved u
upon or updated. And m
many times, this may leaad to an entiirely new and patentable invention. This bringgs me to two
o vital questtions. 1. How can I sol
H
ve the problem? 2. How can I ma
H
ake it better? By perusing the pate
ent databasees and askingg these two questions, yyou’ll begin tto train yourr brain to tthink outside the box. This is an exeercise and a vviable proceess for creating new productss. It is a way of exploitin
ng gaps in pro
oducts. For example, yo
ou may find a product in
n the patent daatabases wh
hich leads yo
ou to a produ
uct availablee in the markketplace. This product, yyou www.Su
uccessOnTV.com | www.M
MillionsOnTV.ccom may find, has deficiencies in its appearance, for example, or in its manufacturing processes. Take for example, MP3 players. Now Apple was not the first company to put out an MP3 player as far as I know but they certainly have one of the sleekest, sexiest MP3 players on the market. When you pick up an Apple iPod, it’s a sensorial experience even before putting on the earphones. Essential to their runaway success in this area is the look and feel of their iPods, not to mention the ease of use. Hypothetically speaking, if you were to go back a few years and you found the early MP3 players you might find that the first ones were simply ugly. Then, by asking the aforementioned two questions you might conclude that you could improve the look and feel by changing the material that they were being made with and by offering your version in various hip colors. Further credit to Apple, they consistently offer products that have ease of use ‐ and there you have the runaway success story of the iPod. The two after mentioned questions can also be applied beyond the patent databases into our everyday world. Just look around your house and start asking those two questions. How can I solve the problem and how can I make a better. By looking at existing products you can already see popular problems and their proposed solutions. And the more common the problem the greater the potential of the product created that solves the particular problem. This is essentially what creates a mass market item – common problems experienced by many and a great desire for a “better way.” There is a reason why kitchen products and bathroom products have sparked entire industries. More bathrooms, more kitchens, mean greater exposure and need for products. So begin applying the two questions to everything you see, touch, and experience. This is how you create products. GOAL: ACQUIRE A PRODUCT Every situation is different, but once you have found a product sometimes all it takes is a phone call to start the ball rolling. Acquiring a product or licensing a product requires contracts, and so it is highly advisable to seek the advice of a competent attorney that can assist you in moving forward in this manner if you have an interested party willing to license or sell the rights to their product to you. Generally speaking, if you desire to set up a licensing arrangement, you can expect to pay five to ten percent in royalties and possibly an upfront fee. Further, you can license an item for a particular market. For example, you can set up a license strictly to sell and distribute a product on the home shopping channels. The same possibility exists, if you want to solely sell a product in an online capacity. You see big companies like Disney doing this all the time – they’ll grant a license of their images for use ONLY on greeting cards, and another license for just clothing, and so on. So, often there is great latitude depending on the given situation. www.SuccessOnTV.com | www.MillionsOnTV.com Acquisitio
on, on the o
other hand, is an altogether different species. It often requirres a consideraable amount of money, but once yo
ou’ve paid, you own the item outrigh
ht. Assignme
ent: Target aan industry;; find, create
e, or acquire
e a product tto sell on th
he shopping channelss www.Su
uccessOnTV.com | www.M
MillionsOnTV.ccom PART 2: MARKET RESEARCH
Market research is a vital first step for anyone, whether you have a product already or you are on the road to creating a product. The number of people that have come up with a new idea and have created a product without performing this vital step is staggering, and so, realize that market research cannot only save you time and money moving forward with your marketing efforts, but may also prevent you from making a costly mistake of moving forward if you find substantial obstacles in the marketplace that you were unaware of when you set forth with your idea. REASONS WHY It doesn’t matter how impressive your product or idea is, it cannot succeed without excellent marketing. And the root of a successful marketing effort begins with detailed market research. It is dangerous to assume that you already know everything there is to know about your market or even to conclude that if someone else has created a product already, as in the case of unused patents or products you find in the world that you can license or acquire rights to, so taking the time to do the proper research will be time well spent. It may mean the difference between moving forward blindly and wasting your financial resources, or stopping in your efforts early and cutting your losses immediately. GATHER FACTS ABOUT YOUR INDUSTRY •
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What is the total size of your market? What is the current demand in your target market? Trends in target market: growth trends, trends in consumer preferences, and trends in product development. What is the growth potential and opportunity for a business of your size? What barriers to entry do you face in entering your target market with your new company and how will you overcome these barriers? Some examples of barriers to entry are: o High capital costs o High production costs o High marketing costs o Consumer acceptance and brand recognition already in place o Training and skills o Unique technology and patents o Shipping costs How could a change in technology, the economy, manufacturing methods, etc., affect your company or product? www.SuccessOnTV.com | www.MillionsOnTV.com These are just some of the vital industry details that can determine the success of your company and product. LIST FEATURES AND BENEFITS •
•
What are the most important features of your product? What are the benefits of your product? Note the difference between features and benefits. Benefits are what your product can do for your customer. For example, a feature of lipstick might be what it is made of. A benefit of lipstick might be that it stays on your lips even after a full day of swimming in a Caribbean hideaway with your significant other. Features tell, benefits sell. IDENTIFY TARGET MARKET Identify your targeted customers. This may or may not include age, income, education level, gender, and all the other descriptions that fall under the term ‐ demographics. However, it is even more important to determine within the above information, what group is the most likely to buy your product and then talk about it to other people. It is vital to determine in today’s advertising saturated marketplace which group within your demographic will spread information about your product. This is hyper critical given the current state of the social internet environment, where Youtube or Myspace can catapult your product into the stratosphere with a few unique postings about it. In Greg Stielstra’s bestselling book, Pyro Marketing, he describes this group as the “driest tinder” –identification of the group that is most likely to catch fire and then cause everything around it to catch fire as well. In his book he cites the example of the movie marketing behind The Passion of the Christ. It was not a huge advertising budget that propelled this movie to #1 all‐time status, but rather, the low‐budgeted marketing team realized that their driest tinder would be pastors and churches, and thus, set out to incorporate these mavens to spread the word for them, igniting a box office inferno. So, identify the group most likely to spread the word about your product and determine how to communicate to the individuals within this group. Understanding the how’s and why’s of this group may alter your product makeup and presentation. IDENTIFY YOUR COMPETITION Determine what other products and companies will compete with yours. How will your products compare with the products of your competition? www.SuccessOnTV.com | www.MillionsOnTV.com Use the ffollowing guidelines to ssize up your competition
n: •
•
•
•
•
Price (vs. Com
mpetition) – is my produ
uct’s price po
oint a strenggth or weakn
ness? Q
Quality (vs. C
ompetition)) – is my product’s qualitty a strength
h or weakness? Im
mage (vs. Co
ompetition) –– Is my prod
duct’s image a strength o
or weaknesss? A
Appearance (
(vs. Competiition) – is myy product’s aappearance a strength o
or weakness? Ettc., etc. THINGS TTO THINK AB
BOUT Now thatt you’ve give
en yourself aa pretty good snapshot o
of the markeetplace, consider how yo
ou will posittion your pro
oduct in the marketplace. If you’ve u
uncovered facts about yyour marketp
place that leavve you with aa feeling that the markett segment you are targeeting is saturrated, how ccan you posittion your pro
oduct to oveercome this obstacle? In
n the saturatted rental caar market forr example,, Enterprise positioned itself as the only compan
ny offering aa delivery seervice for theeir cars. How
w you positiion your pro
oduct can vary and could
d mean the d
difference beetween succcess and failure. ent: Conduct market re
esearch to d
determine fe
easibility of yyour potenttial productss in Assignme
terms of demand, un
niqueness, aand overall m
mass appeal. www.Su
uccessOnTV.com | www.M
MillionsOnTV.ccom PART 3: ASSESS YOUR PRODUCT AGAINST TV SHOPPING STANDARDS
In this section you will discover what the major television shopping channels look for in a product. Can you answer yes to at least two of the following questions:

Is your product demonstrable? Is your product unique? Does your product solve a common problem? Does your product have mass appeal? Does your product make life easier? Is your product brand new to the market? Is your product a “better mousetrap”? If you can, then you have a good chance of being successful. Additionally, have you scored your product at this location: http://www.SuccessOnTV.com/tvscore If you have, what score did you get? •
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•
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45‐80 your product does not appear to have great potential for television sales at this time 81‐90 your product shows some potential and may only need a simple improvement to take it to the next level 91‐100 your product has some potential and needs to be seen 101‐120 your product has serious potential and needs to be seen 121‐140 your product has extremely high potential and needs to be seen Lastly, compare your product to the products you find on these sites: qvc.com, hsn.com, shopnbc.com and keep the following questions in mind as you do your research: 1. Does your product fall in any of the categories listed? 2. Did you find anything that was similar to your product? 3. How does your product compare to what you found on these sites? If you are feeling positive about your discoveries, then you likely have a viable television shopping channel product. If however, what you have discovered has caused you to question your product in the least, then all is not lost. Perhaps you can tweak your product so that it falls into these categories, has more of what these channels are looking for, or make significant improvements to your product in order to gain mass appeal. www.SuccessOnTV.com | www.MillionsOnTV.com Please no
ote: if you fo
ound someth
hing on thesse web sites that is virtuaally identical to your product, it does not necessarily m
mean the en
nd of the roaad for your p
product. All o
of the majorr shoppingg channels se
ell products online and n
not all the online produccts are, or haave been, on
n‐air. Assignme
ent: Make ssure your pro
oduct stand
ds up to televvision shopp
ping channe
el standards and requirem
ments and is what they aare looking for by comp
paring your p
product to w
what you fin
nd on their web
b sites and b
by answerin
ng the questions above.
www.Su
uccessOnTV.com | www.M
MillionsOnTV.ccom PART 4: PROTECT YOURSELF
This may be the most overused saying in the product development marketplace, but for good reason. Protect yourself and your ideas. Intellectual property is like a real estate, once you own it you can sell it. Once you own it you have a fence to protect your idea. Sometimes patent protection is costly, but sometimes it is the best investment you can make. While many patents are capable of being sidestepped, they still provide a deterrence to would‐be trespassers. By contrast, consider that you’ve developed the greatest idea on the planet and you have not put up your fence ‐ all others can go straight to the solution that you have discovered. On the other hand, consider that getting a patent might not protect you at all. This is often the case when it comes to proprietary manufacturing or proprietary ingredients. For example, filing for a patent with regards to proprietary ingredients would force you to disclose the ingredients to your competitors, and thus, might weaken your position in the area in which you are hoping to protect yourself. In any event, seek the advice of a competent attorney when filing for a patent. PATENT PENDING If you are thinking about using the term ‘patent pending’ on your idea or product and you have not filed for a patent, know that this is illegal and punishable, so don’t do it until you’ve actually filed for a patent. PATENT SEARCHES Not only will a patent search potentially save you from spending money on a patent that you may not be able to get because someone else may have already filed for a patent for a similar idea or product, but it can also save you from infringing on someone else’s patent should you decide to move forward without doing a patent search. On one of the recent popular reality shows for inventors, a contestant found herself in just such a situation. She had come up with an idea that she thought was entirely her own, did not get a patent search, spent money and time developing the product, only to find herself in front of the judges pitching her product. One of the judges responded that that product already existed and could be found in major retail chain stores. So, needless to say, a patent search would have likely uncovered this situation and saved the would‐be inventor money and hours of time and had she actually moved forward, legal fees. TRADEMARKS AND COPYRIGHTS www.SuccessOnTV.com | www.MillionsOnTV.com Branding, branding, branding – the equivalent to the real estate lexicon of location, location, location. And just like the address of your real estate, branding marks your territory. Consider the power of the trademark Band‐Aid. It is indelible in the public’s eye for adhesive bandage. If you are a first mover in a given marketplace for a given product or product line, having a registered trademark can be one of the most powerful ways you can protest your product. Similarly, if your product requires directions or information describing it or its contents, seeking copyright protection will further complicate matters for would‐be knockoff artists. INFRINGEMENT INSURANCE This little‐known method of protecting your intellectual property may be one of the most important tools you can have to protect yourself and your intellectual property. I once encountered an inventor at one of the shopping channels that detailed for me a case of litigation he had had with a major corporation infringing on his patent that was hoping to intimidate him with their sizable bank account and high profile. Thankfully, he had infringement insurance and was able to mount a major lawsuit against the sizable company that might otherwise have been too costly for him to participate in. But because he had infringement insurance, he was able to combat the large company that attempted to steal his idea and not only stop them, but also win a lawsuit for damages. As is the case with all insurance, rates vary case‐by‐case. KEEP A JOURNAL Get in the practice of recording all your ideas with text, drawings, dates and photos –use a pen to make it permanent and be sure to make full descriptions. Your journal should also have stitched pages. Should any situations arise, your notebook may provide further documentation proving your position in any intellectual property disagreement. USE A NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT Use a nondisclosure agreement whenever dealing with anyone in regards to your product or product idea. This includes but is not limited to, prospective manufacturers, partners, investors, salespeople and distributors. You can find sample nondisclosure agreements online by doing a simple search. You can also find many free online depositories of professional documents like docstoc.com and scribd.com. Assignment: Take steps to protect your product and/or idea. www.SuccessOnTV.com | www.MillionsOnTV.com PART 5: COSTS, PRICING, and MANUFACTURING
In this section of the eight part mini course designed to help you take immediate steps toward realizing your dreams I will be covering costs, pricing, and manufacturing. In the section for marketing research you should have been able to come up with a suggested retail price for your product or idea. Sometimes this price is first determined by cost, and sometimes, no matter what the cost of the product to manufacture, the market will only bear what the market will bear regarding the selling price of your item, so you’ll have to work backwards from retail to manufacturing cost. Sometimes going in reverse will cause you to change the composition of your product in both material and contents, and possibly other ways as well. PRICING AND COSTS The top shopping channels operate much like stores. In other words, they purchase product from manufacturers at a discount and sell at a markup. Generally, keystone pricing is used on the home shopping channels, meaning, the on‐air retail price is twice the purchase price from the manufacturer (you). In other words, if your price to the television channel is $10, the on‐air selling price will be $20. This is an approximation, the actual figures vary. Working backwards, many businesses operate at a 20 to 30% margin. This means that in the same example above, where your selling price was $10, your cost to manufacture the product would be $7‐$8 if you were looking to earn 20‐30% in profit ‐ roughly speaking. Profit margins are an individual decision governed by your business practices as well as industry practices. If you truly have a unique product you may be able to realize higher than normal margins. On the other hand, if you are in an extremely competitive industry, you may see less profit. MANUFACTURING In today’s climate, outsourcing is the buzzword of the day. The choice of where to manufacture your product is an individual decision based on many factors. You may already be a manufacturing company with a base in the US. Contrarily, you may be an entrepreneur with your first idea, in which case, you will have to locate a manufacturer for your product. To quell some myths about outsourcing know that there are a lot of things to consider before jumping on a jet to China or some other far‐east country. Consider the following with the disclaimer that this is a generalization and is not applicable to all situations or industries: When www.SuccessOnTV.com | www.MillionsOnTV.com outsourcing manufacturing to an Asian based country, the more labor is involved, the greater the possibility you will have in achieving a lower cost for your product. Again, this is a generalization, but oftentimes, with diligent research into US manufacturers, you may find that Asian based companies will have low prices, but when shipping and other costs are included, some US companies can be competitive. But the more labor is involved the greater the difference tends to be. If however, you are buying a screw that comes off a machine, you will likely find little difference in cost of material between countries. Of course, any difference matters and the more you manufacture, the greater the difference becomes. So, again, all things need to be considered when making this decision. Something else to consider: lead times. If you are manufacturing overseas, you might have to add four weeks on top of the time it takes to manufacture your product in order to account for shipping times. If you have a product that is successful and you are appearing on television regularly, then you might need fast lead times ‐ which you may only be able to get with US based manufacturing locations. On the other hand, you may be able to project your product needs and manufacture in advance using an offshore company. Going the route of the latter, lends itself to a little bit more risk since you’ll have to inventory product in anticipation of future sales. This becomes tricky as you near the end of your product’s life cycle. You don’t want to get stuck with a lot of inventory at the end of a run that you can’t sell. HOW TO FIND A MANUFACTURER In the US, you can find manufacturers for just about anything in any region of the country and one of the top resources is: Thomas Register: http://www.thomasnet.com As before, location is something to consider when selecting a manufacturer. For example, if your product requires a number of components, consider the shipping costs involved with all of the components in order to get them to your central manufacturing facility. In other words, if your product requires directions, how far is the printer of these directions located from your facility? If your product needs a plastic widget, how far is the facility that makes the plastic widget located from your manufacturing facility, and how much will it cost you to ship it there in quantity? All these things need to be considered in arriving at your product cost. www.SuccessOnTV.com | www.MillionsOnTV.com Also, con
nsider the de
estination off the wareho
ouses that yo
ou will be sh
hipping to. Iff you have to
o ship yourr product to North Carolina and you
u are shippin
ng from Califfornia,you w
will have a consideraably higher sshipping cosst then if you
u were shipp
ping from Peennsylvania. You may bee able to co
ontrol these
e things, or yyou may not. Just know tthat they aree part of thee cost equation. If you aree searching ffor a manufaacture oversseas you may be able to find a stateside represen
ntative that sspeaks Englissh, and that can act as the central p
point of communication for you. There aree many indivviduals in the US that haave manufaccturing ties o
overseas that can assist yyou and you can find them in any number of wayys. As with aall things, due diligence iis essential. h the company that you find thorougghly and seeek out refereences that caan substantiate Research
the busin
ness and manufacturing practices off the compan
ny you have found. www.Su
uccessOnTV.com | www.M
MillionsOnTV.ccom PART 6: FINANCIING YOUR
R PRODUC
CT
A purchaase order forr your produ
uct is only paart of the chaallenge. Ano
other part off the challenge is being able to manufaacture your product. If yyou are an established b
business, theen you alread
dy understaand this part of the equaation. If you are new to p
product man
nufacturing aand have a brand‐neew companyy, you may find this part of the undeertaking a daaunting expeerience. Understaand this, whe
en dealing w
with the television shopp
ping channels, for the m
most part, you will have to m
manufacture
e product weell in advancce of your on
n air date. Th
his means th
hat you will h
have to should
der the finan
ncial burden of manufaccturing. Further, and this is a generalization, at this w
writing, the ttop shoppingg channel will prep a product ffor a daytim
me slot for $5
50,000 in sales. This means that if yo
our product costs $25 reetail, then theyy will order 2000 units. (2000 units x $25 = $50
0,000) So, if tthe top shop
pping channeel orders 20
000 units, an
nd your costt to manufaccture each unit is $10, it will cost you
u $20,000 to
o make theese units. Additionaally, if you experience su
uccess and rreceive a reo
order in a relatively quick time, you may have to m
manufacture
e more product before yyou have recceived payment for the ffirst order. The televvision shopp
ping channels do not finaance products. This is yo
our responsib
bility, and ass with all b
business ven
ntures, you h
have various options to ffinance yourr business. TThis may or m
may not include lines of ccredit, small‐‐business loaans, savings,, locating venture capitaalists or partners, etc. MENT: Deterrmine how yyou will man
nufacture yo
our product,, the costs in
nvolved and
d ASSIGNM
how you
u will finance
e production
n. www.Su
uccessOnTV.com | www.M
MillionsOnTV.ccom PART 7: PREPARING YOUR PRESENTATION/TESTING YOUR PRODUCT
This section is about preparing your presentation to insure success when you gain an audience with one of the television shopping channel buyers and/or the many agents looking for product to represent. What is your elevator pitch? Imagine. You’ve just finished the world’s greatest screenplay. It’s tucked under your arm, you happen into an empty elevator and just as the door is about to close behind you, Steven Spielberg steps in. He presses the button for the 24th floor. You look under your arm at the world’s greatest screenplay, then back at him. You think to yourself, “What have I got to lose?” You’ve got 30 seconds to tell Mr. Spielberg what your screenplay is about and what makes it so special. What will you say? Take a close hard look at your product. What are its benefits? If you only had 30 seconds to describe it to a powerful person like Steven Spielberg what are your product’s most important benefits that you could describe? Can you boil them down into three concise bullet points that you can convey with passion and truth? For example, if you were selling a digital camera, your three key points could be as follows: 1. Turns on with no delay: "This camera turns on in an instant, so next time you want to capture your son or daughter in a precious moment you won't miss the shot." 2. Clear and crisp photos: "This camera takes clear, crisp digital photos so if you wanted to enlarge and print one of your new baby, it will still be clear and crisp." 3. Auto settings: "The auto settings on this camera let you focus on capturing the memory of the moment without you trying to remember how to use the buttons." Remember, we’re talking about benefits here – what is in it for the consumer – not features. Nobody is necessarily buying lipstick because it comes in a silver tube, but they are buying it because it makes them feel sexy when they wear it. Once you have reached this stage ‐ you’ve done all the research, you’ve taken steps to protect yourself, you’ve determined costs, found a manufacturer, set the pricing, created your three bullet points of benefits – you would benefit greatly by field testing your product to see if you could sell it to a stranger. Granted, you may not be in a position to have a finished salable product in your hand, but might you still find a way to field test it? It is not imperative, but it is vital to know why and how someone responds to your pitch, and feels compelled to retrieve money from their pocket to purchase it. There is no replacement for witnessing this when it comes to refining your pitch and making it work. www.SuccessOnTV.com | www.MillionsOnTV.com That said
d, it is time to
o present yo
our product to the televiision shopping channelss and/or find
d someonee capable thaat can do it ffor you. Assignme
ent: Create three beneffit bullet poiints for yourr product in order to pre
epare pitchiing it to a decision maker.. Field‐test yyour pitch/p
product if po
ossible. www.Su
uccessOnTV.com | www.M
MillionsOnTV.ccom PART 8: CONTAC
CT THE TO
OP SHOPPIING CHAN
NNELS OR
R FIND AN
N AGENT
Unfortun
nately, it may take somee legwork to get face to fface with a b
buyer at the top shoppin
ng channelss. This is an industry of w
who you know. Or you yo
ou can get to
o know. Thee best approaach, and the o
one I see in u
use every daay, is the rulee of “Six Deggrees of Separation.” Six Degreees of Separation meanss you are witthin six peop
ple of knowing someonee that can heelp you with getting on tthe top shop
pping channeels. Start by asking around. You’ll bee surprised whom yo
ou might find
d in your ow
wn town thatt knows som
meone that can help. AGENTS web 2.0 crow
wd and Get creattive. Agents are an elusive bunch. However, if yyou join the w
understaand social me
edia, you miight be able to nail down
n an agent fo
or one of the two majorr shoppingg channels by networking in places like Faceboo
ok.com and LLinkedIn.com
m. Be forew
warned: cond
duct due diliggence in ressearching creedentials and viability. A
A good agentt has a track reecord, will not ask for money in advaance, should
d not be charging more tthan 10% off your costt to the shop
pping channels, and is lo
ocated near the stations for ease of access. Anyo
one that is no
ot located ne
ear the stations will have to travel to
o them on a regular basis in order to
o develop aand maintain a working profitable rrelationship. Also, visitt: http://ww
ww.SuccessO
OnTV.com/tvvassist and submit a form
m and we’ll ssee if we can
n connect yyou. FRIEND O
OF A FRIEND
D More nettworking: W
With thousands upon tho
ousands of products hitting the airwaves the odd
ds are increeasing that you know som
meone that has been in contact with one of thee major playeers in the homee shopping industry. Additionally, yo
ou can contaact your locaal S.C.O.R.E. chapter and
d inquire w
with them ab
bout connections to the channels. A
Ask around, make the co
onnection an
nd see if you
ur friend of aa friend can help you. WATCH TTHE STATIONS AND CON
NTACT THE C
COMPANIESS THAT HAV
VE BEEN ON A
AIR FOR HELLP Why rein
nvent the wh
heel? If you ssee a compaany that is on the top shopping chan
nnels, contacct them forr help. If you’re in the same industryy, you might be able to team up. Thee key to developing a long term relationsship with onee of the hom
me shoppingg giants is to get in the door. If it mean
ns teaming u
up with someone, it migght be your o
only chance. Then, once you are in tthe www.Su
uccessOnTV.com | www.M
MillionsOnTV.ccom door anyything can haappen movin
ng forward. There are th
housands of stories of ho
ow musician
ns have creaatively open
ned doors for themselves with the m
major record labels, do th
he shoppingg channelss have to be any differen
nt? Creativityy doesn’t en
nd in productt developmeent. Use it to
o open thee door for yo
ou and your products too
o. CONCLUSSION In the en
nd, you mustt have a greaat product. YYou must have done you
ur homework, and you m
must perseverre. Everyone has heard tthe countless stories of tthe 13 recorrd companies that rejectted the Beatlles only to b
be sorry laterr ‐ or how no
o one would
d take a risk o
on ‘X’ produ
uct and now it’s a household name. om line is, don’t let otheers dictate your success.. If you havee the passion
n and your The botto
homewo
ork has been done with ttruth and un
nbiased research, then you have eveery reason to
o believe in
n your produ
uct and its deserved succcess, so don
n’t give up. Rememb
ber this: the home shopp
ping channels want prod
ducts that will be successsful. They caan never have enough aand they won’t survive u
unless they h
have great p
products. So,, if you have a great pro
oduct, persevere and you too can fin
nd success.
Lastly, feeel free to schedule a consultation w
with me by visiting www.MillionsOnTTV.com or yo
ou can learn
n more in myy bestsellingg book, “Makke Millions SSelling on QV
VC: Insider Secrets to Launch Your Product and Traansform You
ur Business (and Life) Forever. For moree information on the succcess tracks we have avaailable: visit www.MillionsOnTV.com
m To Your SSuccess, Nick Rom
mer www.Su
uccessOnTV.com | www.M
MillionsOnTV.ccom