It may be one of the oldest questions in the inventing industry, but as UIA Member Jim Debetta tells us - Times, they are a changing.
Should I call on a retail buyer without a finished product?
Calling on retail buyers to sell them your product can be hard enough, but should you make that call when you don’t even have a prototype or finished product? I say maybe!
Back in the day, we used to call on retailers only when we were “retail ready” and that is how retail buyers preferred it. After all, as they would say, we can’t buy a product that is not in a package and ready to sell.
So what has changed? Today, retailers are still looking for new products but with today’s technology the buyers are much more open to peeking at products via email and sell sheets to see if they even have any interest in learning more about a product. So, I say yes! Tease a buyer with some great information! If they have interest…serious interest…..you can let them know the product is under development and will be coming soon! I call this “pre-selling” and today it is one of my preferred methods to approaching buyers and this saves the inventor lots of potential time and wasted money since pre-selling can tell you whether your product as it is has true merit and genuine interest from a big retailer.
Another great benefit to doing this is that you get great feedback on the product, its pricing, the packaging, and other details that can help shape and refine your product to maximize your potential success.
Now let me say that it is always best to have a retail ready product as the best deal is to show a buyer a retail ready product and be able to sell them right then and there. However, pre-selling is a great method and something you can consider!
Keep inventing
That's EXACTLY what I just did! The Healthcare Co. I approached even did a market study for my product. Unfortunately, they declined.... but it just showed me that it CAN be done! And that was my FIRST TIME at "Pre-Selling".
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