Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

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"Find what you absolutely love to do and then find someone to pay you to do it"

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Chris Miller, a simple taco maker:
The Tiger Taco home in the U.S.A.
Tiger Tacos in Australia
Tiger Tacos in the United Kingdom

Good product, but you need to do the other three P`s of marketing: Price, Place, and Promotion.

How much is the basic Pivotlok?

One thing you have to work against is companies already have plenty of bench vise and won`t get rid of them to use yours.  Yours offers relative small improvements that may not be enough to move potential buyers to dump their existing vises.




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Innovator, his Pivotlok is already being sold and used in the marketplace, and sometimes in a professional production environment even "small" improvements are significant; and, not all buys are based upon replacement ... just saying: he is asking about the best way to sell his IP and brand and not if his tool can compete against bench vises.

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Chris Miller, a simple taco maker:
The Tiger Taco home in the U.S.A.
Tiger Tacos in Australia
Tiger Tacos in the United Kingdom

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"Find what you absolutely love to do and then find someone to pay you to do it"

Telecruiser,

Don`t let frustration set in and do not rush to the nearest buyer of your I.P.

I`ve looked at your product. I like it. It definitely needs targeted exposure among other things. You already know that people who use it are pleased and appreciate it.
That is the most important step..a solid, respected product. The next step really is to sell it and products do NOT sell themselves.
I see this as perfect as one of those tiny advertisements in the back of Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, etc. You need regular exposure to sell this.....

BUT you have a much bigger problem.

It costs 500 + dollars! Now that might not be a problem for Boeing, Pratt and Whitney, Praxair, etc. but  I guarantee you have lost  most of the small time mechanics and the very large hobbyist market. Independent mechanics and hobbyists are smart and resourceful people who know how to stretch a buck. Many of them will look at your positioner, think it`s a really great product, see the price tag, and then say goodbye.

I believe I`ve told this story on S.U.N. before.
I was at a tradeshow several years ago where I saw this amazing, beautifully engineered and machined articulating leveraged screwdriver that could allow you to reach those pesky hard to reach
locations in equipment, behind walls, around corners, etc. It was really fun to see what it could do. it was obvious to anyone that it could really come in handy. To top it off, he combined the product with a beautiful case and a  wide array of accessories.
The entire package had a low retail price of something like $1,200.00   Goodbye!

The fact is that a resourceful mechanic could easily source the components to build a souped up screwdriver that can do roughly the same thing and for a whole lot less. The price killed that product cold. It`s now a museum piece. Incidentally, made in Germany, the land of complex engineering-- both mechanical AND social.

To be fair, I have no idea how much it costs to make your product. I have no idea how much control you have over price margins. I have no idea how much inventory you are sitting on, and I have no idea how much debt you hold.
But I have met many inventors who have failed soley on their principaled desire to manufacture inside the U.S.A. stating boldly that they would rather fail than manufacture overseas. Most often, they do just that; They go broke;  few people get to benefit from actually owning and using the product; people that were hired to make the product get laid off or struggle with slow work weeks as the volume isn`t there to maintain the workload. Eventually the patent expires, and the product hits the shelves for 1/4-1/3 of the orginal price with competition from 5 other makers.
But hey, at least they didn`t employ any Chinese people. This happens all the time.

This is the experience with the product I helped invent-- we determined that it could not sell well for over 80 bucks or so because at above that price you approach a point where the product expense  exceeds the convenice that the product provides for MOST potential buyers. While there are always going to be those with deep pockets that equate US made and big price with value, most people have a limit to how much they will pay for any gadget.

We also knew that it couldn`t be manufactured in the US and sell for less than $100- the cost would simply be too great and we would just be going through the motions only to find that people wouldn`t buy the product for that price. It was simply a matter of do we want to make a product that sells well or not?

I`m certain that your product would widely sell if properly marketed and at a price that customers don`t cringe or grit their teeth.

Incidentally, we were fortunate to have the opportunity to prove our theory right. Our manufacturer sub licensed to another company who sold under our patent a competing product for $180. Our $80 product outsells it now 10-1. Why? They outpriced the convenience.

This is what I see happening if you sell your patent. The lucky company that buys it will immediately relocate manufacturing and lower the price.
This doesn`t mean China necessarily, but they will find a way to maximize profit and sell more units. Then they will introduce the product through their usual sales avenues which they have already established. Then they will carefully build on the optional accessory market which alone could make far more over time than the main unit itself. They will make a fortune and you will have whatever it is you agreed to walk away with.

As a side note, I know you say that you aren`t trying to compete with the vise market but I cannot imagine why you wouldn`t have a simple vise option available yet. For me, it`s the first thing I would want. Seriously. I know I`m not the first person to say it and I won`t be the last.  

My bottom line summary: great product, terrible price. Don`t give up!
Good luck and all the best! Let us know how it goes.

Eric



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~Eric
JE Design Group, LLC
If all you do is what you`ve done, then all you`ll get is what you`ve got.
www.jedesigngroup.com

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"Find what you absolutely love to do and then find someone to pay you to do it"

It appears you`ve made up your mind.  It`s too bad that you were entirely capable of satisfying the commecial market but unable to make the moves necessary to reach the consumer market, but I understand. You`ve had it. 

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~Eric
JE Design Group, LLC
If all you do is what you`ve done, then all you`ll get is what you`ve got.
www.jedesigngroup.com