Product Scout At Trade Shows
Trade show season is upon us. Trade shows are a great place to find new market ready products that we can sell on TV.
You don’t even have to go to the show! From the comfort of your own computer, surf the show site for the exhibitors list and floor plan.
If you’re there in person, zero in on the gems inside inventors hearts and minds. Stay connected to people you like. The products being displayed are picked over hard by competitors and service providers so it’s harder to get out front. Most entrepreneurs get financially tapped out if they don’t sell product or secure a licensing agreement in the first couple shows. Almost always, they have other ideas. Dreams. Other inventions that are ripe for our low cost, high return inventing strategies. If you look past the product being shown and connect with people, their next idea may be the big winner that makes money for us all.
Focus on single product booths. We’re looking for early stage products that are physically small and solve everyday problems in visually appealing ways. Google the booth name or click on the website links to see if the products meet our narrow criteria. Product booths with many products are usually (but not always) companies that already have distribution in retail stores. It’s worth looking at those lines since it gives insight into what’s selling. Occasionally, there is something there that we can partner on.
Put on your inventor cap and use some Invention Techniques to come up with your own unique products to pitch to me.
How To Submit as a Product Scout
Simply email me a link to the website or demo video. Put the PRODUCT NAME in the SUBJECT line so I can track conversations. Add a link to a website or demo video in the body of the email with your contact information below. It’s simple.
My email date and time stamps everything and I reply to each email. For trusted and loyal product scouts that I’ve been working with over time, I’ll share industry insider tips to help improve your keen eye for the next winner. Give me under 5 days to reply… a bit more if I’m traveling.
If you are physically at a trade show or local store and see a new item you think I should look at, simply shoot your own short smartphone video or look on the packaging for the website of the manufacture, then send a link.
When you’re the first to show me a product, I flag your name as the Product Scout. If we test and rollout the product to retail shelves, you get a piece of the pie in finders fees.
Go International
Want to increase your odds of finding the next winner? Go international. Don’t limit yourself to United States trade shows. Find an international show and search online there. For every kind of show you see in the U.S. there is an international counterpart. Developing international relationships with inventors, service providers, product developers, patent attorneys, manufactures and production companies could be the ticket to an early look at the next million-dollar winner. Connecting internationally has never been easier. Searching international shows online can be like digging in a gold mine! Catalogs and small international online retailers are also very good sources.
Stay Local
Checkout your own backyard. There are Home & Garden Shows, Boat Shows, State Fairs, County Fairs, Pet Show Fairs and more. Craft shows, Do It Yourself (DIY) shows. Talk to your neighbors, friends, work associates. Anyone. Almost everyone you know has a great idea, but they don’t know what to do next. You do. Capitalize on it.
Bottom line. No one knows where the next big winner will be found. Where every you go, whatever you do, keep your eyes open and your mind sharp. A million-dollar product may be in sight. I’m counting on it.
Product Scout 101
The basics of getting started.
See you on the shelves!
Carrie Jeske
Carrie @ willitlaunch.com
Here’s 3 ways I can help
As Seen On TV category only. I’m a direct licensee paying full royalties. Keep your ideas coming. Consider joining as a Product Scout and earn up to $100,000 in finders fees for your referrals.
Product criteria narrow: Anything physically small, with a retail price under $50. Must solve a mass market problem in a visually compelling way.
Patent: None required.
Cost: No cost full licensing agreements, Partnership Distribution Plans, Market Viability Test Consulting Plans.
How To Start? Watch:
http://www.willitlaunch.com/how-to-make-330-000-inventing-for-tv
Any category of consumer product or business to business product. Fee based business matchmaking services, connecting product owners to trustworthy manufactures who pay royalties. Let me know if you need help.
Product criteria wide: Any
Patent: Filed or granted.
Hire A Pro: Varies by plan. See the website + drop downs under “Licensing” services.
http://inventiveideas.com/licensing/
Or DIY:
http://inventiveideas.com/when-as-seen-on-tv-wont-fly/
Nonprofit group connecting inventors around the world online once a month. Join a workshop online, locally or earn money as a product scout or local facilitator.
Product criteria: All ideas welcome.
Patent: TBD. We help.