Criteria For Success
If your invention meets all or most of the following criteria, you probably have a winner!
- The chances of obtaining a good strong patent are excellent.
- There is a HUGE market for it. Millions and millions of people will want to buy this product.
- The benefit of your product is obvious, thereby minimizing advertising cost to educate the public about your product.
- It will be inexpensive to produce. The company to whom you license your invention would already, ideally, have everything they need to produce your product already in place. It would not require a lot of "tooling up" expenses.
- The spread between the manufacturing cost and the selling price is great. The "rule of thumb" is that your product must be able to sell for at least four to five times the cost of manufacturing the product. For example, if it costs $1 to manufacture your invention, it should sell retail for, at least, $4-$5.
- The item gets "used up." That will increase your market dramatically if it is something that has to be purchased over and over.
- The manufacturer already has the distribution channels in place. Their sales personnel already have self space allotted to their company and can easily add your product to their planogram (map of the shelf space in a store).
The more of the above listed criteria your invention meets, the greater your chances of success. This does not mean that it cannot be successful if it does not meet all of these criteria; it just means it is not as likely. For example, an expensive item that is a "one-time purchase" can be a successful invention if the potential market is large enough.
This is intended to help you to determine whether or not you should proceed in developing your Great Idea. It is not a substitute for a thorough invention evaluation (by a legitimate source) to determine the marketability of your invention.
