I used to say that your sell sheet was your best ally – that you needed a great sell sheet to present your idea to potential licensees. Sell sheets are still great, but they’re becoming outdated. With the wealth of technology available to us, I’m going to advise that you go one step further. Make a video! Demonstrating the problem your product idea solves in 3-D is more powerful than an illustration or talking points. You can also pack more information about your product into a video than a sell sheet (while still keeping your entire presentation short and sweet). Your video doesn’t need to be fancy or high-production. You could even film yourself on your Iphone. Your video should capture the benefits of your idea as you show a problem that exists, and how your product solves that problem.
Although your video doesn’t need to be incredibly smooth and polished, if you do have the budget or resources to create a higher quality commercial, I would recommend doing so. A student of mine showed me the video she made to show to potential licensees and I was absolutely blown away. It was fantastic. It had music and models demonstrating the product, like it really was a commercial. I knew before asking that she’d had interest from potential licensees. How could she not? The video was so compelling and effective, having just the right tone and feel for her product.
If I were going to start my career over again, I would have teamed up with a talented graphic artist/skilled media person to help me with projects like this at the very beginning. These skills are invaluable. So if you really want to have a homerun, consider hiring someone to do the job. And as always, make sure your idea has some sort of protection before you show it around.
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Stephen Key is a successful award-winning inventor who has licensed over 20 products in the past 30 years. He is a board member of Accudial Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and has a new book “One Simple Idea: Turn your dreams into a licensing goldmine while letting others do the work,” from McGraw-Hill. Along with business partner Andrew Krauss, Stephen runs inventRight, a company dedicated to education. Teaching inventors and entrepreneurs the skills needed to successfully license their ideas.
One Simple Idea is available in book stores and online book retailers nationwide. Visit www.inventright.com to learn more.
Article source: http://inventornotes.com/2012/01/23/sell-sheets-are-great-but-take-it-one-step-further/
