A mall survey is just what the name implies: go to your local mall with a clipboard, a stack of forms, and start asking passersby questions.  The purpose of your survey is to gather a statistically significant sample of consumer response to your invention or product.  You’re convinced of your invention’s worth, of course.  And so are your friends and relatives.  But imagine a prospective licensee asking you how you know that your invention will sell.  “My friends and relatives all say so,” is not a convincing answer.

     By statistically significant I mean asking at least a hundred people, preferably two hundred, questions such as:

  • If you saw this product in a catalog, at an acceptable price, would you buy it?
  • Why?  (Or why not?)
  • Can you think of any other features that would improve this product?

     Why the local mall?  Because the audience is comprised of shoppers of many different kinds of products.   That’s a problem and a blessing.

     Suppose your invention is a product for women generally over forty years old.  Obviously you don’t want to ask the teenage crowd that’s hanging out.  Ask only those women who appear to be in the age group of your product’s eventual customers.  Sure, you’re “profiling.”  But as long as you declare this fact in your published summary, that’s fine.

     Here’s why you need this data: if you plan to produce and market, you’ll need a good sell-sheet.  The heart of the sell-sheet is its testimonials. The customer’s voice is believable; your own hype is automatically suspect. 

     How do you get testimonials for something you haven’t yet sold?  By talking to “will be” customers—your mall subjects.  When one of your women over forty says something like, “Oh, my God.  That’s great.  Sure, I’d buy one.  I really need something like that.  How soon will it be on the market?”  Ask this person for permission to use her statement, name, and city on your sell-sheet.  In the majority of cases, she’ll say yes.  It helps to have a rough draft of your sell-sheet to show her how her testimonial will be used.  It’s okay to fake a few testimonials on your rough draft, but don’t use them in the edition you hand out to catalogers, retail chains.  (Our condensed book, How to Create the Perfect Sell-sheet, shows you what a rough draft looks like, as well as how the final edition should appear.)  I’ve said in past newsletters that catalogs want to see a sell-sheet, and that they consider your approach lacking or amateurish unless you approach them like a professional.

     Retail chains seldom experiment with untried products.  They aren’t in the pioneering business.  Catalogs, on the other hand, depend on innovative products.  They seldom try to compete one on one with brick and glass retailers.  (Long established and branded retailers, such as L. L. Bean, are the exception.)  Catalogs are inventor-friendly.

     If you intend to license, you’ll need a sell-sheet to act as your preliminary executive summary.  Your sell-sheet invites the response:  “Tell us more.”  A model and instructions on how to prepare a response in the form of an executive summary are contained in my book, How to Finance Your Invention or Great Idea.  The point is that sending a letter and a copy of your patent, as some inventors do, simply doesn’t create interest like your sell-sheet creates.  Would your insurance man try to sell you insurance by sending you a sample copy of a policy?

     Now, will your local mall welcome your presence as a surveyor?  Probably not.  You’re not a criminal.  They aren’t going to arrest you.  But it’s their usual policy to ask survey people to stop.  Move to another floor where the security person hasn’t yet seen you.  Or, come back another day.  One of our clients took her survey in the foyer outside of the ladies room, and worked for two days without even seeing a security person.  Think of it this way.  Your product is one day going to be sold in that mall, and you’re objective is to pave the way with the best product possible for its customers.

     Keep the number of your questions to three, or a maximum of four.  People dread being delayed, so stress that you have only three questions.  Use a book or your purse as a clipboard to avoid being conspicuous.  Never, never, indicate that you are the inventor of the product.  Present yourself as indifferent (to the product) in order to get the most honest answers.

     And remember, you can order How to Create the Perfect Sell-Sheet from our web site.

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