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THE ONLINE INVENTOR – February 2011 issue

Editor: Paul Niemann

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Dear Inventor:

This month’s first article is from Jack Lander and it’s one of the best that I’ve seen on the subject of submitting your own inventions to potential licensees.

If you provide services to inventors and would like to reach those who receive this newsletter, contact me for details (we never rent or sell our lists, though).

Please feel free to share this newsletter with others. You may also re-print it as long as you use the following byline: Paul Niemann runs MarketLaunchers.com, building web sites for inventors and small businesses. Visit www.marketlaunchers.com for more info.

The second article is a short one, but it touches on a topic that affects every person – motivation. It is motivation that sometimes means the difference between succeeding and failing.

I post some of my articles on the official MarketLaunchers blog at http://www.marketlaunchers.blogspot.com/

But first, notice the CLEVER QUOTE OF THE WEEK below and try to figure out what is wrong with it. A friend posted this on Facebook.

Read on, and enjoy this issue.

CLEVER QUOTES OF THE WEEK ...

“The problem with quotes on the internet today is you can never be certain they’re authentic.” -- Abraham Lincoln (think about it ;)

“If you could kick the person in the pants who is responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month” – Theodore Roosevelt

Best Regards,
Paul Niemann
Paul Niemann
www.MarketLaunchers.com
(800) 337-5758

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Article # 1: Getting through to the decision maker when you decide to license on your own
By Jack Lander of www.Inventor-mentor.com

One of the stumbling blocks to licensing on your own is getting your proposal into the hands of the decision maker. Typically, it must pass the eagle eye of the legal department in the larger companies. Or it may be reviewed by an outside law firm if submitted to midsize and small companies. In any event, all companies with any degree of sophistication have been warned by their lawyers not to review any proposal from an inventor unless the inventor signs an agreement to surrender all rights except those granted by his or her patent.

Thus, the first step in dealing with any company is to phone and ask if it has an agreement form that must be signed before submitting a new-product proposal. Review it. Have your patent attorney review it if in doubt. Sign it, make two copies, return one as directed, and send one along with your prototype to show that you’ve done your homework.

Now, you’re ready to deal with the decision maker. Who is that? The Director of Marketing in a large corporation, the President in a small corporation. If in doubt, send your proposal to the Director of Marketing. Phone the company, and ask for the correct spelling and title of the director of marketing. Never send to a title alone -- always a name and title.

Why not send it to the legal department? Because it may be routed to the Engineering Department for a technical review if it is a tech product. That can be the kiss of death. If your invention is really valuable, and the company should be interested, the engineers may, due to jealousy, may find imaginary flaws in it.

One of the horror stories we hear too often is that of a prototype being lost within the company. More often, the prototype gathers dust on someone’s desk while he or she contemplates its fate. Six months can pass, or even a year before you get a decision, a few days of which was actual review and decision making time, and the rest merely failure to prioritize.

Thus, be sure to get the name of the person who will be your internal contact, and get a promised date of resolution. We have found that a secretary or administrative assistant is most valuable as an internal contact. They often act as “gatekeepers” for their bosses. But when you enlist them as allies, and don’t try to take a shortcut around them, you’ll usually get what you want. So, ask if the Director of Marketing’s secretary can take on the task of answering for your prototype.

In any case, you can’t afford to let your prototype languish in the hands of one company. Take the initiative, and offer to leave your prototype for 30 days without charge, and after that you will invoice the company at a rate of $100 a day (set your own figures here of course) to maintain its “right of first refusal.”

Another possibility is to make several prototypes, and send them to a number of companies’ simultaneously. If you do this, be forthright about it, and tell each company what you have done, but don’t reveal the names of the other companies. This has the advantage of forcing a timely decision. And if a company really sees merit in your invention as a product for its customers, it won’t resent the multiple submissions.

Even though you’ve done everything right, and you know for certain that customers will buy your invention when it becomes a product, the majority of your submissions will be rejected. This has little to do with the merits of your invention, and more to do with politics. It’s safe to reject, and risky to license. It has been said that four out of five new products taken to market by large companies fail. Why would an executive want to risk his reputation on a failure that is likely to be his new-product venture’s fate?

What is the antidote to rejection? Quantity. Licensing is a numbers game. Whether dealing one-by-one, or several submissions in parallel, you may have to go to 25 or more companies before you land your licensee. Persistence is key. Sales persistence is not the strong suit of most creative people, inventors included. But the serious inventor will promise himself that he will see the venture through to its successful end. It’s not walking a mile barefoot over broken glass after all. It’s simply taking each “no” as being one step closer to the ultimate “yes.”

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Jack Lander is a mentor to inventors, as well as a seasoned inventor with 13 patents and always working on more. His most commercially successful patents are assigned to U.S. Surgical Corporation. Jack served as President of the United Inventors Association and is presently the Vice President of the Yankee Invention Exposition. He has been a feature columnist in Inventors' Digest magazine for the past 14 years writing the "Lander Zone." He is a published author of "How to Finance Your Invention or Great Idea," "All I Need Is Money," and more than 50 special reports for inventors. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience to guide you, and his newest book is entitled: Marketing Your Invention: a complete guide to licensing, and to marketing and selling your invention. His web site is www.inventor-mentor.com

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Article # 2: Was motivation the main reason the Jets beat the Patriots in the AFC championship game?
By Paul Niemann of MarketLaunchers.com

“I would trade anything for one more play.”

Those were the words of Dennis Byrd, a former Jets player whose career ended with a neck injury that left him paralyzed in 1992.

So how were the Jets able to beat # 1 seeded New England in the AFC Championship game?

One thing that made a big difference is that they brought in Dennis Byrd to give the team a motivational pep talk the night before the game. Byrd, who was paralyzed in his last game as a Jet in the late ‘80’s or early 90’s, said that he would give anything to be able to play one more play. While coaches often say that the players don’t need any more motivation to play their best, you have to think that this extra motivation – from one of their own peers – had to have provided a little something extra for them as they knocked off the best team in the NFL at the time – the same New England Patriots team that beat the Jets 45 – 3 the last time they played, in November.

The team hung Byrd’s old Number 90 jersey in the locker room on game day. With his message still echoing in their heads, the Jets defeated the Patriots and continued their playoff run.

Dennis Byrd also said that for the first time in his career, he felt like he was standing next to the Super Bowl champion (current Jets coach Rex Ryan, who brought Dennis Byrd in to talk to his players).

According to the reporter who broke this story, there was not a dry eye in that locker room. Were they fired up?

I’d say so. Now I’d like to ask you a question: How motivated are you in your inventing life? How motivated are in the business side of your inventing?

How much better could you do if you were totally motivated, like the New Your Jets team was that day?

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Paul Niemann runs MarketLaunchers.com, where he builds web pages for inventors and small businesses. The main benefit of having your own web page is that you can show companies your invention when you’re not able to visit them in person. Visit www.marketlaunchers.com for more info and to see some samples. Paul Niemann can be reached at niemann7@aol.com or at (217) 224-8194.

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