Customer Reviews

Entrepreneur Magazine: Bringing Your Product to Market

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is probably the best book on new product development... for the entrepreneur (those with a great idea, and somewhat limited budget). I ordered this book from Amazon after I read another of his books, Infilitration Marketing). I thought the previous book was A+, and I give that score to this book as well. I have also ordered his Marketing Plan book, but haven't read it yet.

I put this book up their with those of Barry Feig (Straight to the Heart, The New Products Workshop). But this book, Bringing Your Product To Market, is the best overall book for product development - more encompassing. It has lots of marketing material, but also lots of new product development ideas, how (and if, when) to license, how to manufacture (mostly contract manufacture). His book is the best over all book... and thus would be that one book to buy that includes it all.

Unlike other books on new product marketing, he doesn't go endlessly on about how to patent your product, how to hire a lawyer, and other side issues. This is much more practical: it presents a phased plan of new product development, market research, market testing, etc. Contract manufacturing, patents and licensing (excellently done) is then discussed in terms of this phased approach.

The purpose of this book is to get you away from developing a monument to yourself and to control urging of your ego to not listen to what the market is trying to say. His checklist and phased approach almost forces you to spend less on the front end than you normally would, and to constantly check the market's reactions. In this regard, the book is EXCELLENT PLUS. I have not seen any other book that is so practical, yet filled with marketing insight. I would say that if you followed his advice, you would triple your odds of success.

Every page oozes with practical experience (he consults with new product developers). He gives ratios and rules of thumbs for many subjects... again, based on his experience. He also provides lots of examples that illustrate his points. I would recommend that you order any of this guy's stuff. His marketing book was great, and I look forward to reading his marketing plan book.

I would also recommend your reading Feig's book, which goes into more detail in the market research and product idea development phase.

Oh, one last thing, I underlined about 60 % of just about every page in this book. I've filed it under the Dewey Decimal System of "A+".

John Dunbar

Over the years I have often perused the business sections of book stores in search of a detail-oriented book on developing product ideas and bringing them to market. There have always been dozens of books promising sure-fire riches that are about as informative as your average "Make Millions in Your Basement Selling Pocket Lint" infomercial. So, imagine my surprise when I came across this little gem of a book. Finally a book with details, tons of them. Finally an author who isn't afraid to let the reader know the intimidating chances of success, and equips them with all the information they could possibly hope for without actually getting their hands dirty.

The author makes the distinction of ideas developed by individual inventors and those of major corporations. Because of our lack of capital and connections, we (the individual inventors) are at a disadvantage and must compensate with product ideas that meet higher standards. These standards relate to ease of distribution, product uniqueness, simplicity, obviousness of product benefits, and the cost of manufacturing relative to perceived retail value.

With these "tenets" in mind, the author lays out assorted plans to help the individual develop their product and bring it to market as cost- and time-efficiently as possible. All along the way are details, check lists, do's and dont's, and helpful anecdotes.

I was particularly impressed with the level of detail the author provides for almost every step of the development process. As an example, not only does the author mention the range of materials that can be used to build prototypes, but actually recommends plastic tooling materials (among others) by name.

It is with this eye for detail that the author covers all the subjects in this book. The one understandable exception is the patent process itself which is beyond the scope of the book. However, the author does explain the role of the patent in the development process. Additionally, product licensing is covered in-depth.

One other thing I thought was very helpful was the author's identification of key "go/no go" decisions. That is, identifying if your product is ready for the next step, and if it isn't, either making changes to make it ready, or abandoning it altogether and cutting your losses.

Needless to say, I can't say enough good things about this book. It really shames all the other books I have read on the subject, and has given me a tremendous amount of confidence by answering so many questions, many of which I hadn't thought to ask.

This man is a salesman, which means first he sells himself,which he does quite succesfully in this book, a bit to the detrimentof the book. It makes it appear that anyone can go to people with a pretty good product and have it sell. It may sell, but a years worth of 60 hour work weeks isn't worth $10,000.

Found his little tricks like counting competitive products on the shelves, and other stuff, very useful. Resources are OK but have a larger variety as compared to other invention books. Throughout the book he stress low cost and investors, which to me seem contradictory, although his information on both is good. Not much of what makes a good product and clear steps to bring items to market.

For those I recomend Marketing Your Invention by Mosley and Winning At New PRoducts by Robert Cooper.

Overall this book is worth buying and reading.

This is the book that I have been looking for! Finally, a book that walks me through step by step market analysis and determining if a product will sell.From inception of the idea, through the "Why does the world need my idea" to testing the idea, to actually setting up how to ask the consumer the RIGHT questions in deciding if the product is sales worthy, this book leads one through all of the steps.Items like price vrs cost of production was detailed. Will I be able to make a profit? Now I can tell!I found the "How to approach prospective clients" section extremely helpful with details on a presentation package to a list of the right questions to ask the prospective distributer. As an idea person, I needed to learn the marketing and the market reasearch part of the business. This book has done it.This invaluable book is worth every cent! Thanks!

I've searched for books on product development throughout over twenty years experience in engineering and inventing. This book offers very sensible guidance. It provides practical examples along with ballpark costs for every approach.

The lessons you can get from studying this book are consistent with the lessons I had to learn from years of practice. I recommend it to all of my clients.

This book's author, Don Debelak, is a strong believer in inventors marketing their ideas. However, he also covers the licensing approach. He realizes that raising money is the number one problem and he covers the whole spectrum -- from doing it with zero dollars to how to raise a million dollars.

His advice is based on ten years as a new product marketing consultant. Throughout the book, he gives examples of the right and wrong moves people have made. My quick count (examples are in italics) indicated 106 examples.

Don estimates that in any given year, in the USA, about 200,000 individuals are working on product ideas but, at most, 500 will succeed in introducing their idea. In other words, one in 400 will succeed!

He stresses that in addition to the money problem, inventors should recognize the importance of three things -- that many revisions will be needed, that you can do it, and that you will need help from people experienced in your specific market area.

The author emphasizes entrepreneurs believe many myths about money. One common myth is that you should not borrow money until you have spent all of yours. Actually, in startup situations, banks expect you to have cash on hand equal to the loan requested. He emphasizes getting investors early in the process. If more money is then needed, investors will generally seek to protect their investment by investing more money.

Inventors often have no idea as to what the ratio of the selling price is to the cost of manufacturing. Quite often the selling price must be four to five times the cost of manufacturing the item. Few inventors seem to be aware of what sales, marketing and administration costs will be.

Many inventors fail to do even elementary market research. Can you communicate your product's benefits in 5 to 10 seconds? Is it significantly better? Have you consulted an impartial panel or are you still in the dream world of kind words from friends and relatives? The author gives several suggestions for doing low-cost market research.

You know your invention inside and out -- but do you know your buyers "hot buttons"? That is their motivations for buying products like yours. Don describes four basic reasons why people buy products. Unless you understand these, your sales pitches and your ads may fail miserably.

He points out that everyone loves a winning product. Therefore, it is vital to give your product the appearance of gaining momentum. Don't crank out a mountain of product and hope it will sell -- get a mountain of orders and work around the clock to fill the orders.

Don't assume a big blast of advertising is the answer. Many of the big advertisers succeed because they have established their brand names by years of advertising. Ads are expensive. Advertise, but analyze your results. He lists eight factors to be considered when analyzing the results of your ads.

While Don feels making your own product is better than the licensing approach, he does list 12 key steps to licensing an idea. Ideas don't sell themselves. Dramatic presentations and your ability to create a sense of urgency are vital when going the licensing route.

He gives an extensive check list for growing a company and for making it a smooth-running operation.

Surprisingly, he does not discuss business plans until later in the book. He feels they are overrated. A budget is vital at the very start, but until you gain some experience from producing and selling your product, a business plan will probably consist of wishful and wild estimates.

In summary, the message to inventors and entrepreneurs is that you can do it -- often at low cost -- but you must be prepared to work hard and, most of all, to work smart.

If there was only one business book, this would be it! Everything you need to know to launch a product or open a small service business. Smart, savvy been around the block advice not couched in business buzz. This is real business with very frank advice. I would like to see this updated with information about social media incorporated. Real world problems and solutions presented in a logical fashion. So many business books are not written by people who actually "do business"-this one is.

As a first-time product inventor and longtime Webpreneur, I found Debelak's book both refeshingly creative and rooted in solid business principles that will help usher entrepreneurs along the right product development path -- continually arming them throughout the process with tips and tools to test (and re-test) the validity of a new business idea as it moves to market.

Bringing Your Product to Market is chock full of litmus-test-type checklists and common-sense (yet far from obvious) ideas, such as reaching out to product packaging specialists to get a more accurate forecast of how many units a product might sell.

In short, this is a **must read** for anyone serious about introducing something new or unique into the marketplace.

I'm eager to continue putting Don's tenets to work (and the test) and am moving on to a more formalized product testing stage. Stay tuned for more case study updates!

A very practical and useful book for aspiring inventors. As a business consultant I strongly recommend that my clients read this book before spending any money.

The Debelak's rock my face off! GTO says: This book is amazing - such good stuff happens!! Marketing banzai!!