Don't Get Discouraged By Rejection. Remember, Inventing Is A Numbers Game
Try not to take rejection personally! Being an inventor demands wearing many different hats. When it comes to rejection, you need to have your business hat on. Find out why your idea was rejected, and benefit from it – don’t wallow!
Print“Rejection is the number one killer of inventor’s drive.” This was the opening line of a recent post on the inventRight forum by friend Roger Brown. Brown is absolutely correct – many inventors’ drive to bring their product ideas to market is totally crushed by rejection. But they (and you) need to realize that inventing is fundamentally a numbers game! And many marketable ideas are rejected all the time. Brown shared some common reasons why even marketable ideas are rejected.
1. The company may already have a full line.
2. The product is outside their target market.
3. You sent your submission to the wrong person in the company – don’t assume they’ll automatically send it to the right one.
4. You sent the idea without contacting the company first, and they rejected it solely on that basis.
5. You did not have proper contact information on your submission.
6. They have too-similar products.
7. Your idea appeals to a very small niche.
8. The cost to investment ratio is too high.
9. Your sales sheet did not WOW them or lacked information.
10. Your product has already been patented.
I’d also like to add the following possible scenarios.
Did you identify the right company to send your product to? It’s important to understand their manufacturing capacity. Even if they sell similar products, if they lack the capacity to make yours, they won’t buy it.
Did you make the right contact? Find someone who will benefit from championing your idea, like a marketing manager. NOT the President or VP of the company. They’ll send your idea right back down.
Did you send your sales sheet to more than one company? Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Try not to take rejection personally! Being an inventor demands wearing many different hats. When it comes to rejection, you need to have your business hat on. Find out why your idea was rejected, and benefit from it – don’t wallow!
Stephen Key is a successful award-winning inventor who has licensed over 20 products in the past 25 years. Along with business partner Andrew Krauss, Stephen runs inventRight, a company dedicated to educating inventors about selling their ideas and the skills needed to succeed. You can ask questions and get advice on the inventRight forum, check out the resource center, and listen to the weekly radio show on inventing. Get In The News, list your invention to have media outlets find you for news stories.
1. The company may already have a full line.
2. The product is outside their target market.
3. You sent your submission to the wrong person in the company – don’t assume they’ll automatically send it to the right one.
4. You sent the idea without contacting the company first, and they rejected it solely on that basis.
5. You did not have proper contact information on your submission.
6. They have too-similar products.
7. Your idea appeals to a very small niche.
8. The cost to investment ratio is too high.
9. Your sales sheet did not WOW them or lacked information.
10. Your product has already been patented.
I’d also like to add the following possible scenarios.
Did you identify the right company to send your product to? It’s important to understand their manufacturing capacity. Even if they sell similar products, if they lack the capacity to make yours, they won’t buy it.
Did you make the right contact? Find someone who will benefit from championing your idea, like a marketing manager. NOT the President or VP of the company. They’ll send your idea right back down.
Did you send your sales sheet to more than one company? Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Try not to take rejection personally! Being an inventor demands wearing many different hats. When it comes to rejection, you need to have your business hat on. Find out why your idea was rejected, and benefit from it – don’t wallow!
Stephen Key is a successful award-winning inventor who has licensed over 20 products in the past 25 years. Along with business partner Andrew Krauss, Stephen runs inventRight, a company dedicated to educating inventors about selling their ideas and the skills needed to succeed. You can ask questions and get advice on the inventRight forum, check out the resource center, and listen to the weekly radio show on inventing. Get In The News, list your invention to have media outlets find you for news stories.
