Invent It, Sell It, Bank It!: Make Your Million-Dollar Idea Into a Reality (23 page)

You don’t have to walk into a room bare-chested to make a striking impression, and you don’t need gimmicks. But do make sure that when you pitch, you exude confidence, drive, and dedication—so much, in fact, that you could pull a buyer out of a post-lunch stupor faster than any Red Bull. Often, when buyers or investors decide to do business with you, they’re banking on you as much as they are banking on your product. So it’s equally important for them to feel confidant that you’re a good and reliable person to work with, and that you know what you are doing.

It Explains the Product’s Appeal and Why Consumers Can’t Live without It

I am big on enthusiasm. It’s infectious. When you love your product, people see that, they wonder why you love it so much, and they start to like it, too. If I were eating a cracker and kept raving about the taste, you’d want to try it. Get your buyers as excited about your product as you are. Help them see the role it could play in their lives and that of others. Not everything will be right for the buyer personally, such as when you’re selling a
female-oriented product to a male buyer, but buyers know their customers. They get and understand them, and know what will be appealing, so male buyers can understand what women want, and vice versa.

It Answers Any Questions About Any Aspect of the Business, No Matter How Minute

You cannot overprepare for a pitch. Once you’ve got a good answer for every question a buyer could possibly throw at you, try to come up with two more. You need to know your business inside and out, and be able to explain yourself with authority. If you answer a question hesitantly, or you hem and haw, buyers and investors are going to wonder if you’ve really got everything under control and if you would be a reliable business partner. Remember, the buck stops with you.

You need to be accountable for and aware of every unit in the warehouse, every number on the books, every order coming in. In addition, you need to have ready answers for how you intend to plan for the future. And if you don’t have an answer, don’t lie; if you mess up, don’t try to cover it up. Tell the truth. Say, “I’m not sure, I’ll have to check on that,” or, “I have that information and I’ll get back to you.” Don’t try to act like you know everything if you don’t. Never lie. People don’t want to deal with someone they don’t trust. And believe me, people can tell.

   QUESTIONS ALMOST EVERY BUYER WILL ASK 

What’s the cost?

Where is it made?

How long will it take to make X amount of product?

Where else are you selling? What does it cost there?

Are there color choices?

What is the size and weight?

Is it patented?

Have you seen any competition?

What is your packaging like?

Can you drop-ship?

How many in a master carton?

If shipping from overseas, how many fit in a container?

Does it comply with all applicable laws and regulations?

If you are making claims about what your product can do, do you have third-party testing?

Your success will hinge not just on what you say but also on how you say it. For example, disagreeing with your buyers or investors isn’t necessarily a kiss of death if you project the right attitude and can back your position up with solid facts and numbers. One of the most brutal
Shark Tank
pitches was the Marz Sprays pitch in Season Four. It was the last pitch of a long day and the air-conditioning wasn’t working. All the sharks were tired, hot, and crabby. I had an important dinner to get to and I was already late. And in come a father-and-son team, the Marzes. They had what I thought was a great idea—vitamin sprays. They had a vitamin C spray, a sleep spray, a slim spray, and an energy spray. You didn’t have to worry about swallowing pills or absorption; you just shot several sprays into your mouth and whichever spray you chose was immediately absorbed into your system.

I’m into vitamins and natural health, so I’m well educated and aware in these areas. I thought the idea was great; I chose to try the C-spray and really liked the product. My fellow sharks, however, being tired, chose the Reboot Energy Spray. Overzealously. Kevin, Daymond, Mark, and Robert each sprayed probably two to three times the recommended dose into their mouths, and within minutes became quite alert and rather voracious. Some of them started to fire questions dripping with skepticism. It wasn’t
only that they didn’t believe in the promise of the product—everyone knows that, when swallowed, vitamins aren’t easily absorbed into your intestinal tract. They were just suddenly much more aggressive than they had been moments before. Obviously, the Reboot spray really worked!

Though beads of perspiration dripped from their brows, the Marz father and son held up under the pressure. They were polite, they knew their answers, and under extremely rapid fire, they bounced back. They were prepared and had great answers for everything. It was memorable. They did a great pitch, and I did a deal with them. I take the C-spray all the time, as does my husband. Dan is like a cat with a fur ball when he tries to take a pill, so these have been great for him and a relief to me.

It’s Fact Based

When crafting your pitch, don’t try to hype your product or idea, or try to convince your buyer that your product is something it is not. For example, one
Shark Tank
entrepreneur designed a clear plastic water bottle with a rubberized, squeezable grip that allowed you to force the water through a carbon filter while you drank. He worked tirelessly to convince us that his water bottle was unique and that it represented a major improvement in water bottle design. But it was just a filtered water bottle—a really expensive, fancy, filtered water bottle that didn’t provide a much bigger benefit than any other high-end water bottle could provide. In addition, he had little evidence to prove that consumers were desperate to spend their money on his invention.

And unlike the Marz father and son, who knew their numbers, this inventor seemed to believe that if he just repeated over and over again that his water bottle design was unique, we would suddenly see the brilliance of his idea. He shouldn’t have had to work that hard. If your product is great, your market research is
accurate, and you present the features and benefits in a dynamic, convincing, and authoritative manner, your buyers or investors will be able to see for themselves that you’re giving them the chance to be a part of something big and that you would make a great partner.

It Makes You Seem as Appealing as the Product

As you pitch, you should exude the positive energy of someone who is eager to work as a partner and a problem solver, someone who is take-charge and can make things happen. A buyer or investor is not always just investing in the product, but also in the person. Have you ever been on a job interview, and a potential boss asked you to tell him or her about your greatest weakness or your biggest mistake? The individual wasn’t so interested in hearing about your failures as in hearing about how you handle challenges or how you might turn difficult situations around.

You shouldn’t have to convince any buyers that your product is a hero. If it’s a hero, the facts should lead them to that inevitable conclusion.

While you don’t want to highlight your mistakes or any struggles you’ve had with your business during a pitch, don’t hide them, either. If your buyer asks you a question that can only be answered by admitting that you made a mistake, admit it. Be completely forthright and honest. Do not give buyers or investors any reason to think that you would hide something from them. There is always a way to present the challenges you’ve faced in a positive light.

One
Shark Tank
entrepreneur, Shelton, learned that lesson the hard way. She had designed a long, stretchy spaghetti-strap
layering piece, a cross between a shell and an old-fashioned slip, that worked perfectly to help make many of today’s short, sheer, and low-cut fashions easier to wear. She told her story and had some impressive sales. She had practiced her pitch and delivered it with energy and conviction. But there was one detail that didn’t make any sense. She had sold a product similar to this one before and done well with it, then all of a sudden her sales had dried up, and she had stopped. Now she was back at it, with the same type of product, and I couldn’t figure out why she’d had a two-year gap in sales.

I kept saying, “I don’t understand; why did the sales stop for two years? Why did you end things with your partner when everything was going great?” Finally, when she realized her story really didn’t make any sense, she broke down and admitted that during the time she was selling her first product, she had struggled with alcoholism. It ended her partnership, and she went into rehab. Hence the two years off and starting over. Her confession knocked the wind out of us. My heart went out to her because she seemed so distraught about having to share this information about her past. What she didn’t realize was that she could have easily turned this part of her story into an asset.

Don’t try to hide your business mistakes or failures, because you will eventually be found out. Be up front, explain how you overcame the obstacles in your path, and tell how you plan to make sure the situation doesn’t repeat. Prove to buyers that you will be a trustworthy partner.

An entrepreneur who has been to hell and back can only be wiser and stronger than her competitors. The fact that she had
fought back from rock bottom actually made her story more compelling, and if she’d been up front with us about her circumstances, we wouldn’t have thought twice about it, and we wouldn’t have spent as much time circling around an issue that she clearly didn’t want to discuss. She did not get a deal that day, but it was because none of us felt that her business was the right investment for us, not because of her past.

Buyers and investors are looking to work with entrepreneurs who are earnest, passionate, dedicated, and driven—all those qualities we covered in the first chapter of this book. Your pitch should allow you to emphasize all these characteristics. In addition, you will want to show buyers that you will be respectful and grateful for their time. It’s no small thing for buyers to take a chance on a new inventor. Until you convince them otherwise, there’s no reason for them to think that they need you. In fact, they know that even if they do decide to take a chance on you, you’re going to be kind of a pain in the butt until you learn the ropes.

You’ll get a booklet of information outlining all of the company’s rules and regulations for fulfilling orders, but buyers know that you’re bound to make mistakes and have questions. On top of that, your invention represents just one SKU, which is one product number. Buyers have to process a ton of new paperwork for every new vendor with whom they decide to do business. In addition, they have to teach new vendors all the rules for working within their organization. They often have to set up a new EDI (an electronic data interchange), so that their computers will recognize your product and be able to transmit information about it and to give and track orders. It costs thousands of dollars to set it up. They have to explain to you the proper way to ship, how to label, their rules, regulations, and requirements.

They’re going to have to educate you, and they may not want to take the time or even have the time. Why bother with all that
work for just one SKU when instead they could just continue to do business with the large corporations, the reps, or the distributors that represent a steady stream of new products from which to choose. Reps and distributors are helpful for the buyer and for you. As vendors they know the lay of the land and are already set up in the buyers’ systems, which allows them to make transactions more seamless. It’s not a bad choice for an entrepreneur to hire a rep to present their product. A rep’s connections and broad reach can open doors that a lone inventor might not be able to on his or her own. Some stores even require that you use a distributor because they don’t want to be bothered teaching individuals how to navigate their ordering system, and it’s easier for them to work with just a few distributors who can supply them with a variety of merchandise.