227: How to Sell Your Invention Direct to Companies as a Promotional Product

Jeff Lerner is the CEO of Misnomer, a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer and Brand Development Agency. He boasts an impressive career, having collectively raised $400 million through venture capitalists and formerly served as a marketing lead at Google for several years. Today, Jeff will draw on his extensive experience to afford insight to inventors, startups, and small manufacturers looking to sell their inventions directly to larger corporations for promotional use. He will detail effective strategies for identifying how your product can impactfully enhance a corporation's value or improve operations, as well as the various types of promotional products that new product startups and inventors often overlook and their varied applications.

Click this link for This Episode's Full Info Page: https://www.makodesign.com/podcast/227-how-to-sell-your-invention-direct-to-companies-as-a-promotional-product/

Key Takeaways in This Episode:

• How does selling your product to companies as a promotional product differ from D2C sales?

• There are multiple avenues you can take to get your promotional product sold to larger companies. 

• Find the one person in your target organization that encounters the problem your product solves. Make this person look like a hero by bringing that solution to their team.

• Reach out to various members within the company to gain an understanding of the overarching organizational situation and evaluate how your product or service can solve large issues.

• How does your product improve the value of the organization?

• How does your product add value to their sales process? Every company wants more business and greater revenue.

• There are a number of creative ways to determine how your product fits into the promotional products landscape of a corporation.

• If your product is new, you have an advantage in that it is unique and has never been seen before. However, the disadvantage is that you will need to educate the customer as to why they need it.

• If your product is an improved version of an existing product, it will likely be easier to educate potential customers and thus sell.

• Start by selling locally through networking groups or local trade shows; you will be surprised at how many you find.

MAKO Design + Invent: www.makodesign.com

Kevin Mako: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevmako

Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. We also help our clients with business and product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.