Many individuals who try to develop new product ideas never consider a key factor of their success – positioning.

When you start to develop new technology or products and you begin an investigation into the company you want to sell it to, it is imperative to understand the positioning of that company.

Let’s define that term, so that everyone understands this important part of the process. Positioning generally refers to the position a corporation is trying to occupy in the mind of the consumer. Now, this may sound simple but, in fact, it warrants a great deal of thought as you are developing your presentation or pitch.

Whenever I’m working on a new technology and talking with the executives of my targeted company, I need to understand how they are positioning their company for the future.

Remember, they are always aware that they are being held to a higher authority with certain goals. That authority may be the CEO or the board of directors but, at the end of the day, the new product better match up with the position they are trying to own as a long-term strategic positioning move for their company.

One way of doing this is to fully develop your product into a sample with packaging that communicates well – that makes an executive sit up and take notice. It’s that “wow” factor that shows them you know where they are headed in the marketplace. Accomplishing that prior to the negotiation phase makes it more likely the corporation will license your product or technology.

As an example, let’s look at our client’s Swiss Army Whistle Knife. The company that licensed it, Victorinox, already owned a position in the consumer’s mind of being the one to go to when in need of a high-quality survival knife. They’ve done this so successfully that, when the consumer says, “Oh, I need a camping knife,” or “I want a little knife for everything on my key ring,” the name Swiss Army pops into the consumer’s mind.

The value of that is HUGE in the world of sales and marketing. We developed the whistle knife, complete with packaging, to perfectly conform to their position in the marketplace, resulting in a license and successful product.

So what space is the manufacturer or corporation you are developing your technology for trying to occupy in the consumer’s mind?

If you don’t think about that, you could be targeting a company that might not have any interest in or need for your product.

And if you don’t target the right company, it’s like trying to sell ice to an Eskimo … Why would they ever buy it?

At Davison, we hear the same sad story again and again. The tale has different names of people living in different cities, but it has the same unfortunate storyline:

An enterprising inventor is anxious about someone stealing their new product idea, so they rush out and get it patented before they have a working product sample.

Thousands of dollars later, the inexperienced inventor who did not build before patenting is often devastated to learn their idea is not manufacturable or marketable as described in the patent.

Why do people rush out and patent a half-thought out idea!? Why do they let their fears take over, shutting out common sense?

Inventors should remember this principle above all else – People buy physical products not patents, so build, build, build!

A lot of the uniqueness of a product comes to light during the process of thinking out how to best develop, manufacture, package, display and apply economic principles to the product so there’s a profit at the end of the line.

In other words, if you have an idea, you should develop the idea as much as you can into the finished product (or products that spur off from all your work and testing) before you patent it. That way, everything you learned during the process of development can be built into your patent application … It’s just good, old-fashioned common sense.

For example, look at how I patented the Goggleflauge, a camouflage face mask for paintball players. During the design and testing phase, the product was enhanced a half dozen times in an effort to make sure I created the best product possible for the consumer. That, in turn, led to other unique parts of my product that were later built into my patent.

I was also thinking through manufacturability. I knew I was going to have to bring together two materials through a rolling press and die cut the component – but only after I looked at various other options that proved to be far less efficient and too costly for consumers in the long run.

Before you patent, you must design, build, test, prep for retail, etc., so that everything you’re thinking of can be put into that patent application. Then, you won’t have to do it over two or three times with amendments or other expensive legal revisions.

I want to know everything I can before I patent because eventually I’m going to have to go to a major corporation and try and sell my technology. And shame on me if I put the cart before the horse and don’t first figure out all the benefits so that I can get a license with that corporation.

I remember being in the basement of our original office, die cutting out the third or fourth prototype of the Goggleflauge. As I was trying to figure out how to deal with all the scrap during the manufacturing process, I made an important discovery – I could use the wasted, cut-out center piece to make camouflage ear coverings for the customer – for free!

The added benefit could have gone undiscovered if I had already filed a patent on my Goggleflauge before it was fully developed.

I focused on what was important to paintball players – the product, not the patent. That is what got my product licensed and sold, and that is the reason it’s still selling – 12 years later!