Mistakes in Building Relationships

When working with companies and other inventors, avoid these common errors

Don’t send unsolicited marketing materials—whether dealing with companies or other inventors.

BY APRIL MITCHELL

I have seen many mistakes when people try to contact and work with companies, as well as with other inventors. I’ve even made some myself.

These can be the difference in whether your invention is a success or not. Here are the top three errors I see in each situation.

With companies

Sending unsolicited marketing materials. You should only send marketing materials to companies after getting permission. Yes, it’s OK to ask what their process is and/or who is the best contact for presenting products to—but don’t just send things over.

Once you have permission and send your materials, follow up with them about your product. You may even be able to set up a pitch meeting with the company—something I always prefer, because it gives me a chance to meet people at the company and start to build the relationship.

Arguing about why your product is a good fit. Companies presumably know their customers best and what is currently happening with the company. It may be a fit, but not now or for whatever reason.

Arguing with them will most likely not convince them—and can close a door for you.

It’s important to graciously accept the feedback from a company. If it does not give you feedback with the rejection, you have the right to professionally ask what made it not a fit and how you might get closer to a fit the next time. 

Not knowing your pitch audience. Do your research and know your audience! You should know about the company and why your product could be a good fit for it. You should know where and how it fits within its product line.

Think about the categories the company manufactures in, as well as factors like the material and price. If it comes back to you with questions, be sure you can answer about your product and how it works well with the company.

It’s also important to familiarize yourself with the company’s startup story, where it is based, and its top-selling products. The more you know about their company, the better!

I made all three of these mistakes when I started. I had to learn the hard way. But we must learn and improve if we want people to take us seriously as professionals and keep the door open to us.

With other inventors

Connecting with and supporting other inventors is a great way to be a part of the inventing community. It feels great to belong to a group of like-minded people and share tips, stories and advice, as well as provide encouragement. 

We all have much to learn from each other, as well as things to teach each other. But sometimes, in our excitement about our product or even desperation to get it into the world, we may ask too much of other inventors.

Though most inventors like to help each other when possible, here are the top three things they don’t appreciate.

Sending unsolicited marketing materials. Yes, it’s the same mistake listed above when dealing with companies—but in this case for another reason.

Often times, new inventors want to get the opinion of a seasoned

inventor and/or want to see if the other inventor wants to help them with it or pitch it for them. But many inventors like myself don’t want to receive marketing materials from other inventors for a couple reasons.

One is that they could be working on something similar themselves and don’t want to have a conflict of interest. The other is that they do not represent other inventors; they are inventors themselves and are working on getting their products licensed.

Requesting a list of companies for pitching. Inventors work hard doing research and making their list of potential licensees, as

well as building upon those relationships. It takes time and effort to locate companies within an industry that can be a good fit to pitch your product to for licensing.

Hours spent online and in stores doing research should not be taken lightly, nor be expected to be handed over to others. 

You as an inventor know your product best. By doing the research yourself, you should find the companies that are the best fit for your product. Go to trade show sites and events—a great place to start.

Also, pay attention to what companies other inventors are signing deals with, and add them to your list to research. And of course, do your online and in-person shopping research to see what companies are selling products in your invention category, and continually expand your list.

Asking for names and emails of contacts at companies. People and their contact information are more than just “contacts.” They are

relationships that have been built throughout time—sometimes, even years—and should be respected as such.

Asking for help getting to the right person from someone you may be friends with can be considered acceptable by some. But if you contact another inventor you have never spoken to before and ask him or her for contact information for someone, it may not come across well. 

If a person from a company wants his or her contact information to be shared, usually inventors are happy to do so. But often, they would want to ask for permission and be ready to vouch for the

inventor to whom they are giving the information.

Some things to think about before asking:

Do I know this person well that I am contacting for help?

Would he or she be comfortable vouching for me?

How do I feel about sharing contact information?

It would be wonderful to be handed a list of companies and the people’s contact information for pitching. I would have loved an easy fix when getting started as well.

But let’s support other inventors in their wins and ask questions or for help when appropriate.

Join inventor communities to learn from each other and share information. Most inventors are happy to point other inventors in the right direction whenever possible.

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