So here we are again… just you and me keyboard… How are things going with you? Yeah, I’m tired of getting pounded too, but that’s the nature of the biz baby!!! On with the blog! The good news is that the other day was JUST bad news and NOT REALLY bad news. YEAH! I’m coming to terms with my numbers and know that it’s just one of those “things”. Onward and upward!

I got an email from a fellow mompreneur asking me to clarify a certain aspect of my blog and I was so thankful for the suggestion. I’ll get to the topic in need of clarification in a minute, but on that same note, if anyone has suggestions or would like more information or would like me to address a certain topic regarding this invention process… I do take requests. (I’m not saying I’ll know, but I will give it to ya straight as much as I do know)

Okay, on to the “request”. I talked the other day about my thorough primary market research. What is that and how did I do it? In your business plan, you need to do 2 types of market research to make sure there is a market for your product, what that market is, and does your product fill a need in that market. There are two very important types of research that you need to do. You have your primary market research and your secondary market research. Primary market research is the research that YOU do on your product and your market. You can do this by interviews, surveys, focus groups etc… Secondary market research is the research you gather from other sources such as using the internet, farmer’s almanac, library etc…

The reason why in my last post I could make a statement like

“The market will not let me charge $40.00 for my product. I know that from doing very thorough primary market research with my prototypes. The market has told me what it can bare..”

 is because of my extensive primary market research. A local machinist machined 41 Grill Charm™ prototypes. I had different head sizes, different stem lengths, different stem textures, you name it!!! I put together a packet of questions, gave my friends and family 3 different Grill Charms™, asked them to grill 3 of the most popular grilled foods in America (I knew what those 3 were because of my secondary market research), then asked them to answer the questions in the packet. Here are some sample questions about the performance of the charms in different foods:

Bone in Chicken Breast

Unless otherwise specified please rank the answers to the questions or statements on a scale from 1 to 5, 5 being the most advantageous, best, or most true and 1 being the worst, most difficult or most incorrect

Charm3/C:

Ease of insertion into the food

Ease of extraction from the food

Damage to the food was minimal

Stem length was perfect for this food

Comments, suggestions and most importantly criticisms and improvements:

Then at the end of testing all 3 foods with all three of the Charms given to them, I asked them to answer some general questions such as:

Would you buy a set of Grill Charms™ for yourself? If yes, how many collections? If yes, which collection/s? Would you buy a set of Grill Charms™ as a gift? If yes, for whom? If yes, how many collections? If yes, which collection/s? Would you change the order of the release of the collections? If so, please advise which order you would launch Grill Charms ™ How much would you expect to pay for a set of Grill Charms ™? Was the grill charm easy to clean? If you had a set of Grill Charms ™ would you be more inclined to purchase more sauces, rubs and marinades?

So now you know a little more about market research and why I know that nobody will pay $40.00 for a set of 6!

Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charms™  www.grillcharms.com

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 at 11:37 am and is filed under Inventor Mom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.