Few more ideas here ...
Have you put a business plan together yet?
If you have, hopefully its not like the ones that get mentioned on Dragon’s Den where someone says they expect to be selling 2 million units within 18 months, and then when asked how they intend to achieve their targets they don’t have a clue.
You need a hypothetical working model that takes account of all your costs – that’s down to every last penny. Which means taking account of printing, packaging, storage, delivery costs, any labour costs involved with taking on help, etc, etc. Plus a figure that you can live on, which is likely to be better put by saying a figure you can survive on. Employing people is a big step-change for any business, and allow for taking two steps backwards before you move forward again.
You need to allow for worst-case scenario, i.e. how you will survive if things don’t go as well as hoped for (include an exit strategy), and also a plan for coping with success, i.e. if the ball starts rolling, how are you going to keep up with it.
Closing your eyes and hoping to survive a white-knuckle ride is not the way to go about things, for one thing, the stress you will come under will probably bring you down if the actual business doesn’t collapse. Hopefully, those close to you are up for this adventure you are about to embark on – ‘money ain’t everything’, as the saying goes.
Have you approached any of the national merchant chains?
PTS have in-house brands that are exclusive to them – which doesn’t mean that the product is exclusive to them, just the label stuck on it. A lot of companies do exclusive in-house branding these days. Lidl and Aldi for example, have all sorts of brand names in their stores for tools, gardening equipment, cooking items, etc. etc, most of which can be traced back to them. Most of it having been commissioned by them from Chinese or German companies who stick on whatever brand name suits the retailer.
Market research includes finding out what the possibilities are.
If PTS were to take on your filter under an exclusive in-house brand name, you could be looking at a very bright future.
They will need to trial it anyway, which they will do by releasing it through a select number of branches.
If they like it, and want to run with it, and will give you a substantial order, that will open up doors for financing.
Who knows, maybe they will bear with you on the roll-out, and work to a pace that you can handle. Until you ask, you’re not going to know.
PTS are national local suppliers to BG, so the possibilities are enormous.
In terms of preparation for talking to buyers, make sure you know your competitor’s filters inside out, i.e. what they are made of, what they cost to produce, what their weak points are, what their market share is, etc.
You say you are a plumber, so that will be a big advantage because you know the practical aspects of the product, however, you need to show that you have really done your homework and have researched the other main filters on the market in the greatest of detail, both technically and in terms of their grip on the market.
In an earlier post you mentioned the O ring in MB, and the fact that you have a washer in your filter that is less prone to miss-fitting, However, the joint in MB that is sealed by the O ring is not broken once the unit is fitted. Plus MB do draw attention to the O ring in the fitting instructions, and even include a spare. However, once fitted, the joint doesn’t need disturbing again, so I don’t think the O ring is any kind of major weakness in design.
If I were in your shoes, I would do some research re the metals used in the MB body - the thing is made to survive a nuclear war, but at a price. Brass, and most of the base metals used in the manufacture of the MB body have risen in price quite steeply of late, and will continue to rise in the future – China is hoovering up all of the base metals across the globe, which is helping to raise the price.
So rather than hitting on the O ring in MB, I would be more inclined to point to the ever increasing production cost of MB. There is also the rather confused marketing re the function of MB in relation to what-does-what and why. Then thirdly, there is the magnetic flak jacket that makes the thing look like a prototype that is still in development.
When you get a meeting with the buyers from the national chains, it will be a 15 minute (or so) appointment that could change the rest of your life.
So make absolutely sure that you have prepared for such a meeting; and make sure that you show them that you know your competitors inside out.
You don’t need any fancy sales pitch, you’re a plumber who knows what he is talking about, and if you can show that you have studied the opposition in forensic detail, that will impress.
What I suggest is that you use 3 points of weakness from each of the main competitors to illustrate how your filter is a better buy.
The body on your filter won’t be stronger than the MB, but your production costs should be more stable and predictable.
With the MagnaClean: there’s the connection issues, the body issues, and the limited functionality.
I haven’t seen too much criticism of the Tf1, one plumber on here mentioned issues with the connections, so maybe that’s one point to follow up on.
Have you pulled a Tf1 apart and gone through it with a fine-tooth comb?
Get the technical people at your manufacturer’s to give you the run down on the materials used: any weak points of any kind, including production costs, etc.
Rather than just being critical of the opposition, it will be more persuasive to use their weak point to illustrate the superior qualities of your filter.
Coin the phrase: “We’ve studied the rest to make our filter the best”
Buyers don’t want to sit through a session where someone just bitches about the opposition, they want to hear why they should give your filter a trial.
So cast your net wide and deep when doing your research, and condense your findings into a presentation that will fit into 20 minutes.
Marketing is essentially about communication, and if you can communicate within 20 minutes that you have 100% belief in your product, and that you have drawn on the mistakes of the opposition to improve your filter, then I reckon you will have a very good chance of walking out with a deal.
As a priority, I suggest you get your test/demo rig up and running.
Apart from showing your filter in action, maybe fit the opposition’s filters to it to make comparisons with yours.
If you can get hold of a MagnaClean with a leaking body, put it on your rig and video the thing leaking - you don’t have to mention the name of it, as it will be recognisable to people in the trade. But using the images of it leaking to sell the superior qualities of your filter body will be a powerful selling point.
I don’t think it will take a lot of effort to improve on the rig used by Spirotech.
If it were me, I would get a decent looking boiler that’s been decommissioned due to faults, and cut away part of the front panel, open up the heat exchanger, remove the coil, and replace it with a transparent plastic look-a-like coil (for a Vaillant, the plastic pipe used with vehicle windscreen washers would be do). Put some red LEDs around the burner, and you’re ready to go. Add an Alpha pump (which will give you a range of speeds) to the pipe-work, part of which needs to be transparent, and you will be able to demonstrate on video exactly how easy it is for a heat exchanger to become blocked.
Make your rig look authentic by having a small header-tank (labelled as such) and use it to introduce debris into the system.
Video the debris working its way through the system, and show how it blocks the heat exchanger.
Then run the same routine, but with your filter fitted, hopefully showing how your filter acts to protect the heat exchanger.
Give the bore dimensions of a typical small-bore heat exchanger, and show the size of the debris that will cause a blockage – use a close-up with a pound coin in to show the relative size.
Quote the cost of replacing such a heat exchanger, while comparing such expense to the cost of your filter.
Even when people know how something happens, using visual images can be powerful in selling a product.
Also, keep in mind that your video will be seen by buyers, plumbers, and members of the public - the latter being a good reason not to assume prerequisite knowledge.
It may even be seen by boiler-makers who produce highly vulnerable heat exchangers, and wouldn’t it be nice if it shamed them into putting one of your filters in the box with the boiler?
Make sure your rig really looks the business, and has your brand and logo on it.
Having a selection of such videos on your lap-top will be a powerful force for influencing potential customers.
Apart from the actual messages communicated, the way you have gone about it should impress, and say something about your business acumen and ability to influence people.
[FONT=&]I reckon you’re going to be very busy![/FONT]