Every inventor has a thousand ideas. But it's the rare one who has 350 of his ideas actually on the market.
Meet Zlatko Zadro, president of Zadro Products in Huntington Beach.
After careers selling large computers and refurbishing real estate, Zadro decided in 1983 to try marketing one of his inventions.
The result is an international company that makes 350 products, many of them patented. It has 40 employees in Huntington Beach and 800 in China. Many inventors can learn from Zadro's practical approach that focuses on customer needs, not his own desires.
Start with a problem. The whole thing started when Zadro thought about the difficulty men had shaving in the shower. The hot water supposedly softened the skin and whiskers for a more comfortable shave, but men couldn't see to shave because a regular mirror fogged up.
Zadro attached a thin tube behind the mirror, dispersing hot water to keep the mirror the same temperature as the air to avoid fogging.
He hired people to help with the design because he's not an engineer, but he built the prototype himself in his garage.
Zadro started selling the mirrors whenever he spoke to college business classes and broke onto store shelves through the Los Angeles Gift Show.
Learn before growing. For five years, Zadro only had one product.
"I needed to learn retail and distribution," he said. "A company shouldn't grow for the sake of growth."
He attended many trade shows and signed with a national sales representative with an established retail clientele.
Build on success. When Zadro did add to his product line, it was to solve another problem. Men with poor eyesight had trouble using the original fogless mirror. So Zadro added a mirror capable of magnifying things by up to five times. Later, he added pushbutton automatic magnification. And lights. And clocks. And a caddy to hold the razor. The top-of-the-line fogless mirror has all those features, plus the light turns on automatically when the shaver removes the razor from the caddy.
Listen to customers. Zadro spends much of his product-development time talking to his retail clients and hanging out in their stores to talk to customers.
"The ultimate decision maker is the consumer," he said. "That's who my boss is."
His mirrors sell in specialty stores like Bed Bath & Beyond, in catalogs such as Hammacher Schlemmer and Sky Mall, and he does sell one small mirror at Wal-Mart.
Avoid distracting lawsuits. After introducing a new product, Zadro figures he has three years before copycats appear on the market. But he usually doesn't file patent infringement lawsuits.
"The startup cost for a new product is half a million dollars so not everyone can do it," he said. "Should I spend my money on patent infringement lawsuits or research and development" of new products?
"Also, it didn't hurt me to have other fogless mirrors on the market because it helped consumer awareness of the product."
Don't fall in love. Zadro claims an astounding success record: nine of 10 products he takes to market are profitable, some more so than others.
Of course, he doesn't pursue every idea. "I have a folder this thick," he said, holding his index finger and thumb three inches apart, "of those concepts."
With 350 products, "it's not whether (a new product) is good but whether it can penetrate the market and have profitable market share," he said.
One product that didn't succeed was a women's mirror and makeup holder. Zadro isn't sure why but speculates that the packaging didn't convey value to consumers.
Seek new problems. Mirrors have been good to Zadro Products, but the founder isn't spending all his time adding doodads to existing products.
The newest Zadro product is a UV light for disinfecting phone receivers, keyboards and the like. It was developed by engineers in China, where SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) has been a health problem.
Zadro is already working on a larger version to disinfect large surfaces like kitchen countertops, and a spoon to disinfect drinks.
And he's always looking for other "innovative ideas that make life easier," which is the company's slogan.
[via ocregister.com]
Elevator Pitching on the Slopes
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Magnolia
NewsVine
Furl
Google
Yahoo