How Many Times To Visit Retailers?

John,

Thanks for providing the snippet earlier this month of one of the class transcripts that covered finding customers. In it you reiterated the 6x6 rule, where we go in expeceting our item and then move up the chain, ultimately getting the decision makers in the stores to tell us "its's a good idea, it doesn't exist". My question is, how many retailers should tell us this before we can move on to the next step?
Thanks,
-S

S

Of course the 6 retailers six times is an example of the effort one must put in, to emphasize that we "measure twice (or 36 times in this example) and cut once. Sometimes one exaggerates to make a point, but I could see people visiting stores far more often in some cases, less in others.

What the process ought yield is self-confidence that the next step is worthwhile (finding potential suppliers, developing designs, etc.) All of those next steps will require a enthusiastic optimism on your part, but grounded in solid experience. All of the people you need to work with after the 6x6 work will of course need to see your enthusiasm, but they will want to hear whether they should get enthusiastic. If it is all just "I know these will sell..." the smart people pass on any participation. If it is "the buyers at abc, xyz, ghi, efg all say it is a good idea and does not exist..." then you are likely to attract the smart and bst people to associate with you.

Another key aspect is that your project is small and doable to start. To take the example from the book, you are "testing the reaction of teflon coating on ice axes in the pacific northwest market.".. you are not "revolutionizing how every mountain climber in the world views safety!!!" Keep it really humble and small to start. This start-up should be no more challenging than cleaning out the garage. In this place you passion takes the place of your wife, nagging you to get going. Keeping it small also reserves your creativity to follow up where market reactions direct you... (the humility aspect applies to women too, but they never need nagging to get the job done.)

John

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