Lesson #4: Test Your Product and Test Your Pitch

Almost every day, some new kitchen widget or another is released onto the market. A select few might become hit sellers, while the rest crash and burn as quickly as they were thought up. However, even where an entrepreneur finds himself with a successful product, rarely has he been able to transform it into an entire business. That is, of course, until Popeil came along.

It is not the success of the Veg-O-Matic that makes Popeil’s story such an impressive one. Rather, it is the success of the Veg-O-Matic, and the spray-on hair, and the food dehydrator, and the myriad of other products that have emerged from his brain over the years. “I have an innate talent,” says Popeil. “I used to think it was luck, but after one success after another, I realized that I know what is needed in the marketplace. Most people don’t understand the market. Most people have no clue. All they know is ‘I got an idea, and I need a patent.’”

Popeil does not just understand the market, he puts in the time he needs to make sure his product will succeed, never releasing something until is has been perfected to his satisfaction. Every day, Popeil continues to rise at 6:30 a.m., when he does a workout, and then heads directly into his kitchen and garage, what he calls his testing facilities. With all of the bulk supplies that he purchases largely from Costco, he passes away the time at work, tinkering with all of his new ideas and perfecting his old ones. In fact, Popeil has never hired a marketing team, insisting that everything from conception to product development to marketing remains in his hands.

Much like Popeil refuses to release a product until he has perfected it, even where that takes more than two years, he also spent much time perfecting his sales pitch. Although he never once scripted his infomercials, he refused to go in front of a television audience unprepared. To that end, Popeil made sure he had had enough experience selling on the streets of Chicago, at Woolworth’s, and at State Fairs before he embraced the new medium of TV.

“Before I went on TV with the Chop-O-Matic, I spent several weeks selling the product at Woolworth’s,” he says. “After several days of demonstrating the product, I learned what features consumers were particularly interested in.” By exhibiting his products in front of live people, many of whom were not afraid to ask him the tough questions, or debate with him about the products’ merits, Popeil was able to perfect his presentations.

Popeil once said, “If I’ve been chopping away for 10 hours a day, giving the same pitch over and over again refining it a little bit each time, why would I ever need a script?” Popeil might have always given an unscripted performance, but it was one he had been rehearsing for years. Before Popeil ever stepped in front of the TV camera, he tested his product and he tested his pitch. That is one reason why his infomercials were so successful.



Lesson #4: Test Your Product and Test Your Pitch

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