Sky's the Limit Think your product has limited appeal? It may have more potential than you know.

TheEntrepreneur: Dan Grace, 35, and Jeff Polke, 34, friends andco-founders of GCI Outdoor Inc. in Cromwell, Connecticut

The Product:The Everywhere Chair, developed in 1996, is an outdoor chair withan adjustable back and seat, so the chair can be used on slopingsurfaces. The line comprises nine products sold to more than 800stores-including Eastern Mountain Sports, L.L. Bean and REI-atretail prices between $24 and $60.

Startup:$10,000 was used to apply for a patent and make prototypes. Thecompany also applied for a $25,000 line of credit, which was usedto buy office equipment and fund initial production.

Sales: $2million in 2003, with sales of $2.6 million to $3 million expectedfor 2004

The Challenge:How to know if you should proceed with a product when you'renot sure if the market is big enough to support it

When Dan Grace, an avid golfer and engineer, came up with TheEverywhere Chair, he wasn't sure if he'd have enoughcustomers to build a profitable business. He had designed theadjustable chair to work on sloped surfaces, such as those aroundputting greens, but golfers proved too small of a market niche.Before long, Grace and business partner Jeff Polke targeted theoutdoors market instead. Here's how they found the right targetmarket and built a multimillion-dollar business around a productthat at first seemed to lack broad appeal.

Steps to Success:

1. Don't quityour day job right away. Grace got his idea for TheEverywhere Chair while attending a golf tournament. Around theputting greens, the ground was sloped so people could see better.But traditional lawn chairs don't work on steep slopes, sospectators went without. The light bulb went on-and Grace decidedto develop a new kind of chair and apply for a patent. But hedidn't quit his job as an engineer right away. Instead, hespent more than a year testing the product, making prototypes toshow to potential consumers, and doing all the grunt work to besure the business was ready to sell products.

"The decision to quit my job was based on support [fromfamily and friends], and consumer feedback on my prototypes,"Grace says. "After the patent, preproduction and businessinvestments were made, there was no turning back. After receivingthe first 1,500 units, I quit my job, and we hit the streets tosell the product." Polke, too, waited until the end of theinitial startup phase to quit his retail management job.

2. Listen to yourcustomers. Grace and Polke started slowly, selling theproduct themselves at local trade shows. "We started out firstat home shows," Grace says. "Many of the people who cameup to us thought The Everywhere Chair would be perfect forcamping." So they switched over to shows for sportsmen and sawmore sales success.

In fact, one of their breakthrough products came from listeningto a customer. "At one show, a prospect [told] Dan we shouldmake a canoe chair," says Polke. "Neither Dan nor I hadever paddled a canoe, but Dan created the Sit Backer canoe chair in1999. That product [pushed] sales to another level."

3. Generate quicksales. Before Grace quit his job, he attended the HarrisburgEastern Sports and Outdoor Show in 1997, where he sold 800 chairsto consumers, met potential retail customers and lined up localsales. Using leads from the show and from their own research, Graceand Polke sold the chairs to about 20 retailers, mostly in theHartford, Connecticut, area. "That local support washuge," says Grace. Soon, a top sales rep in the industry tookon their line. After that, says Grace, "The business took offin New England. He was able to get over 50 new stores to carry theproduct in just a few months."

4. Look for help whenyou're ready to boost sales. Inventors can bring salesup to $400,000 or $500,000 on their own. But some inventors needhelp to bring sales past the million-dollar mark. In 2001, Graceand Polke decided to hire a consultant. "Now we view theconsultant as a partner in the business," says Grace. "Hehelped us analyze where we were making money, he helped us staffefficiently, and he helped our business change from one that wasbarely making ends meet to one that makes 18 to 22 percent profitannually."

Lessons Learned

1. Let customers tellyou where the market is. Inventors often evaluate productsbased on their needs, but they must also see what potentialcustomers want. Grace and Polke, golfers to the core, ended upselling to a market they weren't familiar with because they letcustomers tell them where the market really was.

2. Be flexible so youcan capitalize on opportunities. Once customers tell youwhere to go, you have to be flexible enough to change directions.But many inventors get so attached to their concept of the productthat they're unable to adjust to an evolving set ofopportunities. Many successful ideas are at least 50 percentdifferent from the inventor's original concept. Your chances ofsuccess will increase if you can modify your product based on whatthe market wants.

3. Don't beswayed by people who don't like your product. If youhave a product with limited appeal, you'll run into people whodon't like your product. It would be foolish to let theirnegative input discourage you, as most products are bought by lessthan 5 percent of the population. To succeed, you just need a smallgroup of people who want your product.

Ask yourself: 1) Is there a group of people who have a strongmotivation to buy your product, as opposed to a group of people whowant to buy the product for different reasons? 2) Is there a way toeasily reach those people through stores, catalogs or events? 3) Dopeople who like your product feel it's a good value at theprice you need to set to make money? If you answer yes to all threequestions, you may have a winning idea.

4. Look for the smallvictories. Everyone wants overnight success-but success maybe a long time coming. So savor small successes. If you go to ahome show and just 10 people buy the product, that's a successif they all have the same need. That gives you the information youneed to expand your efforts into better shows or sales channels. Ifyou get a store to handle only 10 units of your product, but theysell out in 30 days, that's also a success. Look at success asa series of steps, and you'll stay motivated until you hit amajor breakthrough.

Don Debelak is author of BIZ Experiences magazine'sStart-Up Guide #1813, BringingYour Product to Market(www.smallbizbooks.com), and hostof inventor-help Web site www.dondebelak.com.