Hi

I have made an IOT module, but nobody cares, I don't know what to do, I have worked for 2 years on it. Software, Hardware, Firmware, Server, Website, PCB, and now nothing...

Why people like me are supposed to be ...

 

Hello,

Perhaps the IoT articles on this site might give you some ideas:
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/latest/iot/

Bertus

 

Good. Now hire a salesman to sell it. It's no good unless you can sell it. And you can't sell it til someone wants it or needs it.

 

Hi

I have made an IOT module, but nobody cares, I don't know what to do, I have worked for 2 years on it. Software, Hardware, Firmware, Server, Website, PCB, and now nothing...

Why people like me are supposed to be ...

This happens often when people create solutions for problems that do not exist. Knowing your customer and the market is essential for successful product development.

 

Hello,

Perhaps the IoT articles on this site might give you some ideas:
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/latest/iot/

Bertus

Thanks

Good. Now hire a salesman to sell it. It's no good unless you can sell it. And you can't sell it til someone wants it or needs it.

Well my biggest problem is fining a salesman...

 

Hi

I have made an IOT module, but nobody cares, I don't know what to do, I have worked for 2 years on it. Software, Hardware, Firmware, Server, Website, PCB, and now nothing...

Why people like me are supposed to be ...

Somebody might care, but nobody knows about it. Put your customer hat on and think about why your creation should get their attention. How is it different than existing products? Does it have unique features, a better price, look better?

Just building yourself a wheel doesn’t mean anyone else will want it. You need to tell the world why your wheel is better. If it’s not better, move on.

 

This happens often when people create solutions for problems that do not exist. Knowing your customer and the market is essential for successful product development.

Well I thought IOT has a good market and so many customer...

 

Well my biggest problem is fining a salesman...

Before you consider a salesman, do your marketing research as @bertus mentioned. Know your market, their needs, and where your product fits. If there’s really potential for it, only then would I invest in sales, manufacturing, promotions and so on.

 

Somebody might care, but nobody knows about it. Put your customer hat on and think about why your creation should get their attention. How is it different than existing products? Does it have unique features, a better price, look better?

Just building yourself a wheel doesn’t mean anyone else will want it. You need to tell the world why your wheel is better. If it’s not better, move on.

Yeah, but I'm only a designer and programmer, I have spent my life for researching, making electronical hardwares and software... sometimes product with lower quality and higher prices have more customer , I mean marketing is a science and i don't know anything about it...

 

Yeah, but I'm only a designer and programmer, I have spent my life for researching, making electronical hardwares and software... sometimes product with lower quality and higher prices have more customer , I mean marketing is a science and i don't know anything about it...

You may know more about your market than you think. If you’ve worked on your solution with various features in mind, such as security and reliability based on cloud servers, current switching capacity to ensure safety, compliance with common protocols such as HomeKit and so, then you we’re solving things that customers demand. Somehow you knew that these things were important.

Tell the world about what problems your creation solves for them. Your customers may be other engineers like you, and you can speak their language.

 

I mean marketing is a science and i don't know anything about it...

Common sense would tell you that if you design something no one wants, no one will buy it.

There have been cases where salesmen could sell people things they didn't really need or want, but that's the exception.

 

You may know more about your market than you think. If you’ve worked on your solution with various features in mind, such as security and reliability based on cloud servers, current switching capacity to ensure safety, compliance with common protocols such as HomeKit and so, then you we’re solving things that customers demand. Somehow you knew that these things were important.

Tell the world about what problems your creation solves for them. Your customers may be other engineers like you, and you can speak their language.

Ok, Thank you so much

 

Am I the only one that sees the hilarious irony in the title of this thread?

 

From personal experience: engineers make for lousy salesmen.

The trick is to convince a potential customer that he wants to spend his hard earned cash on your product instead of something else he desires. This is an emotional -- and many times irrational -- decision making process. Engineers tend not to think, or communicate, this way.

 

Am I the only one that sees the hilarious irony in the title of this thread?

No this happens to pure technology types all the time. They act like inventors and get consistently screwed out of everything all the time. They need to get their heads out of their keisters and realize that we live in a real world and ideas are worth less than a dime a bale in ten bale lots.* When engineers start acting like entrepreneurs and businessmen their fortunes will change.

*Lancaster, Don,The Case Against Patents

What you need to do now is use what you have as a stepping stone to the next product/project. This time find a customer and understand his requirements BEFORE you draw the schematic or write a line of code. While you are at it, at least get yourself an LLC.

 

Some of your market research will ask _why_ they don't like your product. Of course, one reason they don't like it is that they have not heard about it. That is the marketing part.

Both of these problems must be dealt with for a successful product.

 

Yeah, but I'm only a designer and programmer, I have spent my life for researching, making electronical hardwares and software... sometimes product with lower quality and higher prices have more customer , I mean marketing is a science and i don't know anything about it...

You got two things wrong there.

Product with lower quality and lower price gets more sales, but not necessarily more profit.
Product with lower quality and higher price doesn't sell.

Marketing is an art, not a science.
Marketing is sometimes intuition and gut feeling. Many times marketing does the exact a opposite of what one would expect.

 

Here is the U.S. Small Business Administration. You can glean ideas from their information on starting, marketing, and running a business.

Don Lancaster's article "A case against patents."

 

Hi

I have made an IOT module, but nobody cares, I don't know what to do, I have worked for 2 years on it. Software, Hardware, Firmware, Server, Website, PCB, and now nothing...

Why people like me are supposed to be ...

Well I thought IOT has a good market and so many customer...

Think about this for a minute and you will likely discover a big part of your problem.

Someone convinces you that "IOT has a good market" and so you apparently concluded that ANYTHING that could be tagged as being "IOT" was somehow guaranteed to be an instant hit.

So think back to what made you think that YOUR particular IOT module should matter to anyone. Did you make any effort to find out what people wanted or whether they would want what you were thinking of doing? Or did you just tuck yourself away and bury your head for two years assuming that whatever you built would have a market?

You may or may not be able to salvage anything from this project, but you should definitely use it as a learning experience to keep from making the same mistake again (and again, and again).

 

From personal experience: engineers make for lousy salesmen.

very true... but then again, we're also quick learners. Even those of us who were born with no social skills eventually have to learn how to sell our technical skills...