To make matters worse, the four local stores have already started discounting her shirts to compete among one another and are killing their own profit margins. Two weeks later, reorders disappear. Sarah abandons retail and returns to her website demoralized. Sales online have dropped to almost nothing with new competition. She has not recouped her initial investment, and she still has 50 shirts in her garage. Not good. It all could have been prevented with proper testing and planning. ED “MR. CREATINE” BYRD is no Sarah. He does not invest and hope for the best. His San Francisco—based company, MRI, had the top-selling sports supplement in the U.S. from 2002-2005, NO>. It is still a top-seller despite dozens of imitators. He did it through smart testing, smart positioning, and brilliant distribution. Prior to manufacturing, MRI first offered a low-priced book related to the product through 4-page advertisements in men’s health magazines. Once the need had been confirmed with a mountain of book orders, NO, was priced at an outrageous $79.95, positioned as the premium product on the market, and sold exclusively through GNC stores nationwide. No one else was permitted to sell it. How can it make sense to turn away business? There are a few good reasons. First, the more competing resellers there are, the faster your product goes extinct. This was one of Sarah’s mistakes. It works like this: Reseller A sells the product for your recommended advertised price of $50, then reseller B sells it for $45 to compete with A, and then C sells it for $40 to compete with A and B. In no time at all, no one is making profit from selling your product and reorders disappear. Customers are now accustomed to the lower pricing and the process is irreversible. The product is dead and you need to create a new product. This is precisely the reason why so many companies need to create new product after new product month after month. It’s a headache. I had one single supplement, BrainQU