Invention Essay, Research Paper
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In all sports today there are skill-enhancing tools used to perfect a certain
technique. Parents, coaches, and the players use these tools. The sport that uses such
tools the most is Baseball. Many do not know but baseball technique is broken down into
many steps, which allows for the production of many devices. Many of these products
are expensive and not mobile. Mobile meaning you can’t bring to the field with you to
practice with. In doing research I found that parents feel baseball products today are
made for use with a professional and the kids were not able to practice with their parents
or friends. I decided to make a device that was simple and inexpensive so the average
Joe could purchase and use my product efficiently.
My company has thought long and hard about this problem. I felt we
needed a light, inexpensive, portable, and easy to use tool. I thought of the most common
device used in practicing baseball and came up with the tee. A good tee now a day’s cost
$50-$70 and in made of a very heavy rubber. The tee also has multiple pegs to change
the location of the tee to work on hitting pitches in different locations. As one can see an
average parents would not know the purpose of those other pegs. I decided to make a tee
that would fill everyone’s needs and that’s when I came up with the “Hand Held Tee”.
The Hand Held Tee is exactly what it sounds like, a tee that can be held in the hand of the
instructor. It is 8 ft. long one side with a handled grip the other side the shaft rounds out
into the shape of a baseball. The HHT will be used by instructor holding the stick in the
hitting zone allowing the hitter to strike the round end of the stick.
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The stick made out of high quality rubber will merely shake a little. You don’t have to go
pick up the ball or pick up the tee if is falls over. With the HHT the users get the best of
everything. The stick only weighs 6 pounds 8oz so its portable, and everyone can use it.
I kept it as simple as possible trying to make a product that is durable, and inexpensive
for the consumer.
I plan to sell my product through baseball stores and baseball magazines
rather than right out of the factory. I feel stores will allow for workers to demonstrate
and explain the product in greater detail. This will help the consumer get a real feel for
how easy it is to use and how portable it is. The baseball magazines will be used more
for getting product seen by baseball consumers. Being a computer person I have also
made my product available to buy on the web because that is the wave of the future. The
website will describe the product in detail and show a real demo. I will also meet with pro
and college baseball teams to demonstrate my product to them. This will ensure all levels
of baseball have see this product and how great it is. I will sell the product for a
discounted rate to leagues if they buy them in bulk.
I feel the key to my product is promotion and I don’t mean TV
commercials or anything like that. I see my best kind of promotion being people seeing
the Hand Held Tee in action. This being in a store demonstration or most likely at a field
were a fellow parent is using the product. This will lead to word of mouth and people
began to become very interested and will stop at the store and check it out.
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That’s how I feel I will get consumers asking about my product. Sure the baseball
magazines will act as an advertisement as well but one cannot fully grasp the greatness of
this product off of a magazine page. Another part of my promotion is my demonstrations
I will give to college and pro teams. All of my demonstrations will be given during a real
practice and will concentrate on selling my product to the players because they are the
ones who benefit from its use. Besides all of the basic form of advertising I will have my
own website which will show the product and give information about it on how to
purchase one. This website will be a great asset because in today’s world the Internet is
where all the of business is happening. I feel promoting my product through good and
clear demonstrations will be the key to its success in selling.
A huge part of a product sales production is its price. Before making this
product I knew I wanted a product that anyone can afford. This helps to widen the
market of people that buy my product. For example not everyone can buy a Mercedes
because they are too expensive which limits the amount of consumers. My product cost
$30, which is $5, less than the cheapest tee. I know some families can’t afford to go buy
a tee and don’t forget the net you need for the ball to be hit into. This combination of a
net and a tee with a dozen ball cost about $250. My device doesn’t require a net or
baseballs. Thus saving time in practicing and saving the consumer up to $200. An
average family can’t afford to spend $250 on teaching their son or daughter to hit.