hi I'm Evan Carmichael welcome another
edition of ask Evan today I'm going to
answer a question from one of our forum
readers about how to sell ideas the big
company so I wrote in saying how I have
two questions related to two different
ideas number one how do I approach an
existing company with an existing
product and with a market idea for the
product which open up a huge in a way
for them to sell and reach more
customers number two how do I put your
company with an existing product with an
idea to modify the existing product and
give them a whole new range of exciting
spin-off products with of course
recognition and payment for thanks for
the help so this is a really tough one
I'm going to be honest approaching a big
company so I don't know what you know
the company is or who you're trying to
go after but an example say I have a
great idea for Google to expand their
business or Microsoft to expand their
business the idea the value is not so
much in the idea it's in the execution
so for me to go to Google and say hey
I've got this great idea if you do
expand your business chances are a
couple things one they've probably
already thought of it somebody on their
team have thought of it and they're you
know they've either decided to do it or
not do it for whatever reason but - even
if you gave them a new idea the value
that you're going to be able to bring is
not the idea but helping them actually
implement it so you got to think about
what value you're bringing to the
process here so really you got to think
about the execution side of things and
can you bring anything extra that's
value add beyond just an idea now there
are some strategy consulting companies
who just go in and give ideas and don't
do a lot of the execution and so you
know partner up with one of them is a
potential Avenue but really I think
you're going to have a hard time with
this one because the value of bringing
in just an idea going after a big
company it's going to be really hard
what I try to do is see is there
anything else you can add to the process
so if it's just an idea and then they
have to do all the work that's going to
be hard to get paid for but if there's
an idea that then
you can then add something on to and
provide a partnership or part of the
execution then that's something that
potentially you can get paid for so
example I work with big companies I work
with Microsoft I work with Google we
work with huge huge brands and I give
them ideas and they're the ideas you
come to me looking for is how do I reach
more entrepreneurs and they're not just
coming to me for the idea I help them
with a plan and help them execute it and
I can help them reach more entrepreneurs
because that's what I do right so I'm
seen as an expert in that field and
they're willing to pay me to do it so
for you are you an expert in your field
do you have any kind of support system
under you that they don't have
themselves the more you can build that
up the greater the chances are of them
being able to say yes you know I'm going
to do this and I'm going to pay you to
do it it was just here's an idea I want
you to pay me a lot of money for it but
then you have to go do all the work it's
honestly going to be really really tough
to get any money out of it so try to
think about the value either you can
bring and maybe it's not going after the
big company but a slightly smaller
company in the same field who wants to
become the big company this was one of
the biggest challenges I faced early on
in my career with one of my businesses
we were trying to sell the company and
we thought let's go after the number one
player because they're huge and they
have a lot of money and we actually the
biggest acquisition that happened in
their field was not the number one guy
was a number four guy because he wanted
to become number one so the answer may
not be going after the huge guy but
going after a smaller guy who's in the
same field who wants to try to become
the big guy try to become number one and
if you deal with a smaller business you
may have a greater chance to be able to
help them and also sell your idea so
hopefully that helps maybe not the news
that you wanted to hear but it's my
honest opinion so for those of you
watching if you like the video please
give it a thumbs up below I'd also love
to hear we have to think if you want to
leave a comment in the video or if you
have a question for your own business
I'd love to hear it and seeing those
always makes my day when they come in so
thank you and I'll see you on the next
episode