At Retailbound, we get to talk to a lot of entrepreneurs, inventors, and small suppliers. While most of them have good intentions, there are mistakes made before they become our clients. Here is our top ten list of common mistakes that potential retail suppliers make:

10. Getting advice from people who have little or no experience in guiding entrepreneurs into retail

9. Not having the knowledge or experience in one or more areas of product development

8. Not following the proper steps of selling to retailers

7. Spending lots of money on manufacturing hundreds of pieces of their product before a deal with a retailer has been made

6. Not completing a business plan or marketing plan

5. Thinking it’s easy to sell products to retailers

4. Not doing marketing research to validate their product

3. Not having a lawyer perform a patent search on their product

2. Not realizing that it takes many months to even years to develop and market their products

1. Trying to save money by doing everything themselves