Recently while I was consulting, my client was telling me how she was getting ready to meet with buyers and sell from her samples. J ust a little aside here first... I do recommend selling from samples (prior to manufacturing a big run), as it's economical, safe and leaves room for a buyer to tweak just a little if necessary. You won't be tweaking things for a buyer of a small retail store, however if the buyer of a huge chain store has some suggestions about packaging logistics or little things that she feels will make a difference to the customer, you may consider those requests. Back to the situation at hand... The client said that her group of products for a kit was ready to show buyers EXCEPT that there were two differences in the samples that won't be in the real product/kit. Those two things being; one piece is a different color and the second is the font printed on the item is entirely too small, they printed the wrong font. But she said "this represents what the buyer will be getting." I could tell she was uncomfortable with it but frustrated with how much time it's taken so far and the fact that she may have to find another manufacturer for one of the components. Just going out and "explainging" seemed easier. Easier isn't better though. This is one instance where we get too close and need to step back and look at the big picture. I told her that she absolutely needed to have the "working sample" be exactly what the buyers will receive. When you have to explain to the buyer how it will be different, the buyer just wonders why you didn't do that yet and may get concerned that there are manufacturing issues. You really only get one chance with the big buyers and you must be able to deliver on your promises, so don't take chances. Do the work first, then confidently sell to the buyers without explanations and/or excuses. Have all of your ducks in a row before selling from samples. Not only have the samples be perfect, but work out all details in advance with your manufacturer about pricing on larger quantities and times frames for production on larger runs. As I discuss in my book, Your Idea, Inc., manufacturing is usually the toughest phase of launching the business. Know this going into it, and don't think you can exit this difficult phase before everything is perfect and ready to go to market. The big picture that always needs to be in the back of your mind is that you want consumers to buy the product and love it and you want buyers to want to keep it as a regular item. So, do what you have to do to fiind the right manufacturers. Companies/contractors that will deliver what they promise, because you have to count on them in order to fulfill your promises! sandy@yourideainc.com