In 2009, while I was teaching my IOMI® office moving seminar to a moving company in Denver, a student brought up my invention, the Spider Crane. The device enables movers to transport lateral file cabinets safely with the contents remaining in the drawers. Before I had a chance to tell my class that I was the inventor, another student jumped out of his seat and yelled, “I hate the Spider Crane.” I never did tell my class who invented it.
Over a 20-year period, I sold only 50 Spider Cranes. Even though the end users—the companies being moved—loved the crane and its “boxless move,” most of my moving company customers that bought the device didn’t use it.
On the other hand, my more recent invention, the Mat-A-Door®, is very successful. Why is that? I think it’s because the Spider Crane wasn’t user-friendly, unlike the Mat-A-Door®. The Spider Crane was heavy and difficult to maneuver, required a lot of training and experience to operate, and was slower than moving the cabinets empty. Like my other invention—the Comp-U-Wrap for moving computers—the Mat-A-Door® is easy to use. Movers love both devices and many office moving companies use them on every job.
The bottom line? An invention apparently has a much better chance of becoming successful if it’s easy to use.
Be sure to join our Group at https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12060567
For more information on our online office moving training, please visit
https://www.officemoves.com/training/index.html or call Ed Katz at 404.358.2172.
The Comp-U-Wraps are user friendly and movers love them
