Don;t Be Taken

Today I talked with an inventor who paid a "marketing company" his life savings to market his Patented Invention. What he received is NOTHING for his money.
He is now broke and looking for funding and no way to make his product successful.
The company he contracted with wanted an exclusive and the contract kept him from exploring other avenues to success.
My advise to everyone who has a product is DO NOT under any circumstances pay anyone the right to market your product exclusively and then pay them a fee.
What they do is mail brochures and literature to a mailing list of potential customers who react as I have and throw these submissions in the trash almost as soon as they are received.
Typically the presentations are less than first rate and overly exagerate the products potential sales volume and profitability.
No one can guarantee sales and anyone who does is misleading their clients.
I am not saying getting a product to market is a free exercise BUT there are legitimate consultants who will work with inventors and small businesses to make their products successful.
Unfortunately too many times when they get to me or others like me there aren't any funds to move the process forward to sales.
I guess the moral of the story is if it sounds too good to be true it isn't.