Research Buying Tips
In some cases, such as reviewing the Yellow Pages to determine the level of competition for a specific geographic area, marketing research can easily be accomplished by small business owners themselves. However, as the research becomes more complicated, the small businessperson may wish to turn to an expert in the field. Numerous research firms exist throughout the U.S. Some conduct millions of dollars of research each month, such as A.C. Nielsen and its monitoring of television audiences. Others are smaller, independent firms that serve specific geographic areas. Although marketing research can be considered a bargain, especially if the results of a study greatly increase revenues or cut costs, good marketing research is not cheap. Marketing researchers are trained, experienced professionals, not unlike attorneys or architects. Accordingly, the first-time research buyer may be startled by the prices for research services. For example, focus groups run about $3,000 each, and a telephone survey could range anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000 or more, depending on the number of interviews and length of the questionnaire.

reated like an end-user, rather than the true partner they should be viewed as. Distributors and Resellers need to be treated as an extension of a company’s sales force. Sadly, they often are not, leading to such misguided policies such as channel stuffing and over-distribution, which lead to problems that become extremely difficult to resolve.

Joint Marketing—Cooperation on marketing matters should be where most companies reap the greatest benefits. Partnering in this area is really low risk, can have great benefits, and is a great way to get started with a new partner. There are so many ways that companies can coopera

Forming Partnerships, or Strategic Alliances, is one of the key elements that make up the business development function in technology companies. I believe that alliances are underutilized, in many ways. Conceived and executed properly, alliances can greatly extend the partner companies reach in the marketplace.

VARIOUS AND SUNDRY PARTNERSHIPS

There are many types of collaboration that fall under the umbrella of “Partnering”. Let’s examine a few of the most common:

Third Party Programs—Probably the best understood category of partnering. Partnering in this manner is generally low risk, but low reward for both parties. A program usually consists of many smaller partners gaining modest benefits from a larger company. The larger company gains (or at least the illusion) from having a large number of partners working with their product/technology.

Industry Consortiums—Represents another well-understood category. Mild benefits are usually obtained by the participating parties, including some publicity, a stamp of approval, and the opportunity to network with other consortium members. The unique aspect of this form of partnering is its one-to-many relationship, as opposed to “one-to-one” or “one-to-few” relationships found in most partnerships.

Sales Agents—Many people might not consider sales agent relationships partnerships, at least not strategic. But they certainly are. There is usually a minimum of entanglement here, simply a contract that provides a commission for sales generated or leveraged. The product doesn’t change hands between the partners, and there is often less training and support involved, relative to other partnership types used for product distribution.

Service Agreements—These agreements occur when a company doesn’t want to relinquish the sales function for its products, but for some reason it needs a third party for servicing. These agreements are common in high-end hardware markets, where 24/7 on-site support is critical. Storage Hardware or Mainframes are good examples. They are also seen in more commodity markets, where a company has decided that service/support isn’t their core competency, and that a third party can handle service/support at a lower cost. The use of Indian Call Centers by PC manufacturers such as Dell is a recent example of this concept.

Distribution Agreements—This is a common, but often poorly executed form of partnership. The errors usually occur when the Channel partner is treated like an end-user, rather than the true partner they should be viewed as. Distributors and Resellers need to be treated as an extension of a company’s sales force. Sadly, they often are not, leading to such misguided policies such as channel stuffing and over-distribution, which lead to problems that become extremely difficult to resolve.

Joint Marketing—Cooperation on marketing matters should be where most companies reap the greatest benefits. Partnering in this area is really low risk, can have great benefits, and is a great way to get started with a new partner. There are so many ways that companies can coopera

w reward for both parties. A program usually consists of many smaller partners gaining modest benefits from a larger company. The larger company gains (or at least the illusion) from having a large number of partners working with their product/technology.

Industry Consortiums—Represents another well-understood category. Mild benefits are usually obtained by the participating parties, including some publicity, a stamp of approval, and the opportunity to network with other consortium members. The unique aspect of this form of partnering is its one-to-many relationship, as opposed to “one-to-one” or “one-to-few” relationships found in most partnerships.

Sales Agents—Many people might not consider sales agent relationships partnerships, at least not strategic. But they certainly are. There is usually a minimum of entanglement here, simply a contract that provides a commission for sales generated or leveraged. The product doesn’t change hands between the partners, and there is often less training and support involved, relative to other partnership types used for product distribution.

Service Agreements—These agreements occur when a company doesn’t want to relinquish the sales function for its products, but for some reason it needs a third party for servicing. These agreements are common in high-end hardware markets, where 24/7 on-site support is critical. Storage Hardware or Mainframes are good examples. They are also seen in more commodity markets, where a company has decided that service/support isn’t their core competency, and that a third party can handle service/support at a lower cost. The use of Indian Call Centers by PC manufacturers such as Dell is a recent example of this concept.

Distribution Agreements—This is a common, but often poorly executed form of partnership. The errors usually occur when the Channel partner is treated like an end-user, rather than the true partner they should be viewed as. Distributors and Resellers need to be treated as an extension of a company’s sales force. Sadly, they often are not, leading to such misguided policies such as channel stuffing and over-distribution, which lead to problems that become extremely difficult to resolve.

Joint Marketing—Cooperation on marketing matters should be where most companies reap the greatest benefits. Partnering in this area is really low risk, can have great benefits, and is a great way to get started with a new partner. There are so many ways that companies can coopera

ips found in most partnerships.

Sales Agents—Many people might not consider sales agent relationships partnerships, at least not strategic. But they certainly are. There is usually a minimum of entanglement here, simply a contract that provides a commission for sales generated or leveraged. The product doesn’t change hands between the partners, and there is often less training and support involved, relative to other partnership types used for product distribution.

Service Agreements—These agreements occur when a company doesn’t want to relinquish the sales function for its products, but for some reason it needs a third party for servicing. These agreements are common in high-end hardware markets, where 24/7 on-site support is critical. Storage Hardware or Mainframes are good examples. They are also seen in more commodity markets, where a company has decided that service/support isn’t their core competency, and that a third party can handle service/support at a lower cost. The use of Indian Call Centers by PC manufacturers such as Dell is a recent example of this concept.

Distribution Agreements—This is a common, but often poorly executed form of partnership. The errors usually occur when the Channel partner is treated like an end-user, rather than the true partner they should be viewed as. Distributors and Resellers need to be treated as an extension of a company’s sales force. Sadly, they often are not, leading to such misguided policies such as channel stuffing and over-distribution, which lead to problems that become extremely difficult to resolve.

Joint Marketing—Cooperation on marketing matters should be where most companies reap the greatest benefits. Partnering in this area is really low risk, can have great benefits, and is a great way to get started with a new partner. There are so many ways that companies can coopera

eason it needs a third party for servicing. These agreements are common in high-end hardware markets, where 24/7 on-site support is critical. Storage Hardware or Mainframes are good examples. They are also seen in more commodity markets, where a company has decided that service/support isn’t their core competency, and that a third party can handle service/support at a lower cost. The use of Indian Call Centers by PC manufacturers such as Dell is a recent example of this concept.

Distribution Agreements—This is a common, but often poorly executed form of partnership. The errors usually occur when the Channel partner is treated like an end-user, rather than the true partner they should be viewed as. Distributors and Resellers need to be treated as an extension of a company’s sales force. Sadly, they often are not, leading to such misguided policies such as channel stuffing and over-distribution, which lead to problems that become extremely difficult to resolve.

Joint Marketing—Cooperation on marketing matters should be where most companies reap the greatest benefits. Partnering in this area is really low risk, can have great benefits, and is a great way to get started with a new partner. There are so many ways that companies can coopera

reated like an end-user, rather than the true partner they should be viewed as. Distributors and Resellers need to be treated as an extension of a company’s sales force. Sadly, they often are not, leading to such misguided policies such as channel stuffing and over-distribution, which lead to problems that become extremely difficult to resolve.

Joint Marketing—Cooperation on marketing matters should be where most companies reap the greatest benefits. Partnering in this area is really low risk, can have great benefits, and is a great way to get started with a new partner. There are so many ways that companies can cooperate in joint marketing; the list is really only limited by your imagination. Some of the ways I’ve been able to utilize these types of partnerships include discounted product promotional bundles, trade show space cost-sharing, joint press releases (of course!), sharing of prospect and customer lists, referrals, and joint direct mailings. The great thing is that there are many areas to explore, to find overlap in the two companies interests.

Product Integration—Integrating the products of two companies is what often comes to mind when you think of partnerships. It can make great sense, and the potential rewards are great. However, there are some reasons for caution, prior to jumping straight into this, as I’ll discuss below.

POTENTIAL PITFALLS

As discussed above, a partnership or alliance can take many forms. As a result, there is a lot of confusion and disagreement as to what even constitutes a “good” partnership. Let’s take a closer look at two partnering categories, and some common missteps:

The Partnership

You see a great many press releases go out trumpeting the partnership between company A and company B. The release goes on to discuss the great benefits that will accrue to customers and the two companies making the announcement. The language tends to be vague and laced with terminology like “synergy” and “market leading value proposition”. More often than not, that initial press release is the high point of the partnership, and little is heard about it subsequently. You may have heard the term “slide-ware” to describe products that exist only in PowerPoint. This type of partnership is the alliance equivalent to slide-ware—I call it a “PaRtner-ship.”

Product Integration Fiasco

On the other end of the partnership spectrum, technical folks usually think of alliances in terms of product integration. Technical integration can be the basis for a great partnership. However, it’s a lot of work and a big commitment for both parties. The danger is that the partners too quickly dive head long into the product integration work, basing their decision on an impulsive belief that it “makes sense”.

In a typical scenario, the two products are complementary, and from an engineering (and often customer) perspective it looks like a marriage made in heaven. Several dangers are lying in the weeds, however. First of all, any product development effort runs a high risk of failure. When you put together two disparate engineering teams who have never worked t