Technology companies have long been criticized for allowing the shine of their technology to blind them to the realities of the marketplace. Marketing consultant Suzy Teele and Kirk Botula, COO and senior vice president of Confluence Technologies, offered technology marketers tips on how to get their priorities back in order at a meeting of the Pittsburgh Technology Council's Marketing Network last week. Among their tips:

Differentiate between sales and marketing. Sales is short-term and tactical. Marketing is a long-term, strategic function that should drive all product-related decisions and ensure that customer needs are met. "The things we do as marketers have an impact six to 12 months from now. Effective marketing reduces the overall cost of sales, and decreases the sales cycle." Teele noted that sales is usually the largest expense at any nonmanufacturing technology company.

Teele and Botula summarized the key components of marketing this way:

Product -- What are you selling? Who decides the features of your product? Who decides when your product is ready to be released to the marketplace?

Price -- How do you determine a price for your product?

Placement/Distribution -- How do you sell your product? What sales channels do you use? What's your sales process?

Promotion -- How do you promote your product? How do you create and promote your corporate brand?

According to Teele, one of the most crucial steps of marketing is simply "figuring out who wants to buy your product." This may seem obvious, but Teele noted, "Thirty percent of the companies that I have worked with made a product that nobody wanted to buy."

Get help on fair terms

The key to achieving fair terms with a venture capitalist is getting the best professional help an entrepreneur can afford, according to a panel of experts at the Pittsburgh Technology Council's Venture Out program last week.

Panelists were Jeremy Garvey, a lawyer with Buchanan Ingersoll; Andy Hannah, founder and CEO of PolyTronics Inc.; Gary Glausser, partner and CFO of Birchmere Ventures; and Jack Roseman, director of the Roseman Institute.

The best term sheets are detailed, unambiguous and hammered out by experienced professionals, they said. All also agreed that though forging a VC term sheet might cost a company $35,000 or more, it was the best money a young company could spend. "The one place you don't want to be cheap is with your lawyer," said Hannah. They also agreed that paying cash was preferable to using equity to pay for professional help because of conflicts that may arise later.

Glausser added that a good lawyer and accountant from name firms could add to the company's overall negotiating position.

Ask, answer right questions

At the heart of most market research studies is the interview -- asking the right questions of the right people in the right ways. But there is both art and craft to writing a good questionnaire and using it effectively. Robert Conway, president of Optima LLC, offered advice on effective market research interview technique and etiquette at a presentation sponsored by the Pittsburgh Technology Council as part of the EnterPrize Business Plan competition.

Among his tips:

Interviews should have a conversational flow. Open with a self-introduction, why you are calling and on whose behalf. Ask easier questions first, to help build trust. Later, get into the more probing questions. After the questions are done, review their answers, ask for suggestions and thank them for their time. Then follow up as necessary, particularly if you've promised to do so. Be polite, friendly and professional.

Don't interview yourself. Even though an interview is somewhat like a conversation, you should be careful not to steer the respondent's answers through your tone of voice or in other ways subtly encouraging people to respond in certain ways; that will corrupt the answers and end up misleading you. Be friendly, but remain objective.

Expect the unexpected. In posing questions during an interview, you are likely to encounter people who are confused, distracted, ambiguous, impatient, suspicious, uncooperative or unable to conceptualize what you are asking. It's a good idea to have some softening statements -- "I understand"; 'That's great"; "Yes, most people feel that way" -- or fallback questions in mind such as "Can I ask you one question?"; or "How is that working out for you?"