Here’s a little quizz on how mature is your analyst relation practice. Ready to be surprised?
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How often are you surprised by an important analyst report impacting your company?
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All the time, my life sucks.
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Every now and then my morning is ruined.
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Not often, sometimes a peripheral analyst will write something unexpected without checking in.
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It would be unusual, as my analysts know I’m a maniac about draft review and I’m pestering them all the time about coverage anyway.
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Seldom, as I have good visibility into their research agendas, and in fact I suggested the last two report topics for my key analysts.
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How often do you interact with your key analysts?
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Never – don’t even know who these clowns are.
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Maybe once or twice a year, when there’s major news for my company. I have to remind them who I am.
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A few times a year. I still have to remind them who I am.
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Monthly at least. I usually see them at a conference, via inquiry, consulting, or a briefing.
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Last week. We had dinner when he was in town to see a competitor and I peeled him away.
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What best describes analyst impact on sales and your ability to enable sales?
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Huh?
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Can’t take care of sales, AR is a PR problem not a sales problem.
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AR ensures sales know of the major reports they can use with prospects. AR helps with the occasional deal when the field squawks.
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AR conducts a regular win-loss survey so we know which analysts are influencing deals. AR is also a part of internal sales training curriculum.
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Analysts pull us into deals and we review our big deals with them. Analysts speak at sales kickoff and review our sales training materials. AR gets invited to club!
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Which scenario best describes how you work with your spokespeople?
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I don’t have any dedicated spokespeople I go to regularly for analysts and usually it’s too late to engage a spokesperson anyway.
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I can usually find someone in marketing if I beg a lot.
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Product marketing and product management are good about helping me but they don’t set future policy or decide investments, so sometimes they can’t speak as authoritatively as I’d like.
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I can usually get the general manager of the BU to engage with analysts as needed.
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I love all my spokespeople. They do what I tell them to do. My CEO and his direct reports set a great example for engaging with analysts, and everyone on down takes their cues accordingly.
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How are analysts and AR perceived by your organization?
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Analysts are a pain. AR is viewed as broken or non-existent.
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Analysts are mysterious, they often resemble reporters, but sometimes act like business consultants, not sure how to work with them. AR? Oh they’re nice meeting planners.
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Analysts are a valuable marketing channel we need to exploit better. AR has seems to spend a lot of time complaining about how they need help internally.
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Analysts can be very helpful if you know how to work them properly. AR bugs me all the time for stuff they need, they’re pretty proactive.
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Analysts are part of the company ecosystem akin to partners, customers, employees, and shareholders, a powerful stakeholder. AR is a pervasive force that somehow has inserted its tentacles into sales, support, marketing, R&D, IR, and corporate strategy. I pay attention when they ask me for something.
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So how did you do? Lots of A answers means you have no AR program and don’t see any value in AR. A preponderance of B answers indicates that your AR program tends to treat analysts like journalists. C answers are a symptom of a young AR program that still needs to do lots of internal education and is starved for resources or support. D answers mean you’re doing above average AR, getting more than your fair share of analyst mindshare. E answers means your company really supports the AR function and AR is a competitive differentiator for your organization.
The maturity of an analyst relations program isn’t dependent on age, budget or headcount, although they can all impact performance to varying degrees. I just published an IIAR Best Practice Paper: AR Maturity Model (link for IIAR members) that outlines a maturity model for analyst relations programs that may help AR practitioners educate internal stakeholders about what is possible and how far away it is.
I created it for my personal use several years ago when I was a consultant so I could educate prospects and clients about the AR function. Now that I no longer have to worry about selling AR to third parties, I decided to make it available to IIAR members. Take a look and see if it can help educate your stakeholders.
Peggy O’Neill (@pegoneill, LinkedIn) is a former IIAR Board member and Senior Director of Analyst Relations at Informatica. She has successfully used this model to get more budget and lower expectations.
Link to the paper here > http://my.hdle.it/26680804.
See also the other IIAR Best Practices Papers here.
IIAR Best Practice Paper: AR Maturity Model, Peggy O’Neil
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