Analyst Relations Resources

“On a scale of 1-10, how likely is it that you would recommend [brand] to a friend or colleague?”

Ah, the Net Promoter Score question. While this evaluation question itself is remarkably simple, the factors that impact how a recipient answers are complex. What does it actually take to make someone want to recommend you? If we think about this in terms of analyst maturity, what does it actually take to make an analyst be your advocate?

"Is it better to be in a Wave or Magic Quadrant even if we don’t show well? Or are we better off declining participation?" I often get asked this question from my clients, and the answer of course is not black or white. It really does depend on many factors. The key is to have buy-in at all levels of the organization. Here are few important considerations as you are weighing this decision:

Uncovering an analyst’s perception of your business can feel a bit like searching for hidden treasure. You know their real beliefs are there, but they may not be obvious to you. Your executives and product team look to you to help translate the state of your analyst relationships. Do you have active advocates in the analyst community? Are some skeptics? Do you know?

“Why am I talking to this analyst?”

How many times have you received this question from one of your speakers? Or maybe it was this question, right before the call started: “Oh yeah, Joe Analyst, I remember him. What did I talk about with him last time?”

Consider this scenario: While prepping your executive team for a Wave briefing, your CEO asks, "Where exactly do we stand with this analyst? It seems like she's skeptical of our strategy.”

The circus of analyst relations

For those on the outside of analyst relations, it may be easy to think of AR as just a sporadic briefing or two with a handful of seemingly relevant analysts. For those of us on the inside, we know it’s much more complex.

The daily grind of analyst relations

It’s what every AR pro is up against each day. You attend back-to-back calls, send countless emails to your team, are in constant communication with analysts and representatives from their firms, all while trying to think ahead about what everyone might need from you next.