AR-Sales Partnership [part 6]: Action items to launch a project

In the past several posts we have discussed key ideas of building a bridge to sales and how to start a pilot program.  Now that you have decided to launch your own AR-Sales Partnership program, you need a plan that lists the action items you need to complete.

SageCircle Technique:

• Educate yourself so you know all your options and have a solid background to explain to others
• Obtain buy-in from your manager or

AR-Sales Partnership [part 5]: Use edu-marketing to drive participation

Ok, you have successfully launched your AR-Sales Partnership Pilot Program. Now you sit and stare at the phone waiting for these selected sales reps to call you asking for help. And you wait. And you wait. And you…

A fact of corporate life is that sales representatives are completely interrupt driven and often will not remember all the tools that are available to them. As a consequence, AR needs to drive participation until the sales reps get into the habit of using AR’s support services. This will be critical to the success of your pilot program and will require resources when you extend the program to the entire sales force.  A technique we suggest is an edu-marketing campaign that uses marketing techniques to educate the Sales team about

Gartner Q1 FY08 Earnings - No decrease in research growth

This analysis does not look at areas of interest to investors, but seeks to pull out insights that are relevant to clients and prospects as well as communications and IT vendor analyst relations (AR) teams.

Press release summary: Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) reported results for first quarter 2008. Contract value, a key leading indicator for Gartner’s Research segment, increased 17% year-over-year to a record level of $778.4 million, reflecting the successful execution of the Company’s strategy to accelerate the growth of its Research business. Total revenue for first quarter 2008 grew 10% year-over-year to $290.1 million, principally driven by strong, double-digit growth in the Company’s Research segment. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, research contract value and total revenue increased 13% and 5%, respectively. (Revenue and earnings both beat Wall Street analyst consensus.) Client and wallet retention rates for first quarter 2008 were 82% and 100%. The full earnings press release can be found here.

Notes from the conference call:

• As always, a call that was consistent with previous quarterly calls. Under promise and over deliver.
• No change in strategy, however belt tightening across the board due to economic uncertainty
• 5^th straight quarter of research contract value (CV) increase in

AR–Sales Partnership [part 4]: Take baby steps by rolling out a small pilot phase

AR teams can impact company revenues directly through assisting sales representatives, either to overcome negative - or leverage positive - analyst commentary and research to close deals. However, AR managers often shy away from supporting Sales because they fear it will ‘open the floodgates’ to hundreds or thousands of requests. To prevent this deluge, AR can take a phased approach, rolling out a pilot project as the first step.

AR can gather needed expertise and information working with a pilot group of sales representatives (10-20), either as part of a larger AR-Sales Partnership initiative (if has Sales leadership support) or as a skunkworks project (to build the business case for AR Sales support).

Operational Objectives of a Pilot Sales Support Program

AR team members can leverage the skills and processes they use to assist analysts with information requests as a way to support Sales. To effectively

AR-Sales Partnership [part 3]: Creating the plan

Working with Sales to leverage the analysts’ position in the marketplace to drive sales takes both processes and time. Therefore AR departments should generate a plan that looks at both the long term issues and day-to-day activities. The plan should clearly define goals and outline the programs and execution steps that will be taken to achieve those goals.

The AR-Sales Partnership Program plan will likely be four to 25 pages long. The amount of work required to create it will vary depending on how complex your AR and Sales situations are, what goals are to be achieved by AR-Sales Partnership, the expectations of your executives for this type of planning document, and the impact the IT analysts have on your market.

Your mileage may vary. As with all SageCircle templates and outlines, it is important to apply this

Random notes on Twitter

The Analyst Twitter Directory is now up to 60 entries with more analysts added every week. It is interesting that this is one of the most visited pages on the SageCircle blog.

Edelman’s Jonny Bentwood (Twitter) has done another crackerjack piece of research with Top analyst twitters / micro-bloggers. He has come up with an interesting framework to rank the analysts who use Twitter. The criteria are:

• Followers - the number of followers each analyst has
• Updates - frequency of updates
• Conversation- how many

AR-Sales Partnership [part 2]: Building the bridge to Sales

The first order of business for an analyst relations (AR) team launching an AR-Sales Partnership Program is to sell Sales on the idea. Without buy-in from sales management, AR will not be able to execute a successful partnership and merely waste time. Getting Sales management buy-in will not assure success, but it will certainly provide AR with the required backing needed to get started and overcome certain hurdles.

The first person to approach is to a certain extent determined by the size of your company. If you work for a large tech vendor the person you approach will not be the head of Global Sales. This individual is always under pressure to produce the numbers and often has the CEO, CFO, COO and others breathing down his or her neck. The head of Global Sales is so manically focused on execution that they will not be receptive to a discussion about innovative techniques with somebody they and their direct reports do not know. In addition, the head of sales for a large vendor will have been out of the field so long that they might have forgotten what it was like having a deal squashed by industry analyst commentary. Tech companies that are smaller do open up the opportunity to go directly to the top, but even in this situation we recommend that AR seek out a different individual.

What AR needs is a savvy sales rep or local sales manager who can coach the AR team on

Social media should not be a “special” activity for AR, just part of the overall AR plan

You do have an AR plan, don’t you?

Your strategic AR plan, the one with the charter and objectives, lists of all interactions types to be used for each purpose, service levels by analyst tier, calendar and priorities?

Ok, unfair question as many AR teams are so under the gun that a plan is often considered a luxury. The main point is that social media (e.g., blogs, Twitter, podcasts, wikis and so on) should not be considered something big and special, but merely just more forms of interactions to add to the mix.

Obviously, the various types of social media are still new to many individuals and AR teams. As a consequence, there is a learning curve to climb and a process you will need to go through to adopt these new forms of interactions. However, social media are not “special,” just like e-mail is not special. Oh, those folks that have been around for awhile will no doubt remember when there was heated debate whether e-mail was an appropriate form of interaction with analysts.

SageCircle Technique:

• Educate yourself about

The initial analyst briefing for a startup (Startup Saturday)

As part of our Startup Saturday series we have suggested that AR should be a significant investment for emerging companies and how analysts can play a role in building market awareness.  We offered techniques for introducing yourself to an analyst - so let’s be practical about the presentation you use for your first briefing.

The most important thing about the first briefing is to keep it short and focused.  Carefully evaluate your three key messages and leave EVERYTHING else out of the presentation.  If you bore the analyst with 40 slides with 93 builds of technology (aka death by PowerPoint) you will never get a second briefing.

Your goal for this first briefing should be to

Call for case study volunteers - How the analysts impacted a sales deal

One of the most powerful tools that analyst relations teams have to convince their companies’ executives about the business value of AR is a case study on an impact that an industry analyst had on a specific deal. For example, when we published “SageNote^TM AR107 — Case Study: Rapid Response by AR saves a $35 Million Deal” (call if you would like a copy), our client used this case study about her situation to obtain two more headcount because executives got that AR was not expense but an investment to drive sales.

Unfortunately, most AR teams do not feel like they have the writing skills or bandwidth to create case studies.  SageCircle strategists have both. Give us a call and we will work with you to create a killer case study that you can use with your executives. There will be no cost for this service as our “payment” will be permission to publish the case study as a SageNote. You will have the option to be anonymous (e.g., “a management software company”) or named.

Call SageCircle at 650-274-8309 to volunteer to be a case study subject or to obtain a copy of SageNote AR107.

Commercially available systems The ROI of an Analyst Relationship Management System part two

This is the second in a series of posts that will explore the resources required and the advantages gained in using a formal analyst relationship management (ARM) system.  In this post we look at some of the commercially available products.  Upcoming posts will suggest some best practices in using a system, and look at the values that can be obtained.  Your comments are encouraged. 

Where is your ARM?

Analyst Relations programs can use systems that are built in-house or use commercially-available software either on-site or hosted.  Significant factors in making the decision are the available IT support resources and the methods and resources you use to maintain the database.  Some teams have also expressed concerns about data privacy with hosted applications, but these concerns are effectively addressed by commercial providers with state-of-the-art security features.

If you do elect to create and maintain the database internally you will need to plan AR resources for ongoing research and maintenance Typical AR teams do not have

What is the definition of “analyst”?

Over on Twitter, there is a conversation starting about the definition of “analyst.” This post is to provide a place to gather ideas and see if we can come to consensus. Please leave comments with your thoughts.

There is almost no barrier to entry for someone to call themselves an analyst. All one needs is an opinion, laptop, cell phone, blog/website and (maybe) a business card. There are no state certification boards, no professional associations and no university degrees.

For analyst relations (AR) and public relations (PR) professionals this is not a trivial issue as there are more and more demands on their

AR’s turn - How industry analysts can come to briefings better prepared

After we published Research consumer’s turn - How industry analysts can be better prepared for inquiries we received several suggestions about how we should give AR managers’ their turn. In this case, the AR managers wanted to give the analysts a few friendly tips to the analysts about how the analysts can come to briefings better prepared.

In private conversations, AR professionals are more than happy to critique the analysts’ level of preparedness for a briefing. However, the AR pros are loath to actually say something to the analyst for fear of hurting the relationship or courting retaliation. We think that these fears are unfounded as most analysts would appreciate reasonable suggestions for how they can improve what they do. AR pros can leave suggestions via comments to this post (anonymously if you like) or by sending SageCircle an e-mail (info [at] sagecircle dot com). We will aggregate e-mailed suggestions and add them to this post.

To get the ball rolling here are few ideas that should only take an analyst a few minutes to do immediately prior to a briefing:

• Review the information or materials that the vendor has (hopefully)

Forrester Q1 FY08 earnings — Roles roles and more roles, Oh, hired more sales people too.

This analysis does not look at areas of interest to investors, but seeks to pull out insights that are relevant to clients and prospects as well as communications and IT vendor analyst relations (AR) teams.

Forrester Research (NASDAQ: FORR) announced its Q1 FY08, ended March 31, 2008, financial results. Revenues were up 16% to $55m and GAAP EPS was 21 cents (both in-line with expectations). Cash and available-for-sale securities ended the quarter at $205m. Agreement (research contract) value was up only 13%. Renewals: 76% clients, 87% wallet, 106% enrichment. Headcount: Research +10 to 346, Sales +19 to 327. New metric “roles per client” announced to track transition to role-based research, initial number is 3.2 per client (out of a potential 17 vendor roles and 12 end user roles). 

The earnings press release can be found here.  Comments that jumped out at us include:

• “1 B plus companies” - These are enterprises with US$1 billion and above in revenues and are a major target for both Forrester and Gartner
• Roles - There was constant commentary about transitioning to roles, growth of roles, new metrics on roles, sales specialists for roles, and that the analyst role teams are now responsible for their profitability
• Sales force growth - While not as focused on the sales force as Gartner’s Gene Hall, it was announced that the sales force headcount grew 20% year-over-year with long term growth in the15% to 20% range, increasing the size of sales teams per large account and the staffing of specialists for roles
• Increased emphasis on Q (syndicated offerings) - Currently 62% of total revenues, long term increase to 70%. New commission structure for sales id designed to push Q 

Implications for clients, whether end users or vendors, and analyst relations (AR) teams:

• All clients - price increase in July - Forrester has a pattern of raising prices in

Why technology buyers use the IT industry analysts

Sometimes IT and telecommunications vendors express frustration at the very existence of IT advisory analysts and their influence with the technology buyers (aka end users or IT managers). Often the vendors accuse the IT buyers of being lazy or stupid because they use the analysts instead of doing the research themselves. Bloggers are equally amazed at why end users would spend money on analyst contracts when there is so much information available for free on the Internet.

The reality is that the advisory analysts provide valuable services to technology buyers and have earned the trust of those buyers over the years. When they don’t understand the true reasons why the advisory analysts are widely used, vendor executives will miss opportunities to invest in analyst relations efforts.  This is also true for the sales force who need to understand the motivations for using the analysts,  Training is critical for preparing sales reps to handle lucrative deals that are impacted by IT analysts.

There are a number of reasons why IT advisory analysts exist and

Social media is a multi-facet opportunity for major industry analyst firms

Major analyst firms like AMR Research, Gartner, IDC and Ovum are rightly criticized for being slow out the gate when it comes to addressing and using social media. The one major firm that has done the most to leverage the potential of social media is Forrester, but even Forrester has not been as aggressive as it could be. Here are some ways that major analysts firms should be involved with social media tools:

Research it

Social media should be a topic of research.  We think this is quite obvious, but with the exception of Forrester none of the major firms have done any in-depth, systematic research on the topic. No doubt some of the firms will say that

Use the analysts’ words to build executive understanding about the impact of the analysts on sales

One of the critical success factors for analyst relations is strong executive sponsorship. Many AR teams believe they have executive sponsorship when in reality they do not. In these cases, AR is misinterpreting an agreement to do the occasional briefing as executive sponsorship. AR needs to persuade executives to take an active sponsorship and oversight role instead of just giving a passive, generic endorsement.

A key step in creating strong executive sponsorship is building the executives’ understanding the impact the communications and IT industry analysts have on vendors’ enterprise sales efforts. One technique for getting your executive to the “ah ha!” moment is by letting the analysts tell the story.

The first suggestion is have your executives listen to a few minutes of Gartner’s 2008 Investor Analyst Day webcast (click or visit the Gartner Investor Relations page). Starting at the 29:07 mark, Gartner SVP of Research Peter Sondergaard is explaining the value that IT managers

Why AR is more important than PR for a Startup [Startup Saturday]

Research by SageCircle, H&K (in multiple Technology Influencer Studies conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates), Lighthouse AR and other AR advisory groups has consistently shown that the most significant influence on purchases is peer recommendation and personal contacts.  Second is industry analyst opinion, which leads all other influence including advertising and PR.  For a startup attempting to break into an existing market or carve out a new market space this is critical information.

For a startup, traditional PR is certainly important and should not be ignored, but allocation of resources to AR can provide a higher ROI.  Press is very transient and even an outstanding article or mention does not have staying power over the long run if it gets buried in the clutter of a Google search.  Analyst reports have a much longer shelf life and may be referred to months after they are published as a relevant research note is more likely to surface during a research search on the analyst firm website.  Good research consumers will then contact the analyst firm for an update or discuss the report during an inquiry.

Industry analysts also convey information at industry events, act as sources for reporters, and can even have influence on Wall Street.  It is therefore critical that they are

Top Five Ways Analyst Relations can Help Sales [Vendor Sales]

The ultimate goal of Analyst Relations is to drive revenues for your company.  Analysts influence revenues in a variety of ways that may impact your sales team and how they interact with current or prospective customers.  An effective AR program recognizes that there needs to be a high level of cooperation between Sales and AR. The basis of this cooperation is mutual assistance, collaboration, and communication.  This does not happen by accident, and should be part of your overall AR plan.

Obviously you have to develop your program in conjunction with the needs of your particular sales team needs, but some basic concepts apply to all AR teams.

#5 - Feed analyst research to Sales that can be used as collateral.

How you distribute analyst research will depend on the analyst firm and your contracts.  However, summary reports, abstracts, and public information can always be passed to the sales team.  This is often done well by creating a “silver bullet” memo that puts the research in context and positions it clearly for

Analyst Analyst - a new blog to analyze the quality and accuracy of the industry analysts

Analyst Analyst launched today. It has an interesting premise - have the analyst ecosystem police the analysts.

What’s happening at Ovum? David Dom Duncan discuss

Two Three (I added Duncan) smart Brits, David Rossiter at Analyst Insight, Dominic Pannell at H&K and Duncan Chapple of Lighthouse AR look at recent changes Ovum. Well worth checking out their posts:

Ovum telecoms chief to leave

Shake-up at Ovum

Ovum at the tipping point?

Why it is a really bad idea to cut AR, even in a recession

It is common for tech vendors to cut marketing spend in a recession. Because Industry Analyst Relations (AR) is typically in the marketing department, AR is often asked to shoulder part of the cost cutting burden by cutting spending, freezing hiring, or even cutting head count. As a consequence, AR often cuts back on the total number of interactions it conducts with key analysts. This can be short sighted for a variety of reasons:

• Analysts interact with many communities on a daily basis - As we pointed out in involving the analysts early and often, analysts do a significant number of touches each and every day with IT buyers, reporters, financial analysts and others. Providing analysts with a continual stream of information about your company, customer stories, and so on ensures that the analysts will properly position you with IT buyers, press, investors, et cetera.
• Top-of-mind presence is ephemeral - Because the analysts have so many interactions and gather so many data points, it is easy for a vendor to get pushed lower in the analysts’ consciousness unless

What is the business value of inquiry for vendors

SageCircle promotes the use of inquiry and we have offered suggestions on various topics for both Enterprise IT research consumers and Communications and IT vendors.  In general, vendors spend far less time doing inquires than they should.  This both decreases the business value they are receiving from the analyst contract and misses some important soft dollar benefits that are hard to achieve in other ways. Not getting value from the inquiry contract also contributes to the perception of some vendor executives that advisory analysts like Gartner and Forrester are “pay for play,” otherwise why spend the money on the annual contract.   In this post we will look less at the techniques and more at the realized benefits of a program of regular analyst inquiry.

Gaining real information

The stated purpose for inquires is to gain greater depth and understanding of an analyst’s research and opinions.  As always, you should review the currently published materials before scheduling a briefing.  However, inquiry can provide insights into an analysts’ work-in-progress and allow you to

Managing your budget in a recession — SageCircle’s Coffee Talk

On Tuesday April 1 SageCircle conducted a web-based Coffee Talk around the potential impacts of budget cuts and how AR teams can best handle them.  We began with a few slides to review the techniques for managing a budget and then opened the session to questions from the participants.

Often when resources are trimmed certain areas experience across-the-board and significant cuts.  While some of these areas can be quick to recover in the future analyst relations is generally not one of them.  Developing relationships that can truly provide a positive revenue impact takes sustained effort over time.  Once your program begins to slip the effort required to

Earnings calls are scheduled - Forrester on April 30th and Gartner on May 8th

Forrester is on April 30^th at 11 am ET. Gartner is on May 8^th at 10 am ET. Both earnings calls are webcasts that you can find on each firm’s investor relations webpage.

I don’t listen to the Gartner and Forrester earnings calls with the same mindset as a financial analyst. What I listen for are clues to how the two publicly traded analyst firms are