Having reviewed many analyst lists over the years, it never ceases to amazes us how such a very high percentage of them are wrong. The analyst relations (AR) team’s analyst list(s) are a critical success factor. Having a poorly constructed list means that AR professionals are missing important analysts and wasting time with non-relevant analysts. As a consequence, the AR team will find both its efficiency and effectiveness negatively impacted. In the most dire circumstances, having a poorly constructed list could also negatively impact an AR professional’s ability to keep their job.
This post focuses on which analysts should be included or excluded from a list, not on ranking and tiering (see here for that discussion).
There are many reasons why any particular analyst list can be so wrong (in order of importance, most important first):
- Perception that there is no time to do the work
- Lack of formal analyst list methodology
- Inadequate consideration of corporate, business group and team objectives
- Lack of carefully considered weighted criteria
- Infrequent review of the analyst marketplace for changes in analysts and coverage
- Lack of mechanism for capturing how analyst list decisions were made
- Focusing on large firms while giving boutiques short shrift
- No access to a database of analysts
- Internal political pressure
- External squeaky wheels
Frankly, creating and maintaining an analyst list is not (more…)
Filed under: AR best practices | Tagged: analyst group, analyst list, analyst lists, analyst relations, AR | 6 Comments »
