Even in the 21st Century with telepresence and social media, sometimes it is very useful to hit the road and meet analysts in person. Unfortunately, these are expensive exercises so analyst relations (AR) teams need to be aware of the following top mistakes when it comes to road shows.
5) Not picking the right individuals to brief. Too often IT vendors waste precious time briefing analysts that have little ability to support the goals of the vendor. While it is fine to add secondary analysts the focus must be on the most relevant to your revenues
4) Preparing a “one size fits all” presentation rather than tailoring presentations to the individual and type of analyst firm being briefed. Analysts need to feel that you have taken the time to address their specific interests.
3) Having the wrong orientation, i.e., wanting to perform a data dump of speeds and feeds on the analyst instead of engaging in dialog and relationship building. Moving from a company-centric approach to an analyst-centric orientation means you are more likely to address the analyst research needs.
2) Not practicing sufficiently, insufficient practice, and not planning the appropriate time to practice.
…and the number one worst mistake is
1) Not starting early enough. We have established roadshow preparation checklists that start eight weeks in advance of the roadshow. These checklists are set up to accomplish tasks in a less pressured environment and provide sufficient time for review, fine-tuning, and practice.
SageCircle Technique:
- Start early – include your roadshows for next year in the AR plan you are working on today
- Be clear about your goals for each roadshow
- Structure the roadshow to achieve those goals
- Make certain that you get the analysts you really want and not “fill in” with less relevant analysts
- Conduct phone inquiries before and after the roadshow to gather advance intelligence, manage expectations, and measure success
- Ruthlessly drive value
Bottom Line: Roadshows can be incredibly useful or dreadfully painful failures. There is only one way to ensure success and that is for AR to start months in advance and drive the process from beginning to end. Because roadshows for IT and telecommunications analysts are so expensive in time, money, executive bandwidth, and political capital, AR teams should work to avoid these top five mistakes.
SageCircle clients can schedule inquiries with a strategist to review your plan, act as a sounding board, and critique content.
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