Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

More than half of the industry analyst relations (AR) teams that we surveyed in April 2007 say that they commit to objectives that help the sales function. But poor sales results threaten to undermine AR's corporate contribution and its reputation. AR teams — especially new ones — should familiarize themselves with the full extent of the failure risks and their ability to overcome them before deciding whether to focus on sales. It will be their toughest assignment.