For Analyst Relations Professionals

Creating, Keeping, And Losing Industry Analyst Mindshare

by Kevin Lucas, October 15, 2009

Analyst mindshare sounds like a great advantage to a vendor, but many industry analyst relations (AR) teams are uncertain what it means, how to create it, how to maintain it, or even what might steal it from them. Forrester has, therefore, introduced . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Improve Services Briefings To Industry Analysts With Three Additional P's Of Services Marketing

Building People, Process, And Physical Evidence Into The Message

by Kevin Lucas, July 24, 2009

Many services firms give weak initial briefings when they try to describe their extensive portfolios to industry analysts. The relatively intangible nature of services, as compared with hardware, software, and telecom products that appear so much more . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Introducing Forrester's Scorecard For AR And Sales

Ten Success Factors Impact Delivery Of Value To Sales Teams

by Kevin Lucas, July 24, 2009

Industry analyst relations (AR) teams struggle to inject value into the sales process. To help them assess whether their own companies are ready to buck this trend, Forrester has distilled down AR best practices for sales-cycle support and developed a . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Pragmatic Examples Of KPI Construction Within Industry Analyst Relations

by Kevin Lucas, June 10, 2009

Analyst relations (AR) managers have neither the time nor the inclination to grasp the finer points of departmental performance methodologies; yet, they still have to prove to executives that they're performing well and, better still, delivering business . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Introducing Forrester's AR Scorecard

Five Essential Dimensions At The Core Of Effective Analyst Relations Programs

by Kevin Lucas, March 6, 2009

AR managers get very little time to assess their AR programs because they're so busy executing on the next apparent priority. To help, Forrester has distilled down AR best practices and developed a simple methodology for assessing and improving the fundamentals. . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Power AR Program Design With A FIAR Tool  (364 KB XLS)

by Kevin Lucas, February 24, 2009

Use the FIAR process encapsulated in this Excel tool to design, refine and optimize an AR program that will generate unique business value in support of your company's prevailing business goals.

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Supplementing AR Budgets

by Kevin Lucas, January 14, 2009

When budgets are tight, analyst relations (AR) managers must optimize their spending. But they can also try to tap supplementary funding — especially from those who benefit most from AR spend. Given that their colleagues may face budgetary pressure too, . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Should AR Focus On Sales?

It's Not Just The Wrong Question — It's Downright Misleading

by Kevin Lucas, December 1, 2008

Ask two experienced analyst relations (AR) professionals or pundits whether AR exists to deliver sales value or not, and you'll get divergent answers. Some say that it's fundamental, others that it's fundamental madness. Little wonder then that the rest . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Is Your AR Fiddling While Rome Burns?

How AR Proves Its Value In An Unsettled Market

by Kevin Lucas, November 12, 2008

When economic turmoil impacts technology markets, many analyst relations (AR) teams appear blithely unaffected. In some cases, AR managers don't know what changes to make to their programs or even that such changes could help their companies. In others, . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Forge Valuable AR Programs With FIAR: The Forrester Industry Analyst Relations Model

A Structured Method To Craft Or Refine An Analyst Relations Program That Addresses The Specific Needs Of Your Company

by Kevin Lucas, November 5, 2008

Analyst relations (AR) managers constantly ask us how to prove the value of their AR programs. Worryingly, so do some of their bosses. Unfortunately, many of them struggle because they didn't build their plans to deliver business value, and they now rely . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Cost-Effective AR: An Optimization Approach

by Kevin Lucas, September 5, 2008

Analyst relations (AR) managers need optimally efficient plans because their teams are generally smaller than they feel they need. Analyst subscriptions take a relatively large proportion of AR's total budget, leaving an operational budget that AR professionals . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Whose Job Is AR Doing?

AR Professionals Need To Put Limits On What They Do For Others In The Organization And Make Their Own Mission A Priority

by Kevin Lucas, July 23, 2008

Analyst relations (AR) is just one of a number of vendor professions that uses analyst research; if poorly positioned, however, AR winds up helping others fulfill their research needs while diminishing its own corporate value. AR professionals must recognize . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Fragile AR Teams Must Support Business Goals To Survive, Let Alone To Grow

AR's Circumstances And Successes Through The Lens Of Team Size

by Kevin Lucas, May 16, 2008

Bigger industry analyst relations (AR) teams can undertake more work, but AR must also use skillful management if it is to deliver clear business benefit. For example, a Forrester survey shows that bigger teams reach out to more analysts and generate . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Corporate Communications And The CMO Offer AR The Greatest Chance To Succeed

AR's Circumstances And Successes Through The Lens Of Reporting Line

by Kevin Lucas, May 16, 2008

Although most analyst relations (AR) teams report through corporate communications or the chief marketing officer (CMO), many drift aimlessly before they get there. Along the way, other bosses exert their self-interest and expect a greater contribution . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Case Study: Exstream Software Drives Sales Through Analyst Relations

by Kevin Lucas, May 12, 2008

Exstream Software's industry analyst relations (AR) manager is generating direct sales benefits by consistently creating leads and providing strong sales cycle support that includes deployment of analysts who impact purchase decisions. While beating its . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Case Study: Callidus Software Drives Sales Through Analyst Relations

by Kevin Lucas, April 9, 2008

Callidus Software's industry analyst relations (AR) manager generates quantifiable sales benefits in the form of sales leads and procurement recommendations from analysts. AR generates approximately 10% of the company's leads, while 40% to 50% of sales . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Case Study: Lawson Software Drives Sales Through Analyst Relations

by Kevin Lucas, April 4, 2008

Lawson Software's analyst relations (AR) team is succeeding where most teams fail; it's delivering quantifiable, direct sales benefits. With two-thirds of its sales cycles affected by industry analysts, it's vital for Lawson to know which analysts are . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

AR Budget Buys Scale, Not Opinion

AR's Circumstances And Successes Through The Lens Of Budget

by Kevin Lucas, March 6, 2008

If money bought analyst influence, industry analyst relations (AR) would simply buy it. But, as a Forrester survey shows, AR isn't that simple. For example, higher budgets did not correspond to improved leadership of analyst evaluations even though they . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Mastering The First Analyst Briefing Tour

Seven Things Industry Analysts Want To Hear From You

by Ellen Carney, Kevin Lucas, Laura Ramos, Chris Silva, February 26, 2008

Most emerging companies, as well as a lot of established ones, are in hot pursuit of analyst "ink and influence," so they schedule analyst briefings to tout all the fine stuff that they do. But few of these first-time briefings deliver content that's . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Major Analyst Evaluations Are The Weakness Of AR Teams At Services Vendors

AR's Circumstances And Successes Through The Lens Of Vendor Type

by Kevin Lucas, December 27, 2007

Industry analyst relations (AR) teams have a tough job at services vendors. They find fewer analysts evaluating services than products, which means there are fewer potential champions of services prowess. AR teams struggle to cover the broad range of . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Commercial Size Is No Barrier To Your AR Success

AR's Circumstances And Successes Through The Lens Of Commercial Size

by Kevin Lucas, December 7, 2007

AR managers at small vendors and in small regional teams often fear that larger competitors can use their bigger budgets and manpower to dominate analyst relationships. As poor AR would imply poor recognition and career progression, AR managers might . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

The Seven Weaknesses Of Regional AR

by Kevin Lucas, November 7, 2007

As vendors seek to broaden their geographic exposure to industry analysts, their analyst relations (AR) organizations deploy staff in key geographic regions. But regional conditions inevitably differ from those in which global AR teams operate, and regional . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Industry Analyst Relations Should Focus On Achievable Metrics

Measuring And Achieving Sales Contribution Is Hard For AR

by Kevin Lucas, November 2, 2007

Myriad options puzzle industry analyst relations (AR) professionals as they try to identify how to measure the value they can bring to a high-tech supplier and deliver consistently against related targets. A recent Forrester survey shows that AR teams . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

AR's Graveyard: Unmet Sales Commitments

by Kevin Lucas, September 26, 2007

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 . . .

For Analyst Relations Professionals

Align AR Plans Explicitly With Business Goals: Your Budget Depends Upon It

by Kevin Lucas, August 6, 2007

Industry analyst relations (AR) plans form the primary vehicle through which budget and staffing requests are made. Yet many of the plans that we review suffer from an unexpected omission. While full of details about AR execution, there's rarely any direct . . .