Should AR Focus On Sales?

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 of us are confused. Forrester's research on AR's objectives, AR and sales, AR plans, and investment claims all suggests that we're trying to answer the wrong question. The biggest question of all for AR lies in what corporate business value it can deliver. The answer at your company might lie in sales, but if it doesn't, then why would you tackle sales objectives — which are the toughest AR encounters by far — only to deliver secondary value? Bright AR managers should instead choose to deliver higher value more reliably.