How do you train and prepare your spokespeople for analyst interactions?

How I prepare my spokespeople: 1. Remind spokespeople of the analyst's role and its requirements 2. Brainstorm worst-practices with them 3. Give them best-practices 4. Give them a detailed analyst profile to connect the briefing contents to their research priorities 5. Review the briefing structure and content with them 6. Reflect the content's factualness in explanatory tone-of-voice 7. Explain how to answer critical analyst questions How I train my spokespeople: 1. Do a rehearsal session with spokespeople 2. Rehearsal includes answering critical questions 3. Discuss every interaction from the perspective of delivery excellence and give specific advice to each spokesperson to improve next time

Sales engineers are an underrated resource for analyst presentations. They can demo vision, answer technical questions, and share a ton of insights from both customers and prospective customer sales cycles - which is who the analyst is actually writing for.

In my opinion, the best way for me to prep a peer for a meeting is to explain that analysts are not customers; they’re thought leaders looking for information. This translates into me telling them NEVER to use our briefings to pitch. Instead, to inform and educate them about our company and industry trends. In my early days I made the mistake of using a briefing to pitch our product like a sales demo. The analyst lost interest and cut the meeting short. I learned the hard way that analysts value information and insights not sales pitches. Never again.

It’s true that senior spokespersons are often most suitable, but the right spokesperson is more important. Or the right combination of people - please, no more than two. They need to be fully aware of the technology or market development under discussion. They also need to be engaging and open to discussion - and training or prep can’t just be media and presentation training, but education so they have an understanding of what matters to the analyst’s side of the fence.

Although it is important to select people who have the subject matter expertise and insights from clients/prospects, your experts also need to be able to pivot if the analyst asks questions that differ from the prepared script. I've also coached my subject matter experts in how to say it succinctly and crisply.

In my experience you also need to select spokespeople who can speak to the analyst's audience. Analysts have different roles and can impact the market in different ways. For example: analysts that align with customers; analysts that align with vendors; and analysts who influence the market. With each of these, I recommend positioning the right experts from senior leadership, product management, and sales to align with their respective focus area. The other thing to keep in mind is that briefings and inquires are scheduled to achieve a certain objective. For example: Increasing your rating, creating mindshare and influencing the market, maximizing visibility and and aligning with the market, and/or supporting a sales initiative.

You should understand your goals for every analyst interaction and make sure the spokespeople understand them as well. That allows you to tailor every conversation to align to the outcomes you're driving toward. Help your spokespeople craft the message they're going to deliver in pursuit of these goals. For example: if you are trying to show how your product solves a specific use case—don't spend too much time on the product's capabilities that may be the same as your competitors. Spend time focused on real customer use cases and stories, dollars saved, implementation time, and the things that make you DIFFERENT from the rest. If you don't help your spokesperson understand this nuance, then you won't hit the mark for your interaction.

Helpful to create awareness for what analysts' value, and how that's different from media relations. Often, execs are trained for media engagements and approach analyst conversations with the same approach of storytelling rather than being candid with them. An understanding of which analysts, their coverage and what they most appreciate receiving should be the central focus of preparing execs. Every interaction is an opportunity to build a relationship that can go beyond briefing. Hence, educating your execs about communicating succinctly and with candor can go a long way.

Each interaction should have a desired outcome –at Starsight we talk about the four impact of AR and we're always very clear about what should be the result > https://www.starsight.biz/2021/09/02/what-are-the-4-business-impacts-of-analyst-relations/ Secondly, spokesperson should know what the analyst covers, what her own goals are and which of the 3 types of analyst she is. Finally, it's all about the conversation. This is not PR and analyst hate being dealt with by media relations –it's a long-term relationship and a two way street. Spokespersons need to understand at which point of the conversation they're coming into –this means background and next actions. PS: there is such a thing as over-preparing ; readiness is good, candour too.

Be brutally focused on 3 things: 1) What went right and wrong; 2) How to elevate the former and alleviate the latter (don't wait to be asked!); and 3) Guide on realistic action points and broad targets/timelines where possible.

I believe in over-preparing spokespeople so there are no surprises during the interview, even if they are pros and speak to the analyst community regularly. One tip I’d add is catching up with the spokesperson 10-15 minutes before the meeting to go over talking points, focus, etc. one more time. You can also update the person in case there’s any breaking news that happened recently. This also helps the spokesperson get in the right frame of mind vs. coming from a ’tough’ meeting and going into an interview.

Ideally have all of your presenters in a group chat of some kind so you can coordinate. Your job is to manage not just the overall interaction and clock, but also ideally what areas to skip or cover more deeply based on the analysts body language, overall needs, and interests. I had an AR person once who would just write things like “watch the time” - that’s not it. Instead write “we only have 10 mins and their big concern is about our momentum - we need to go to slide 8 and cover that now”

When companies/spokespeople conduct analyst briefings, the focus can tend to become on a 1 way interaction- briefing the analyst on your new product or announcement. Yes that is definitely a core intent, but every analyst interaction is also an opportunity to hear the analyst's PoV on the market (and influence), their perspective on your company/product and also gain insight into competitive landscape. The most productive and effective analyst engagements are 2 way.

While a spokesperson may feel that they can handle the interaction independently (and pressure on your own time may make this seem desirable), it is vital that you participate. Your role is to manage both sides of the relationship. Also, you are responsible for reminding your own spokesperson about the specifics of prior conversations and for knowing when it is important to re-engage. Finally, if organizational change results in designating a new spokesperson, your role in documenting the past interactions is critical in briefing the person who takes on the role.

It is important to me to be a part of the interaction before, during, and after. A key element of any interaction is to grow the relationship with the analyst - for me and the company. You want to be on their "radar screen" when they talk to their customers, writing new research, looking for market leading use cases, or requesting input for a market survey. Also, the better the relationship the easier for me to get access when I need to schedule a briefing, ask for a quote, get a little competitive information, or ask for a view on messaging for an upcoming announcement or campaign.

Successful interactions drive action! Analyst interactions require a debrief with the spokesperson. Ask them about: - Insights that validate assumptions - Challenges posed by insights - New and unexpected information How do we respond? What teams and stakeholders to engage? This session assesses performance, organizes insights, and makes them actionable. It's key to a successful interaction and compelling spokesperson performance. Tracking analyst insights' implementation in the company can also be part of your ROI analysis.

Depends on how mature your Analyst Relationship is, your engagement with the analysts, and how seasoned the spokesperson is. You may need to have a tailored approach for each engagement. While for some you may go straight to the point and talk openly with the analyst. For others, you may need to be guarded and clear about which information you ought to share.

After several decades in AR I learned to prep every single exec differently. I make sure to ask my clients HOW they like to receive prep and information because often, the incredibly detailed, well-researched backgrounders we put together end up on the TLDR pile and they show up without having read it all. Talking points are fine but guardrails are better. Organic, transparent conversations don't happen when everything is scripted. Guardrails help keep the execs from saying too much - like don't spend the briefing discussing who you think your competition is. You might be right but likely you're wrong. The analysts know best who competes against you apples to apples. The best prep you can give any human being is to be real. Be yourself.

It’s always important to research the audience. Media training and messaging should be tailored to what will be persuasive and what will move the dial. The research should provide actionable insight in which to script and deliver messaging. Ultimately it’s what drives opinion and what will deliver the action and response you need and want!

Many great points! One area I've had more successful evaluation sessions is to first follow-up with the analyst to understand if there was any ambiguity and if all their questions were met. This helps when I debrief with my spokesperson.