Operational framework: The 5 I’s of Analyst Relations

In the bustle of daily activities, it is sometimes hard for analyst relations (AR) managers to keep their teams focused on their key operational activities. SageCircle created the 5 I’s of Analyst Relations to provide an easy mantra of essential activities. The 5 I’s are:

• Identify — The Most Influential Analysts
  • Ranked and tiered analyst list(s)
  • Continuous research on the analysts’ coverage
• Interact — In the Correct Ways
  • Mix of one-to-one, one-to-many, none-to-many types
  • Mix of briefings, SAS, relationship meetings and client inquiries
• Information — Most Appropriate in Correct Context
  • Analyst needs are different from sales, press and investors
  • Supports three forms of analyst research delivery
• Improve — The Relationship Continuously
  • Become part of the analysts’ informal research network
  • Achieve strategic connection with the top Tier One analysts
• Infrastructure — The Right Tools and Processes
  • Organization, processes, management and staffing
  • Portals and ARM-analyst relationship management application

Obviously, getting up every morning and chanting “Identify Interact Information Improve Infrastructure” ten times will not ensure a smooth operating AR function. However, thinking about these 5 I’s in key situations will improve your efficiency and effectiveness.

An example – An AR professional get a call from an unknown analyst at an unknown firm asking for information and a briefing. AR’s normal customer-centric approach, reinforced by being too busy to think, would be to agree to the briefing. However, if the AR professional is operating by “Identify – the Most Influential Analysts” they would likely say “Sorry, can’t help”.  This is because it is unlikely that a relevant and influential analyst would be totally unknown to them. At a minimum, the AR professional would at least investigate the relevance of the analyst before committing to spending precious AR bandwidth and executive time agreeing to respond.

By maintaining a ranked and tiered list of the key influencers in their market an AR team can quickly determine how to react to analyst requests.  This allows them to allocate their time and political capital with executives to the analysts that matter.

Are you confident that you are focusing on the right activities? If not, you should consider attending SageCircle’s AR Effectiveness Seminar (brochure, click here to register) or subscribing to the Online SageContent^TM Library (click here to learn more and subscribe). Even if you are an experienced AR pro, attending a seminar can help you brush up on your knowledge about the analysts and AR best practices.

SageCircle Technique:

• Use the 5 I’s as a filter for the AR to-do list

Bottom Line: Because AR is very interrupt driven it is useful to have an operational framework that makes it easy to keep focused on key priorities. The 5 I’s of AR is a straightforward set of operating principles that AR teams should adopt.

Question: Do you have a similar operational framework? How is it different from the 5 I’s of AR?

SageCircle

Since 2000, SageCircle has helped analyst relations teams to focus on business value by encouraging innovative thinking that leverages insights and drives revenue.