Advisory Insider: Picture This AR Strategy and Widen Your Aperture
The best inquiry I ever witnessed
In my tenure as a sales leader at Gartner, I attended over two thousand inquiries, vendor briefings and executive sessions. Members of my teams were part of thousands more in support of hundreds of vendors globally. Observing so many interactions across so many vendors with so many analysts provides an interesting perspective for AR improvement.
The vast majority of these sessions focused on getting included or moved within analyst research efforts -- written reports, rankings/ratings, buyer one-on-ones, or even conference sessions. The meetings themselves were often standalone and one-off. Rarely were they programmatic. Few served as a catalyst to future discussions/interactions (i.e., built a “relationship”).
The sense from analysts was that the goal was to engage, check the box and then move on. I once heard an analyst describe them as “Johnny Appleseed” sessions. AR comes in, drops some ideas and nuggets, and hopes they take root without much ongoing attention or further nurturing. Discussions I recently had with a group of analysts puts 70-90% of vendor interactions in the Appleseed category.
I posit that rather than AR behaving like a farmer planting seeds, that it look at itself as a photographer improving perspective, exposure, and depth of field for their firms. If AR approaches their role with the idea of constantly opening the aperture wider and wider, they will find that inclusion in and improvement within research occurs more predictably.
Perspective – The technique to control the size of two or more subjects closer or farther away in a photo. Acting like an optical illusion, this technique can make the subject in your photo appear a different size than reality.
For AR – What are you doing to position your firm closer to the analyst and closer to market “ideals” and at the same time pushing alternatives further back? How do you appear more significant in the market? How do you identify analyst preferences, perspectives and prejudices and use them to bring you forward in their thinking?
Exposure – The amount of light entering the camera affecting the brightness of the image.
For AR -- How do you draw attention to your firm or solution by placing it clearly in the light (opportunity) cast by buyers and ensure you reflect that light more brilliantly than rivals? How do you stand out and differentiate in a way the analyst will recognize as uniquely valuable? How do you appear more clearly and more often in analyst activities?
Depth of Field -- While a camera lens can focus on a subject in the distance, there’s still a distance between the nearest and furthest point in an image that remains sharp.
For AR – How do you give analysts the full picture of your assets, resources, skills, experience, and expertise? How do you get them to focus on your full range and depth of capabilities in the context of buyer needs? As they envision the entire playing field, where do they see you, key rivals, client priorities, etc.? When many analysts are increasingly focused on individual technologies, capabilities, and markets, how do you get them to expand their horizon of sight in a way to get you included more?
Aperture - The opening at the back of a lens that controls how much light enters the camera. Aperture, with shutter speed and ISO, form the mechanical triad that enables perspective, exposure, and depth of field to be controlled.
For AR – What actions are you taking to force open analyst points of view so that their perspective, exposure, and depth of field are maximized for your firm. How do you become more strategic and programmatic to fight the constant market dynamics that narrow your position, drive commoditization, and challenge your relevance in the market? What are your strategies to protect your areas of leadership or get you included in more?
Among the thousands of sessions I witnessed, or that my teams supported, the most compelling were those that focused on opening the aperture and on building a foundation for programs of interactions. These sessions excelled at finding those elements that the analyst believed were critical or superfluous and prioritized or deprioritized your discussion outlines accordingly. Often, these sessions succeeded in getting the analyst accept the vendor as being closer to market “ideals,” or to recognize strengths they had not considered, or to acknowledge capabilities they had not believed the vendor possessed.
Here is how I heard the discussions structured with analysts:
“Imagine a buyer coming to you and presenting a business challenge. Once presented, you recommend to them that our solution should be one that they seriously consider. We might not be the only solution or vendor you recommend, but you believe we should definitely be in the mix. What does that client or problem look like (challenge, role, geography, size, budget, experience, industry)? What business problem have they outlined that makes us a viable solution? What would they say that makes you think of us? Who else might you recommend to that client?
And the antithesis of this should also be asked …
“Imagine a buyer coming to you expressing the following need (something you think you are good at, but the analyst does not see you as a leader). What is the make-up of a client where you would not recommend us? What does this client need or what buyer profiles or personas make other solutions more viable?”
It’s critical that these are “listening sessions.” It is an opportunity to find out how to open the aperture, not an opportunity to argue every presumption, opinion, or belief of the analyst. Listen; build a baseline; and then plan a series of discussions focused on aperture -- on opening their perspective, exposure, and depth of field. Use this line of discussion to
· establish where you are in the minds of key analysts;
· where you see discrepancies between analysts (often at the same firm); and
· where you should focus a program of future interactions.
You now have roadmap on where to focus future interactions, how to stretch open those areas where you are seen as a strong contender (i.e., position your current strengths to an even broader target market), and how to burst open new opportunities (i.e., be included as a vendor to watch in markets where heretofore that analyst would not have recommended you at all).
What you are hoping for is a view into the analyst’s perceptions and prejudices. By conducting these as 1-on-1 sessions across a team of analysts, you want to see if there is consistency and accuracy among them or a divergence in opinion. You want to know if previous briefings have stuck or if they have forgotten (or deprioritized) key strengths you shared earlier. You want to know your current state and then determine how much improvement is possible. You now have key elements for a baseline value dashboard with your leaders and business sponsors. The picture you take can turn into a series of pictures and then a movie – showing progress as measured by coverage, position, and revenue/impact.
You extend the aperture by demonstrating why the narrow set of circumstances for which the analyst believes your solution is ideal does not reflect the full extent of value and impact you can make. You can work to show why your solution is appropriate to more roles, more business needs, more industries, etc. Use cases, references, executive meetings, briefings, executive sessions, etc., can all be pointed at the right target.
When done effectively, the goals of inclusion and improvement in research will come and it will be a long-term improving trend. Not as an immediate outcome of a single interaction, but as part of a program of interactions that will lead to increased breadth of opportunities, markets, buyers, and critical imperatives that an analyst feels confident in recommending for you.
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In a related analysis, Duncan Chapple recently posted an interesting take on the worst kinds of inquiry. It is a quick read and a great perspective from somebody who both works in the trenches and teaches/advises on AR best practices (Link) Duncan Chapple LinkedIn
Also, I briefly mentioned above the value of using your aperture efforts in building a value-impact dashboard for AR. The team at ARInsights has published a lot of work on value measurement and ROI of AR. Here is one article I found particularly insightful. (Link) ARInsights - Measure AR Impact
This is my fifth blog entry on Analyst Relations from the perspective of an advisory firm insider. If you are interested in more Insider Views and how AR can drive accelerated value from their investments, here are my recent blog posts:
(1) The impact of recessionary pressures on analyst firms, how they react and what it means for IT vendors. Substack Link: (Your AR/Influencer Strategy Is Not Ready for 2023 (substack.com)
(2) Strategic Selling skills are gap in thinking and a blind spot for better aligning with analysts and influencers. Substack Link: (For AR Leaders, Strategic Selling is a Blind Spot (substack.com)
(3) How to drive new areas of value, interaction, and impact (without necessarily spending more money). Substack Link: 9 Reasons AR Should Think About Their Relationships with Advisory Sales Teams (substack.com)
(4) Assumptions about Advisory Firms That Can Derail Your Journey to Next-Phase AR. Substack Link: Insider View: These Assumptions Can Derail Your Journey to Next-Phase AR (substack.com)
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