How To Deliver Best Ever Analyst Quarters for Right Size Companies!

A Vision of Leading in Analyst Engagements and moulding every analyst question in favour of a small vendors was what I saw as a career opportunity in 2016-17 (Read- Lead in Research reports with Strategic Analyst Engagements) and at that time I didn’t even know this was marketing. It was just an intellectually stimulating exercise for a Gartner Researcher who didn’t had a shot at becoming an Industry Analyst.

When I left my job at Gartner and started playing this game with analyst who had 10-15 years of industry experience. I realized two things that most of the time RFI which was filled by a marketer focuses a lot on story telling and less on making it fact-based. As you all know, story telling is great exercise but for an analyst who has to evaluate every section of every RFI it’s a pain (you know where :-)). Its like giving a book of Dummies to an expert explaining every step of the way.  (Read - How to handle a Market Research Fact Check Call??).

Only section where I used to explain analyst or do storytelling was in a case study where we asked them to judge us by the success of our customers and not by the market wins we have. (Read- 5 pointers Case Studies to market product success.).

I also saw that many analyst were treated like Gods because the branded document that was authored by them can help a vendor to get into a deals so vendors were reluctant to ask the right question and analyst were surprised that why their recent research notes are not being referred or read by the vendor/industry so I just read these reports and asked relevant question to analyst. (Read-  Making an impact via Analyst Inquiry) / (Inquiry Call 101 - Industry Analyst Inquiry Call) .

Sure it takes a lot of reading and research to do before asking an thought provoking/interesting question (rather than a business fact or what do you see in the industry question). But this definitely helps a lot to create a connect before you give him a product demo or a detailed briefing to participate in an assessment (Read- Briefings analysts to give smart ideas and advantage !!).

After briefing so many analyst and reading and researching on suites of different technologies many a time you might have an itch to become an analyst or to contest an analyst during a briefing which is a biggest trap of experience and knowledge( MUST READ- Industry Analyst Briefings ). Specially for Analyst Relationship role you need to have someone who knows how technology ticks and then map marketing to it (which has always been my sweet spot) . Also when you start blogging on these topics and leading publication houses value/pickup your thoughts more than any leading analyst which is again a trap of knowledge and wisdom ( Read- ITWeb picks my thoughts :-) )

Recently when I got into a Leadership position, I had to do a couple of marketing interviews and build up a team from scratch. I realized that in a marketing interviews where everyone is storyteller you need to look into the results a person has delivered.

And I enjoy telling you that both in CSS Corp (best ever analyst quarter was delivered by me) and in Newgen (I was able to get the company in all the four Leadership Quadrants during there ongoing IPO which helped to create the required trust and their shares got 8 times over-subscribed) I gave credible results for which I was hired.(actually for which my manager was hired :-) and I delivered)

FIRST STRIKE INTO CHALLENGERS AND LEADERSHIP POSITIONING OF BRANDED QUADRANTS FROM GARTNER AND FORRESTER (from 2017 to 2018 when BPM was becoming DPA and ECM was becoming CSP)

Gartner cites Newgen Software as a Challenger in the 2018 Magic Quadrant for Content Services Platform

Newgen Positioned as a Leader in Cloud-Based Dynamic Case Management by Forrester Research

 For many C-suite executive who are tech or sales driven and think marketing is just an expense. I would like to share this article Impact on Newgen IPO of impactful analyst realtions

BEST EVER ANALYST QUARTER DELIVERED IN CSS CORP (as of 17th Dec 2019)

• ‘Leader’ in NelsonHall’s NEAT Report - CX in Retail & CPG
• ‘Leader’ in ISG’s Provider Lens Report - Digital Workplace of the Future – Mobility Services
• ‘Disruptor’ in Avasant’s RadarView Report - Intelligent Automation Services
• ‘Rising Star’ in ISG’s Provider Lens Report - Digital Business- Solutions and Service Partners
• ‘Major Contender’ in Everest’s PEAK Matrix - Contact Center Outsourcing
• ‘Major Contender’ in Everest’s PEAK Matrix – Application Transformation
• ‘Major Contender’ in Everest’s PEAK Matrix – Network Transformation & Managed Services
• ‘Major Contender’ in Everest’s PEAK Matrix – Cloud Services
• ‘Major Player’ in Agile, DevOps Services Global NelsonHall NEAT Assessment
• ‘Product Challenger’ in Digital Workplace of the Future Managed Services- Workplace Support (USA)
• ‘Product Challenger’ in Digital Workplace of the Future Managed Services- Workplace Support- Global

For many C-suite executive who are tech or sales driven and think marketing is just an expense. I would like to share this article again!!-  CSS Corp divests Glow Networks to Altruist Group.

And when you have the love from analyst communities they not only evaluate you like just another vendors but also support your mission in the best way they can i.e. by writing/blogging about you. “CSS Corp Addresses Commercial Challenges of Cognitive CX Transformation”

However, no journey is complete without a struggle!! And for someone like me I took all those struggles as a challenges that made me smarter with every conversation weather it's a micro-managerial direct bosses(fortunately I had AVPs and VPs with Vision who supported me) or lack of budget (as marketing always gives results in the long term) or simply lack of company vision(ability of SMBs to say we will not sell everything and be something for someone rather than being nothing for no-one) and now Corona ( will write a blog on how to make a team amidst pandemic ;-)).

And with all these questions in mind I have moved into the next phase of my career i.e. Leadership where I’m battling with all these challenges where you have to communicate and influence C-suite for every decision you plan to make to drive right audience towards your product.

But there is not much difference between a seasoned C-level office or an Experienced Analyst as both want to connect and communicate with you in-order to get convinced !!