The Secret to Building Business Through

Great Analyst Engagement

Simon Levin
CEO, The Skills Connection
The Skills Connection

• Former senior analysts

and research executives
• Over 50 years at Gartner
alone
• Experience also at Ovum,
AMR, TowerGroup
• Founded TSC in 2009
• Serving suppliers and
analyst firms

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Agenda

1. Why analysts matter

2. Who actually are the analysts
3. How the analysts influence your buyers
4. The unique needs of the analyst community
5. Applying the 4 Ps of prospect marketing to
analyst engagement
6. Case examples
7. Summary

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Analysts influence
over 80%
of all IT purchase
decisions
Source: 2015 Blanc & Otus (n=808)

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 Peers

Analysts,

Ease of Access
Experts
Trust

Vendors

Media

Social Media Noise

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Source: IIAR, Edelman, Blanc & Otus
The $3.5B+ IT Research Industry
15%

Profile of analyst industry

10%
Annual % Change

• IIAR – Outsell deck in Huddle?

5%
0%
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
-5%
-10%
-15%

Reporting Estimated 2013 Revenue Estimated 2013 Growth

Company
Currency ($US in Millions) (%)
Gartner, Inc. USD $1,789 10.7%
IDC USD $421 5.0%
Forrester Research, Inc. USD $303 3.4%
The NPD Group, Inc. USD $87 6.0%
Ovum plc GBP $56 -3.0%
Info-Tech Research Group, Inc. CAD $37 12.0%
IHS, Inc. USD $35 4.0%
The 451 Group USD $31 8.0%
Strategy Analytics, Inc. USD $18 8.0%
Cutter Consortium USD $16 4.0%
Total Top 10 Providers - $2,794 8.4%
Total IT Research - $3,541 7.0%

Source: Outsell's Information Industry Database

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The Analyst Landscape
Sell Side – Vendor Mindshare Buy Side – Buyer Advice
Talking Heads Deal Makers & Breakers
●
● Gartner
IDC 
RAS 

●
Gartner TSP 

●
Datamonitor 
Exposure

●
Forrester 

Frost & Sullivan = ●

● Enderle  ● The 451 Constellation  ESG  ●
●
● Everest
Current Analysis  ● Ventana
Ovum ●Celent
● ● 
● Aberdeen  Red ● Tower● ● Nelson Hall 
PundIT = Monk  ●Fin. Insights 
● ● HfS  ●Aite Gartner
● ●Altimeter  ● IAS 
Kennedy = ●Manu. Insights =
● ●Analysys Mason 
●Quocirca 
●Hurwitz =
ARC Advisory=
●
Consultants & Wannabes Point Players
Source: The Knowledge
Capital Group
Buyer Influence (www.knowledgecap.com)

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Influence Different Stages of Buy Cycle
Anticipation or recognition of need
Determination of characteristics and quality of required item
Specification of characteristics and quality of required item
Search for and qualification of potential suppliers
Acquisition and analysis of proposals
Evaluation of proposals and supplier selection
Validation of supplier selection
Selection of order routine
Performance feedback and evaluation
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• Published research on value of services, best practices and options
• Inquiries with analysts relate the research to specific client
situations
Guidance in the development and/or review of RFI and RFP
documentation
• Reference to research such as Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, Forrester
Wave, Everest Peak Matrix, HfS Blueprint
• Buyers request research customization to refine a shortlist of
suppliers to consider
Inquiries to review and validate a buyers final shortlist to help
determine whether any factors have been missed and to obtain
insights into any issues, known by the analyst, that may be of
significance in the scoring
Identify the right price and deal structure
Source: Robinson et al, The Skills Connection
HOW do analysts Influence Buyers?

Webinars Events

Assessment Press Reports

Inquiries Social media

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Where Do Analysts Get Their Insights?

Primary Secondary
End users
research sources

Suppliers

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What is Different About Analyst
Communication Needs?

Characteristic Prospect Press Analyst

Objective Can you solve A story that Understand where you

their specific will engage fit in the market and
problem readers confidence to refer to
you

Timeframe Project timeframe Now Year-round, year-on-

year
What they Product/service The story..and Evidence, evidence,
need details, references a juicy quote evidence– business and
or two technology/service

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The Four Ps

1.PRICE
2.PLACE
3.PROMOTION
4.PRODUCT

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Place
Places of interaction with analyst
Briefing
Inquiry
Analyst day (multi-analyst briefing)
Analyst consulting day (e.g. Gartner SAS)
Analyst event (formal 1-1 or informal)
Vendor event (formal paid or informal invite)
Industry conference
Social media (e.g. Twitter)
Emailed information (ad hoc or news update)

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Product =

Your core messages

But not just WHAT .. also

• WHY
• HOW
• HOW MUCH
• WHO
• WHERE
• WHEN
..and critically your TRUE differentiated value proposition

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Group Interview

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A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
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Promotion =

Consistent reinforcement

• Finite, agreed set of core messages (4-5 typically

maximum)

• Repeated across all channels of communication

• Same message from all company communicators

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Price =

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Opinion is not the same as Evidence

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“If we have data, lets look at
data. If all we have are
opinions, let’s go with mine”
Jim Barksdale
Former CEO, Netscape

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Case Examples

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Never Successfully Briefed Analysts Before

Characteristic Before After

Communications Focused on product Aligned to analyst focus and

focus releases needs
Briefing and analyst Feature focused, heavy on Evidence-centric
updates unsubstantiated claim
Sales cycle success No analysts who could Group of analysts who could
and length validate capability position and validate
Market segment Highly niche (not generally Included in broader MQ with
on the radar) focused message
Analyst referrals None from any firm Even pre-MQ started to get
relevant contacts in target
markets
Business growth Good Accelerating

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 Putting Analysts on the PR Schedule
Tells essential story

Relationship building 4 Clarity of flow

2
Relevance and ease of
Clarity of vision
understanding
0

Completeness Suitable evidence

Material quality Clear differentiation

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Lack of Story/Impact in Engaging Analysts
Evidence

Clarity of structure 4 Clarity of user impact

Focus on key elements Clarity of method

Completeness of
Clarity of reasoning
response

Differentiation stated Answers questions fully

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Summary

1. Ensure analyst engagement is focused on business

goals and not simply activity
2. Identify those analysts who are influencing YOUR
buyers
3. Give analysts what they need, to get what you need
4. Remember and action the 4Ps as they apply to
analyst engagement

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The Secret to Building Business Through
Great Analyst Engagement

Simon Levin
CEO, The Skills Connection