From briefings to outreach to reporting to strategy formulation and much (much!) more, there are a lot of analyst relations (AR) priorities to cram in the day. And when you have a small team, working across product lines, it’s easy to feel stretched and want to fit in more than time allows. 

Extra hands — especially when they belong to experts who don’t need ramp-up time — can be a big help, freeing up teams to elevate their activities and get more strategic.

At our User Forum on Nov. 10, in Burlingame, California (also held virtually), Gene King, head of communications and analyst relations for managed IT services provider Compucom, will discuss how his AR team of two prioritizes and plans activities. He’ll also share his experiences using ARInsights’ ServicePlus to augment his team with extra operational support. Because Gene’s ServicePlus partners have both AR and ARchitect software expertise, they’ve been able to step in seamlessly and give Compucom the flexibility to execute on additional campaigns.

We were thrilled to catch up with Gene recently to discuss his upcoming User Forum presentation, Compucom’s AR mission, and AR tips and insights. Read on to learn more from the conversation (and join us at User Forum for additional details):

Q: Can you please briefly describe your role as it pertains to AR?

Gene: I develop and implement analyst relations strategies — helping Compucom establish and deepen relationships with relevant analysts, influencers and advisors. Working with just one other AR colleague, I have my hands in all our AR activities: booking and facilitating briefings and inquiries, monitoring research and market intelligence, sharing and applying analyst feedback, measuring success and a lot more!

Q: What is the mission of your AR team? 

Gene: Our goals are as follows:

  • Promote and clarify Compucom’s strategy to build support with the top influencers who impact purchasing decisions and awareness in our chosen markets.
  • Demonstrate commitment to Compucom strategy and customers.
  • Build awareness, understanding, trust and advocacy with strategic analyst partners

Q: What AR challenges does your organization face?

Gene: Like many AR teams, we have a lot to do and a small team to accomplish it with. So limited resources are a challenge.

And with our team, we seek to reach a variety of analysts and advisors who cover our industry. Balancing our capacity for outreach, especially at the individual level, with the number of relevant analysts is a challenge, and requires prioritization. We also work to change or influence the perceptions analysts may have about Compucom.

Q: How do you use people, process and technology to solve these challenges?

Gene: ARInsights is a big part of our people, process and technology! Their software, ARchitect, helps us identify the right analysts to speak with, better understand Compucom’s position in the market, and better understand and report on analysts’ perceptions of Compucom too.

We also engage with ARInsights ServicePlus to augment our own team and help with operational AR activities. They have great processes in place to help us execute and do what needs to be done — reporting on results, researching analysts and so on.

Recently, we leveraged ServicePlus to help us plan and carry out a big project: an in-person analyst day, which took place earlier this month. The analyst day went off without a hitch, and we got great feedback. ServicePlus kept us on track with a master checklist and check-in meetings to execute the event. They also prepared the executive briefing books and personalized agendas.

With that under our belt, we’re working with ServicePlus to post follow-up event materials and other relevant, timely content to our Analyst Portal — making it a valued destination and resource for our analysts, and helping us scale our outreach.

And in the near future, we plan to work with ServicePlus to broaden our program reporting, such as with periodic share of voice reports.

Q: What is the title of your User Forum presentation? What’s the most important thing people will learn from it?

Gene: The presentation is called “Gaining AR Flexibility with ServicePlus.” I’m co-presenting with ARInsights’ Esther Kim, who has been invaluable to our ServicePlus engagement.

I plan to discuss our partnership and how ServicePlus is truly an extension of our AR team. My AR goals are their goals too; we’re totally aligned. I’ll discuss the range of activities we use ServicePlus for and, in particular, lessons learned from our recent analyst day.

Q: In two sentences or less, what’s your best piece of AR advice?

Gene: It can be hard to stay on top of this fast-paced industry, so know what you don’t know. Many AR people have strategic responsibilities, and it’s useful to rely on the expertise that others, such as at ARInsights, can bring.

Q: What are you most looking forward to at User Forum?

Gene: I’m looking forward to learning from all the experts, especially about program measurement; picking up great, new AR strategies; and meeting and networking with others.

Want to hear more from Gee and other AR pros? Join us in-person at ARchitect User Forum on Thursday, Nov. 10, from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. PT, at the Hyatt Regency SFO in Burlingame, California (or sign up to attend virtually if you can’t make the trip). It’s an opportunity to learn about trends and best practices, listen to real-world success stories and network with other AR practitioners across the globe. We hope you’ll register and join us!