How some companies make analysts an effective GTM channel
Some firms get significant business via analysts (such as Gartner & Forrester), while many simply do not. Why is that? And where are you on the scale? Every 2 years, The Skills Connection conduct a study looking specifically at how technology providers’ engage with analysts, and what results they get back in terms of real business impact. In this webinar, we'll share our findings and give 5 best practices you can implements straight away.
10 Dos and Don’ts to Get the Right Score for a Critical Capabilities Assessment
Are you mystified why you got the Critical Capabilities score in a recent assessment? Do you find Gartner’s Critical Capabilities unclear, complicated, frustrating and annoying? Find out the 10 things you should be doing and not doing for this important assessment.
The 10 things every company gets wrong with Gartner and others
Getting key analysts to have sufficient confidence (in your business, products and services) to recommend you to their clients is difficult. It takes concerted effort, appropriate preparation and relevant executive engagement if you are to get it right and get the right result. But the reality is most companies get it wrong and get truly disappointing results.
The Magic Quadrant/Wave simply doesn’t reflect our market – so now what?
Here is a little secret. Over two-thirds of companies, who are in MQ and Waves, do not see assessment definitions as being a match to where their business fits into the market! You are not alone. So what can you do about it? This webinar will share the elements needed for a successful campaign.
Solving the mystery of how you move up and to the right in a Magic Quadrant or Wave
This webinar will enable you to understand why dots get placed where they do, plan what you need to do overall to change analyst perception of where you should be positioned (before you get a bad draft placement) and respond effectively to a bad draft placement if it does occur.
Are you ready for recorded video briefings and demos?
Increasingly Gartner and others are requiring recorded briefings and product demo submissions. Delivering these is a different skill than their live equivalents – are you ready for this new model? Revisit how you prepare and tell your story. Striking the right balance between content and production is essential. We will help you plan your time, define and create your content, including tools that will help do it quickly and easily.
Gartner Peer Insights – how do you compare to your competition?
Gartner Peer Insights is one of the most significant shifts to the way vendor performance is measured and assessed. With over 2.3 million product comparisons conducted on the platform in 2020, an increase of 15% over the previous year, its significance is on the rise. Gartner analysts now depend wholly on Peer Insights as a primary source of customer insight when carrying out assessments, and buyers themselves increasingly turn to Peer Insights when making informed decisions.
Analyst best practices around category creation
Pretty much every day we have a conversation with a company about whether, and how, to best work with analysts like Gartner, Forrester etc to help establish a new category in the market. Can it be done? And if so, what is the right approach to follow?
Gartner Peer Insights: 5 things you must do right – right now
This white paper looks at what vendors should be doing here and now to build their Peer Insights profiles and make the most of their customers’ positive views of their products and services.
The 5 Vital Elements Needed to Brief IT Analysts (like Gartner) to Get Tangible Business Results
In this webinar, we discuss the common mistakes people make in analyst briefings and set out a best practice framework to help you add value to your presentations.
Gartner Peer Insights: 5 things you must do right now
Recent changes at Gartner have increased the importance of proactive Peer Insights activity for vendors; Gartner has replaced Magic Quadrant reference surveys with information sourced from Peer Insights, and Gartner has developed new document types that summarize Peer Insights reviews and perspectives for end-user customers. This is a new muscle that technology vendors and service providers must learn to exercise regularly – you ignore it at your peril.
The secrets to changing the analyst’s mind
Vendors often complain that analysts come to an evaluation with outcomes pre-determined and that nothing the vendor says or does will change the analyst’s mind. Are you really facing a Sisyphean task? We don’t think so. Find out what you CAN do.
Your Magic Quadrant/Wave has published – the tricks to turning the result into revenue
In the webinar we cover the serious risks and potential rewards that kick-off on Publication Day. We identify all the stakeholders you need to communicate with and highlight the different collateral each stakeholder will require and when.
The 5 top ways to use Gartner and other analysts to grow pipeline
What Gartner and other analyst firms think about you matters… much more than you can ever imagine. This is because analysts have incredible reach, touching thousands of your prospects each year. Analysts inform your buyers throughout your sales cycle, advising them on what to do, who to do it with and even how much to pay.
Great MQ! Now what?
There is plenty of work to be done in the wake of a positive analyst report – and most of it needs to be done quickly! Find out more in our white paper.
How can you use analysts like Gartner to drive revenue – without the need to re-mortgage your house?
2020 has been a year like no other, and 2021 will start in much the same way. Traditional marketing activities like conferences, user events and seminars have evaporated. Buyers meantime have significantly upped their use of analysts as a way of researching markets, with buyer inquiries to analysts up by as much as 50%. Analysts are talking to your prospects about their needs, outlining the market of possible solutions and sharing their opinion of who to consider. The question is how can you make this unique channel part of your go-to-market program for 2021 and what would it cost?
‘PressandAnalyst’ is not one word
In this white paper, you can find out what the analysts need from you differs from the press and learn actionable differences between an analyst engagement (AE) plan and a PR plan.
The secret of getting into a Magic Quadrant or Wave
Getting into a Gartner Magic Quadrant (MQ) or a Forrester Wave is a big deal for many companies, the actions that vendors need to take differ depending on the circumstance. If you are a new vendor trying to be recognized in a market, if you are established in one market and trying to expand into others, or if the inclusion criteria for your MQ or Wave seem to change regularly, there are proactive steps you can take to ensure that your company and products are represented in the best possible light.
If I drink the poison, will the Gartner (or Forrester) analyst die?
In business, you can often walk away from a bad deal, a shocking provider and an awful customer. But if it's your Gartner (or name your most important advisory research firm here) lead analyst who irks you, there are compelling reasons to hold your nerve and stick around.
No pay, no play – is that really how it is with analysts like Gartner and Forrester?
If you believe that research is a pay-for-play game, our Managing Director, Simon Levin discusses in this insight article why this isn't the case and you can still get results if your analyst engagement is effective.
Our 2020 Analyst Assessment Survey Results
In this report, we present our 2020 survey findings and offer evidence-based advice for improving your Magic Quadrant and Wave submissions.
What is the secret to moving your dot in a Magic Quadrant or Wave assessment?
In this webinar we discuss the factors that can impact your position on the MQ or Wave grid and give you six top tips to optimize your result.
Do the analysts really still call the shots?
In these days of online peer reviews and social media, increasingly enterprise IT review sites like TrustRadius & G2 are changing how buyers research vendors. So, do the analysts still influence where the money goes?
2020 Analyst Assessment Survey Results: The Secrets of How to Win
In this webinar, we present our 2020 primary research findings aimed at understanding technology providers’ attitudes to participating in assessments such as Gartner’s Magic Quadrant (MQ) or Forrester’s Wave.
Why buyers will rely far more on analysts in the age of COVID-19. An action plan
In this webinar, we explore how COVID-19 is affecting technology marketing, where in the buying cycle analyst influence is increasing, and what actions you need to take as a result.
What should you do if your Magic Quadrant or Wave is retired?
When an MQ or Wave is retired, the interest in that category does not suddenly evaporate. Clients are no less interested in understanding about the players in the market and how they compare. The key difference is that now they cannot simply refer to a document – the MQ or Wave report. Now, they need to speak with the analyst. Your task is to make sure that the analyst still conceptually positions you at least as well as before (and ideally better) to ensure you get a good pipeline of referred business.
The credibility conundrum
Discover our start-ups guide for working with analysts.
Are you “cool” and why does it matter?
Many start-ups are both highly innovative and highly disruptive. How can you make sure massively influential analysts, like Gartner or Forrester, recognize your innovation and potential breakthrough?
How the analysts can boost your sales pipeline: Insider secrets
This white paper highlights how leading firms leverage analyst engagement to grow their sales pipeline. We cover the best practices for developing genuine relationships with analysts for mutual benefit.
Growth hacking using analysts
Discover our growth hackers guide to working with analysts.
Getting Recognition as a Cool Vendor
For a small IT company, being named as a Cool Vendor by Gartner can be the golden ticket – the greatest boost you can get.
Our 2018 Analyst Assessment Survey Results
In this report, we present our survey findings and offer evidence-based advice for improving your Magic Quadrant and Wave submissions.
PressandAnalyst is not one word
In this webinar we explain why mixing pressandanalysts never works for effective analyst engagement.
RFIs and RFPs: Winner takes all
When it comes to RFIs and RFPs, there are five main reasons why well-qualified companies get it all wrong. Find out more in this white paper.
Symposium Planning Begins Now
Learn how you can leverage Symposium to tighten your analyst relationships, maximize your learning, avoid critical mistakes, and, most importantly, capitalize on the full range of opportunities.
2018 Analyst Assessment Survey Results: Ensuring the Best Possible Outcome
In 2018, The Skills Connection conducted its second primary research project. A follow up on the original study, aimed at investigating people’s understanding of today’s analyst assessment processes and discovering what works, what effort and resources are required and what value can be derived from these assessments.
האם אתם ״קוּל״ ־ ולמה זה חשוב
הרבה מעד סטרטאפים ישראלים מציעים פתרונות חדשניים או שמשבשים שוק קיים. איך תוכלו להבטיח שאנליסטים בעלי השפעה כמו גרטנר ופורסטר יכירו אתכם ואת המוצרים והשרותים שלכם?
How a different RFI/RFP methodology can dramatically improve your conversion rate
During this webinar you will learn how to transform your RFI/RFP methodology by following the practices that we have seen deliver real success for customers. You’ll find it’s more efficient, and it truly will enable you to increase your conversion rate.
How to Brief IT Analysts (like Gartner) to Get Tangible Business Results – the Israeli Perspective
In this webinar, we discuss the common mistakes people make in analyst briefings and set out a best practice framework to help you add value to your presentations.
Peer Insights – Existential Threat or Great Opportunity? What Are The Proven Best Practices For Handling?
In this webinar we look at the influence IT solution peer review portals like Gartner Peer Insights, G2 Crowd and IT Central Station have on your business and how to have an effective plan in place to maximise opportunities and manage risk.
Why is our dot down there – and what can I do about it?
This paper offers practical advice if your MQ assessment report isn't as good as you expect.
Our MQ has published: Now what?
This paper helps you prepare for publication day for your Magic Quadrant or Wave report.
The secret to briefing IT analysts – 5 common mistakes, 5 essential steps
Discover the secrets to briefing IT analysts and the common mistakes to avoid.
Five Big Shocks You May Face in Your Next Magic Quadrant or Wave
Responding to the long and complex RFI requirements of Magic Quadrants and Waves is generally a daunting prospect for any company, but with some of the “curve balls” we have seen recently it has increasingly become a worst nightmare. Being prepared is always the key and so in this webinar we will share five recent cases and what was required to beat each curve ball.
How to Keep Analysts Engaged With Your Business
This webinar will focus on how to build the story you want to communicate to the analysts, how to make the plot exciting and compelling, and how to optimise the touch points so that they are waiting for the next instalment.
Growing Your Sales Pipeline by Working with Gartner and Other Industry Analysts
In this webinar, we highlight why and how the analyst community is important, how to work effectively with them, leverage them for growth of your business and get a ROI on this activity.
Biggest Change in Gartner’s MQ, Ever! Are you Ready for It?
In this webinar we review the implications, and required actions, resulting from the integration of Peer Insights reviews into Gartner's Magic Quadrants.
Planning for Strong Client Advocates and References
In the webinar we discuss the relative roles of advocates and references, why these clients are becoming increasingly critical to your assessments (e.g. Magic Quadrant, Wave) results and how to best plan for success.
Our 2016 Analyst Assessment Survey Results
In this report, we present our survey findings and offer evidence-based advice for improving your Magic Quadrant and Wave submissions.
How to move your dot in a Magic Quadrant or Wave assessment
Download this practical guide to moving your dot as you prepare for the next assessment. It provides you with five tips to help you optimize your result.