You get 30 minutes with one of the most informed people in your category. Someone who talks to your buyers every week, knows your competitors' roadmaps, and has sat through hundreds of briefings just like yours. So why did you spend 29 and a half of those minutes reading them your slide deck?
Tony Spangler, APR, Rep Cap's analyst relations practice lead, brought together three people who have collectively sat through more of those meetings than most vendors will ever request: Stacey Harris, Chief Research Officer at Sapient Insights Group (sapientinsightsgroup.com); Kyle Lagunas, founder of Kyle and Co. (kyleandco.com); and Sarah White, a former analyst who now works as an independent strategy advisor (sarahawhite.com). The conversation was part of Rep Cap's webinar series "Stop Winging Your Analyst Briefings" and covered what analysts actually want from a briefing, what vendors consistently get wrong and how to build a relationship that creates real value over time.
Most vendors walk into an analyst briefing trying to present. The analysts in that room are there to learn. That gap is where most AR programs fail.
A Briefing Is a Research Exercise, Not a Pitch
Kyle Lagunas calls himself a slide queen — but that doesn't mean he wants to spend the entire meeting going through it. Come prepared, get through your positioning quickly, and leave him something to take away.
"This is a fact-gathering exercise for me. I want to know who you are, how you were founded, what your product offerings are — and then get through that in five minutes and get to what your announcement is."
For Stacey, showing the product isn't optional. "If you talk so much that you don't have 15 to 20 minutes to show me the product, you won't be memorable to me." And if you're meeting her at a conference, know what you're getting: impressions, not analysis. "At a virtual briefing, I'm doing screen grabs, I'm doing notes, I'm actually writing commentary — I will have a record of that at a much higher level."
The Mistakes That Kill Your Credibility
The fastest way to lose the room isn't a bad product. It's showing up like you haven't thought about who you're talking to or why you're there.
Sarah was direct about who should be in the room: "Don't send your CMO. We want to talk to people that are actually leading product, doing product strategy — your executive team if you're smaller."
The second mistake is withholding basic information. Revenue range. Customer count. Real traction data. The numbers help analysts understand where to put you — which reports you belong in, who to connect you with. It doesn't protect you. It just means when a VC or acquirer calls asking about you, the answer is: "Yeah, they sent some junior level marketer and they wouldn't answer any of our questions," Sarah said.
Stacey added the one that burns the most time: defensiveness. Analysts are going to push back on your positioning. That's the job — and the value of what amounts to a free consulting session. "If you start shutting us down on what we're saying, then we won't share what we're seeing with you." The vendors who argue back aren't protecting their brand. They're ending the most useful part of the conversation.
"No Category Means No Budget"
When Tony asked what each panelist hated most in a vendor deck, Stacey answered before anyone else could: "I'm a new category. I'm the first to do this."
Founders and new marketing leadership come in claiming no competitors, no comparable products — often using terminology that means something completely different to the buyers they're trying to reach. "It is a kiss of death," Sarah said. "It's literally something that Kyle, Stacey and I have been watching briefings of for the last decade."
Category creation is expensive and confuses buyers.
As Stacey put it: "No category means no budget." Buyers can't fight internally for a purchase they can't name.
"I'm much more interested if you tell me we're not sure what category we fit into," Stacey said. "I can help you with that answer all day long."
Analysts Aren't All the Same
Most vendors treat every analyst the same. Same deck. Same pitch. Same assumptions about what they care about and how they get paid.
"You really need to do the same level of research on that analyst — what they're doing, what their position is, what's important to them — as you would with your own ICP," Stacey said.
The HR tech analyst landscape includes the large firms like Gartner, Forrester and IDC, as well as boutique independents with sharp specialty lenses and very different relationships with buyers. HR tech is unusual in that regard. "We have a much higher level of independent analysts here than in some of the other spaces," Stacey noted. "And independence also means you have to understand how they're making their money and what the basis is for their approach."
Some, like Stacey, are primarily voice-of-the-customer researchers. Bring her a deck full of what Gartner says about you and you've already lost her. "I care about what your customers are saying, because I'm a voice of the customer analyst — that's where my data comes from."
You don't need a budget to get started. "You don't need to pay anybody to get access to us," Stacey said. "I'll do a briefing with anybody at least once a year." During her time as an analyst, Sarah met with 300 to 400 unique companies every year. "A lot of them were not going to be a fit," she said. "But it was information. It informed us. It provided value back to them." She's unambiguous on the access question: "I don't know a reputable analyst firm that isn't offering one to two briefings a year, especially if you have something important to say, at no cost."
Kyle described what the best engagements look like from his side: a company with a genuine point of view on the market that wants to build something together. "Finding opportunities for mutual value is where it's at. Not: here's our budget, what can you produce."
The analysts in that room aren't there to validate your deck. They're there to learn — and if you let them, to teach you something about your own market that you can't get anywhere else. Tony puts it plainly: "You've got an opportunity to get some feedback, some consulting — and you're wasting your time if you don't leave enough room for that curiosity exchange."
Most vendors never take it. They run out the clock on slides, send the wrong people, claim a category that doesn't exist and disappear after the meeting. The ones who get it right show up prepared, stay curious and treat the relationship with respect.
Interested in building or refining an analyst relations program? Start with our analyst relations strategy guide, or get in touch with Rep Cap's analyst relations practice.
Still learning? Watch the full webinar on demand.