Too often, the AR channel gets the perception of just being in charge of the company’s dot placement on the next Magic Quadrant or Forrester Wave. When in reality, AR pros do so much strategic coordination and internal consulting behind-the-scenes. This results in a disconnect on how AR success is measured. AR Metrics aren’t necessarily representative of the actual work AR pros do daily. 

Identifying what’s in our control

A good dot placement, a new customer lead from an analyst referral, and even report citations are all traditional measures of AR’s success. While these measures cannot and will not (and frankly, should not) be completely replaced, they are not direct measures of what AR actually does nor are they all-inclusive. 

AR pros play a big hand in the management and execution of the tasks required for these outcomes, but the outcomes themselves are more often direct measures of the company’s success, not solely AR’s contributions to the execution. 

The AR channel is more than just evaluation report task execution. AR pros are the strategic bridge between analysts and their feedback and the company the analysts are evaluating. Listening for, capturing, organizing, and distributing this type of intel, feedback, and insights are what make AR incredibly valuable to any organization – and are in AR’s complete control. 

Measuring what we do

As AR pros we typically know how well an analyst is informed about our company and what perception they hold of us. We know the market perspective analysts share with us and how often we share it with our business partners. This information dissemination is a key component to our job – and is arguably the most strategic element – yet it often goes unnoticed and unmeasured. 

When we rethink our metrics using an insights-driven lens, the possibilities of what we can use as measures of success multiplies. Analyst insights inform our AR strategy. That strategy needs to align with our business goals. When it does, we can create initiatives that we can directly measure.

Because initiatives directly align with our business goals, anything we measure related to those initiatives becomes proof of momentum towards our overall goals. This enables analyst insights to not only inform our AR strategy but to inform the business in meaningful ways. 

Here are a few examples of initiative KPIs to help bring this concept to life:

• Targeted activity: More than just general analyst activities counts, targeted activity connects what we do in AR to what the business is trying to accomplish. Some targeted activity KPIs may be:
  • The number of inquiries related to messaging feedback
  • The number of touchpoints on investment and business health
• Key intel and insights: Analyst perspectives and perceptions packaged in a consumable and actionable manner to make better-informed decisions across the business. Examples include:
  • An increase in insights feeding the product roadmap
  • The number of insights shared with business leaders to inform decision making related to a new area of interest
• Relationship maturity advancement: Categorizing and making the necessary arrangements to advance the maturity of analysts’ relationship to your business. Examples of this measurement are fairly simple:
  • Build at least a certain number of “friendly” analysts by end of year
• Improved sentiment: Tracking over time the sentiment of the insights analysts share related to your business, offering, product, market, and GTM strategy. Examples include:
  • Percent positive perception insights 
  • Percent increase on perception audit scores compared to competitors 

When we measure in this way, we showcase AR’s value as a strategic partner, helping the company achieve what it wants to be known for. Plus, we set ourselves up better for success, by measuring what’s more closely related to our jobs. Dot placements and leads will always be important – but when it comes to showing AR’s contributions and momentum, insights-driven metrics provide the proof points we need to validate our roles and our channel. 

This just scratches the surface of the conversation around insights-driven metrics. For more information, we’re hosting a free webinar on Wednesday, August 19. Register today to join us and learn more about this approach.