The Briefing Calendar: Building a Six-Month Analyst Relations Plan
Objective: Given a list of analysts covering the category, build a tiered, six-month briefing calendar timed against known Gartner and Forrester evaluation windows.
Grab's enterprise logistics unit wants to be considered for next year's relevant Forrester Wave. The evaluation submission window opens in six months and there is no AR calendar yet.
Tier the analyst list, schedule briefings on a quarterly cadence, and time the final pre-submission briefing to land before the window closes.
Before you start
What you'll need
Free path (everything below is enough to finish)
Free, easy to share with the analyst's scheduling contact and with internal stakeholders
The process
3 steps
Step 01 of 03
Tier 1 analysts cover the exact market and write the evaluation report. Tier 2 analysts cover adjacent markets where buyers also operate.
Of 6 analysts on the raw list, 2 write the enterprise-logistics Wave report directly, 3 cover adjacent supply-chain-tech categories, and 1 covers an unrelated category. How do you tier them?
Procedure
- List all 6 analysts with their published coverage area
- Tag the 2 Wave-report authors as Tier 1
- Tag the 3 adjacent-category analysts as Tier 2, drop the unrelated one
TIER 1 (2): Wave report authors, brief every quarter TIER 2 (3): Adjacent coverage, brief twice a year EXCLUDED (1): No category overlap
Healthy
Calendar time goes disproportionately to the 2 Tier 1 analysts who actually write the report the company wants placement in.
Unhealthy
Splitting briefing time evenly across all 6 analysts regardless of who authors the target report.
What this means
Tiering isn't a courtesy list, it's how limited AR calendar time gets allocated to the analysts who actually decide placement.
So what do I do about it?
| Symptom | Action | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| AR outreach is spread evenly across every analyst who has ever mentioned the category | Re-tier the list by who authors the target evaluation report before scheduling any briefings | 30 min |
Step 02 of 03
A briefing is a no-cost interaction: a crisp 20-minute overview covering target customer, differentiators, and traction, leaving the last 10 minutes for analyst questions.
The briefing slot is 30 minutes total. How do you split it between the company's overview and the analyst's questions?
Procedure
- Draft a 20-minute overview: target customer, differentiators, traction metrics, roadmap
- Reserve the final 10 minutes explicitly for analyst questions
- Send the outline to the analyst's scheduling contact ahead of the call
BRIEFING OUTLINE (30 min) 0:00-0:20 Company overview, target customer, 3 differentiators, Q2 traction metrics 0:20-0:30 Reserved for analyst questions, do not fill with more slides
Healthy
The last 10 minutes stay genuinely open; the analyst's questions are what they'll reference when advising clients later.
Unhealthy
Running the deck long and leaving 2 minutes for questions because there was 'one more slide' to cover.
What this means
The analyst's questions are the part of the call that becomes their advisory notes, protect that time deliberately.
So what do I do about it?
| Symptom | Action | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Briefings routinely run over and leave no time for analyst questions | Cap the deck at 20 minutes and rehearse it before the call to protect the last 10 | 30 min |
Step 03 of 03
One briefing per year is not a relationship. Top AR programs brief key analysts every quarter, and relationships built over 12-18 months produce more accurate research representation than a single pre-evaluation sprint.
The submission window opens in 6 months. Should the first Tier 1 briefing happen now, or 6 weeks before the window opens?
Procedure
- Schedule the first Tier 1 briefing now, not near the window
- Space 2 more Tier 1 touchpoints across the 6-month runway, each with a product-update angle
- Schedule the final pre-submission briefing 6-8 weeks before the window closes
TIER 1 CALENDAR (6-month runway) Month 0: Initial briefing, company overview Month 2: Product-release update Month 4: Customer-traction update Month 5.5: Pre-submission briefing, formal evaluation case
Healthy
The analyst has three prior touchpoints of context before the pre-submission briefing, so that final call isn't a cold introduction.
Unhealthy
Booking a single briefing 6 weeks before the window and treating it as the whole relationship.
What this means
A pre-evaluation sprint reads as exactly what it is; a relationship built over the runway reads as informed context by submission time.
So what do I do about it?
| Symptom | Action | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| The AR calendar has one briefing booked, timed right before the evaluation deadline | Add at least 2 earlier touchpoints spaced across the runway before the pre-submission briefing | 30 min |
Final deliverable
A tiered analyst list (Tier 1/Tier 2/excluded) and a six-month briefing calendar with 4 Tier 1 touchpoints timed against the evaluation submission window.
See a reference example
Nubank Enterprise, AR Calendar (excerpt) TIER 1 (2 analysts, Wave authors) Month 0: Initial briefing Month 2: Product-release update Month 4: Customer-traction update Month 5.5: Pre-submission briefing TIER 2 (3 analysts, adjacent coverage): biannual briefing, Months 1 and 4
Success criteria
You're done when you can:
- Correctly separates Tier 1 (report authors) from Tier 2 (adjacent) and excludes irrelevant analysts
- Briefing outline reserves the final third of the call for analyst questions
- Calendar places the first Tier 1 touchpoint well before the pre-submission briefing, not as the only touchpoint