Our Guest: Elena Hutchison, formerly an Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Medallia, is now the Founder of Up/Right Analyst Relations. The firm offers coaching, consulting, and fractional analyst relations services, specifically designed to enhance companies' engagement with Gartner, Forrester, and other industry leaders.

Episode Topics:

• Understanding the analyst relations function beyond quadrants + how analyst firms serve their own customers
• Elena’s insights on the accuracy of Gartner’s Magic Quadrants and Forrester’s Wave
• Elena expands on her “Most Important Sales Cycle of the Year” post 
• Should companies always participate in an analyst Request for Information (RFI)?
• How can early + mid-stage companies best work with analyst firms?
• How analysts evaluate emerging vendors within categories + significance of vendor financial stability
• The value of customer stories around ROI when collaborating with analysts
• How to gain buy-in for an analyst relations program?
• Understanding the timeline for tangible, positive results from an analyst relations program.
• Elena’s insights on the differences between the largest analyst firms and niche analyst firms.

Resources:

https://www.uprightar.com/blog/your-analyst-evaluation-is-the-most-important-sales-cycle-of-the-year

https://www.uprightar.com/blog/debunking-five-myths-of-analyst-relations-for-startup-ceos
https://www.saasboost.io/outsourced-sales-blog/top-saas-directory-and-review-sites-complete-guide-2023

About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:

Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio is a SaaS podcast covers all aspects of the business of software.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

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About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Lead Routing Software, Sales Training + Onboarding Software, Sales Conversation Intelligence Software, and Partner Relationship Management (PRM) Software

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

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