Get the most out of an advisor briefing
Advisor Relations
Hello everyone, I hope this note finds you well.
Today I’m sharing some research on how to maximize your effectiveness in advisor briefings. In summary, this note addresses the following points:
- Memorable provider briefings are more conversational than presentation-based, and lead to four-times-stronger consideration levels.
- Industry trends and clients’ key challenges are effective tools to create dialogue with advisors.
- Effective briefings have a “before,” “during,” and “after,” so manage each phase of the briefing process appropriately.
After each Momentum briefing session, our advisors share their feedback with us. About one-quarter of provider briefings are rated ‘Excellent’ by ISG advisors because “[the provider] told their story in a manner I’m likely
to remember.”
Why is that important?
Our data shows that when an advisor says they had a memorable meeting with you, they are four-times more likely to recommend your firm to their client.
Read that again: four-times!
| Percent of ISG Advisors indicating their likelihood of recommending a provider Improved Significantly as a result of the education session | ||
|---|---|---|
| Less Memorable Briefings | Most Memorable briefings | |
| Recommend they shortlist after inclusion on a CPQ list | 11% | 45% |
| Include on a list you’re developing for a client | 12% | 43% |
| Proactively recommend to your clients | 12% | 40% |
| Recommend they be added to an existing client list | 10% | 39% |
| Source: ISG Post-Momentum Briefing research | ||
| Note: For the attribute, ‘They told their story in a manner I’m likely to remember’, Most Memorable = a rating of Excellent, Less Memorable = those rated Poor, Fair, Average, or Good | ||
So how do you make your Momentum briefing session memorable? I believe the answer breaks down into two primary questions: How do you approach the session? And what content will you present?
Starting with your approach, conversations are a lot more memorable than presentations. Advisors prefer an engaging discussion, rather than a one-way presentation of information where the presenter asks, “does anyone have any questions?” or “does that make sense?” every few slides.
Here are some things advisors have said about their most memorable briefing sessions:
- “Good interaction with ISG colleagues, reasonable level of detail, mature content on important topics.”
- “Very interactive.”
- “Very interactive discussion, and I thought the demo was a great way to see the technology being developed for clients.”
- “It was interactive, to the point of providing good information and not superficial sales talk.”
It is not always easy to develop good dialogue in a briefing session. Typically, sessions where the dialogue flows most naturally are those that focus on the things most important to the advisors.
Momentum research shows what our advisors really want to hear about (and what they don’t):
| How Advisors Prioritize Briefing Content | |
|---|---|
| High Priority | Lower Priority |
| Problems their clients are facing | Company background |
| Examples of client success stories | New capabilities they’re developing |
| High level description of capabilities | Detailed description of capabilities |
You can quickly connect with advisors by sharing the types of problems your clients are facing, then using your case studies to showcase how you solve them. Sharing these insights creates an opportunity to start a dialogue around the challenges today’s clients face—for example, by asking if ISG’s clients are facing similar problems, and if the advisor could share their own example. You might make a session more interactive by sharing three key challenges, and asking an advisor which they want to talk about first, then ask why they chose that option.
Here is how ISG advisors described the content of the most memorable briefing sessions:
- “They provided a very good view of the industry challenges and how companies are equipped to address and capitalize on these challenges. The lead was very articulate and thoughtful in his responses. I also liked that they provided a list of companies where we can partner. I look forward to hearing more at our next meeting.”
- “Although we didn't follow their agenda, I liked that they were in line with what we were seeing in the marketplace. I had no idea they had the transformation-oriented capabilities that they showed that align to the market.”
- “The material and case studies presented were very relevant to the challenges faced by today's IT leaders. The overall story, from my experience, touches upon the key solution components many clients are looking for in a service provider today.”
- “I thought the focus on the client problem statements and use of case studies to illustrate the capabilities was a good mechanism to introduce these to ISG.”
- “Very good case studies. Presentation had a good overview of capabilities and hit on the key messages of what the provider views differentiates itself.”
I suggest that you spend as much time as possible in your briefing on memorable material like the above. Start thinking about a briefing as a three-stage process—before, during, and after. Save the general information for background documents to be sent in the “before” stage, so that you can devote the full time of the briefing to the things to which advisors respond best.
An ideal briefing process should look like this:
| BEFORE BRIEFING | DURING BRIEFING | AFTER BRIEFING |
|---|---|---|
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|
|
My goal here is to provide you with the tools you need to have the most memorable session you can, since briefings are your firm’s chance to really stand out in the minds of ISG advisors. While there is no ‘one way’ to structure an excellent briefing, this research does point out solid suggestions for what the advisors are looking to hear from you and your teams.
As ever, I want to hear more about what you are doing as well! Please reach out to me with any questions and comments so that we can keep this dialogue going. I appreciate any and all feedback you have to give—based on comments I got last month, we’ve added a summary at the top of this message to make it easier to pass on to other people in your organization who may not have time to read the whole thing.
All the best,
Paul
