Rod Lawrenz
Holt,MO
Summary
Seasoned Analyst Relations executive with a consistent track record of developing and scaling global analyst relations programs seeking the opportunity to grow into an executive role where I can leverage my unique background and skillsets to positively contribute to the company’s overall growth and strategic market momentum.
I am a seasoned executive within the world of industry analyst relations. In my role as a top performer as a senior account executive at Gartner, I witnessed first-hand the influence that analysts have upon senior executives and their teams at global Fortune 1000 companies as they are making critical strategic business and technology buying decisions. Additionally, I have developed trust-based relationships with many prominent industry analysts, which has also provided me insight into how best to engage with them. In my role as an Analyst Relations executive, I have leveraged my 20+ years of complex solution sales to senior executives at large global companies combined with my experience within the Industry Analyst Community to achieve tangible business results that add value at multiple levels, from sales enablement, product management, product marketing, R&D, etc., effectively turning Analyst Relations into a sales channel which directly contributes to increased sales pipeline and revenue growth. I am passionate about the value that Analyst Relations brings to solution providers and look forward to leveraging my experience to produce similar results for other solution-oriented companies.
Overview
23
23
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Senior Director, Analyst Relations
HighRadius
12.2022 - Current
- Responsible for helping to scale the Analyst Relations organization to keep up with the high growth of my company. This included ensuring structuring of twice-weekly business review meetings with the Analyst Relations team to ensure multiple projects and priorities are addressed.
- Delivered significant year-over-year growth in analyst interactions of 560% which contributed to an increase of nearly 260% of HighRadius being mentioned in analyst published research from the prior year
- Responsilbe for more than double the number of analysts coming to HighRadius annual customer conference (from 2 in prior years to 6) and curated their experience which resulted in 14 interactions with key HighRadius executives, customers, and partners
- Developed a Customer Reference program to drive customer reviews for Gartner Peer Insights (Gartner's crowd-sourced enterprise vendor review site) which required coordinating with multiple internal leaders in Sales, Marketing, and data scientists (dashboard creation and maintenance), which resulted in increase of HighRadius Gartner Peer Insights score from 4.3 to 4.5 in first few months of implementation
Senior Director, Analyst Relations
E2open
08.2018 - 12.2022
- Designed and implemented E2open’s dedicated Analyst Relations program, and scaled it globally to include relevant industry analysts in North America, Europe, and APAC regions
- Responsibilities include: Identified and working proactively with 50+ industry analysts and influencers in E2open’s key markets and regions, which included all aspects of Supply Chain, and the Indirect Channel (i.e
- Distribution and retail)
- Proactively manage 15+ analyst firm quadrants as well as multiple Market Guides evaluation processes with Gartner, IDC, Forrester, and others
- This includes coordinating and working directly with Finance, BU/Sales Leaders, Product Marketing, Product Management, and Solution Consulting for successful submission
- After analyst quadrant publishes, work with analyst to gather details as to how E2open scored and why relative to the other participating vendors, and their recommendations for continuing to grow E2open’s position, and share this feedback internally with key internal stakeholders to provide key inputs into strategy and product roadmaps Develop and manage a customer reference program specifically for the various analyst quadrants, including managing Gartner Peer Insights, that proactively works with internal stakeholders (i.e
- BU and Sales Leaders, Customer Success, Product Management, and Product Marketing) in identifying, cultivating, and managing customer references
- Proactively share analyst insight, both from published research and analyst inquiries, with key internal executive stakeholders, particularly in the areas of product capabilities, messaging, go-to-market, product roadmaps, competitive intelligence, market trends, etc… Educate and strategize with Sales on how best leverage industry analysts and their research in sales opportunities as appropriate Directly contributed to pipeline growth by coordinating multiple analyst direct referrals, effectively turning Analyst Relations into an indirect sales channel for E2open Coordinate and manage industry analysts at E2open’s Leaders Forum Executive Conference, and manage analyst meet-ups with key executives and customers Coordinate and manage onsite and remote Analyst Advisory days with key analysts Maximize analyst firm events and conferences by coordinating numerous analyst meet-ups with company executives Successfully positioned E2open as a thought-leader within the supply chain analyst community as evidenced by them often coming to E2open to get our feedback regarding their research ideas and pre-draft copies of research to review and provide feedback Established very positive professional reputation within the analyst community evidenced by multiple tier one analysts have provided feedback to E2open executives that they enjoy working with me compared to my counterparts at other vendors with whom they work
Director, Analyst Relations
DSI
01.2017 - 08.2018
- Developed and implemented a dedicated Analyst Relations department and program
- Educated senior executives and other key stakeholders (i.e
- Product Management / Development, Product Marketing, Sales) on value of Analyst Relations and how best it can be leveraged to add value to their respective roles, and to the company as a whole
- Closely collaborate with key stakeholders and departments for analyst engagements, such as briefings, onsite Analyst Days, inquiries, etc… Facilitate the creation of Analyst presentations, Case Studies, Demos, etc… and educate stakeholders and senior executives on how best to present for different types of analyst engagements and with particular types of analysts
- Provide analyst feedback to Product Management, Product Marketing, Sales, etc… to help inform R&D, product roadmaps, Go-to-Market strategy, and messaging to the market
- The result is that the Analyst Relations department has proven to be another sales channel to the company with a hard ROI
- Within 1st year, about 10% of sales pipeline attributed to Analyst referrals, compared to no analyst referrals prior to my joining DSI Gone from being followed by two analysts at one analyst firm, to engaging with over 30 analysts from multiple analyst firms, many of whom have stated they are comfortable recommending DSI Recognized by one of our Tier 1 analysts for engaging with him in a consistent and strategic way that separates myself (and DSI) from our competitors Gone from being followed in one product category to now being recognized across eight product categories within the analyst community Gone from being published in one Gartner Magic Quadrant to now being published in multiple analyst research documents from multiple analyst firms, including analyst mentions in 3rd party industry publications Achieved Club Trip for DSI based upon impact Analyst Relations program has had on overall business results for 2017
Senior Account Executive
Gartner
05.2013 - 01.2017
- Work with senior-level supply chain executives in helping them to best strategically align their global supply chains to their business strategies and goals by leveraging Gartner’s objective, fact-based research and analyst advisory services
- Gartner’s deep supply chain domain expertise helps clients by providing actionable insights, along with a proven framework to assess the health and maturity of their supply chain, while providing a roadmap to achieve success
- As a result, Gartner clients are able to transform their supply chains in a way that saves them time and money while mitigating risk, and thereby enhancing profitability
- Additionally, in my role, I gained first-hand experience of how end-users use analyst research and engage with analysts when making critical strategic or large technology buying decisions
- I also worked extensively with many analysts, and have an insider’s view into their roles and functions, and therefore have quickly established high-trust relationships with many key analysts
- Recognized globally , both by analysts and sales executives, within my division for developing best practices for clients and prospects engaging with analysts, and creating templates that were adopted globally throughout the sales organization Track record of successfully growing business both by mix of new logos and with existing clients Successfully tripled the business with my largest client since taking over relationship in August, 2013 Carry largest sales quota of my sales team, while also managing the largest, most complex global accounts Successfully managing large global accounts involving multiple internally geographically dispersed resources to successfully grow sales and enhance retention Official mentor to new Account Executives on my sales team 2013 – Achieved Winners Circle 1st year in territory 2014 – Overachieved quota/plan (missed Winners Circle by only $20,000) 2015 – Achieved Winners Circle 2016 – Top Account Executive through first half of year for entire global Supply Chain sales team May, 2016 – Achieved Behavior Award for Global Supply Chain Sales organization for modeling the attributes, mindset, and qualities/characteristics of a top performer
District Sales Manager
ADP
05.2010 - 05.2013
- Responsible for coordinating and leading a team sales effort involving internal sales channels, technical pre-sales, other third-party partners and resources into large national accounts of 1,000 employees and greater in Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska
- Call on and develop relationship with C-Level executives, Controllers, VP-Level, to lower-level management spanning Finance, Operations, HR, IT, and other functional areas within accounts in my assigned territory.
Sales Executive
First National Technology Solutions
04.2004 - 04.2010
- Achieved 20%+ market share in Kansas City, despite a lack of previous accounts or brand recognition Worked with vendors, distributors, and internal technical staff to create deep value-added relationships with clients, leading to 500%+ revenue growth in the region over 3.5 years Grew territory from about $100,000 in total contract value to over $5 million in total contract value on hosting, managed services, and software product sales Became the #1 sales agent in both IBM hosting and Double-Take software categories throughout a 4 state territory
Solution Sales Representative
Net Standard, Inc.
11.2000 - 04.2004
- Utilized a vigorous prospecting, CRM, and referral system to become top producer in sales, company-wide, for 2003.
Education
Bachelor of Arts - History & Political Science
California State University, Dominguez Hills
01.1996
Skills
- Project Management
- Team Collaboration and Leadership
- Relaying Complex Information
- Multiple Priorities Management
- Process Improvements
- Evidence-Based Decision Making
- Analytical Thinking
Honors And Awards
- Club Trip Achiever, 2017 – DSI
Accomplishments
- Winners Circle, Gartner (overachieved quota 2013 and 2015)
Certification
- Certified Industry Analyst Relations Professional
Timeline
Senior Director, Analyst Relations
HighRadius
12.2022 - Current
Senior Director, Analyst Relations
E2open
08.2018 - 12.2022
Director, Analyst Relations
DSI
01.2017 - 08.2018
Senior Account Executive
Gartner
05.2013 - 01.2017
District Sales Manager
ADP
05.2010 - 05.2013
Sales Executive
First National Technology Solutions
04.2004 - 04.2010
Solution Sales Representative
Net Standard, Inc.
11.2000 - 04.2004
Bachelor of Arts - History & Political Science
California State University, Dominguez Hills