If you are an Investor Relations Officer without a Capital Markets background, you are likely focused on tenure and title. The longer you have been in a position, or a company, the more likely your are to have a higher title and know more.
When investors think about taking company meetings title and tenure may not represent the best arbiters of value. Corporate America is driven on tenure and title, whereas investors are focused on value.
Focus on the value equation.
Can you, as an IRO, provide new information or new ways of thinking about at least one of three things:
The company in question
The company’s industry
Commentary or discussions that make an investor smarter on a broader basis.
The second piece to the equation revolves around title.
An IROs title can provide a signal to how plugged-in or in-the-know he or she may be at his or her particular company.
For example, not many investors are going to take an NDR meeting with a Senior Manager of Investor Relations solo.
When I landed at the Data Center as a VP of Investor Relations, I knew doing NDRs and meetings solo represented a hard sell, even though I felt it important to do so. The best IROs are able to elevate themselves to a level of going solo.
Many investors presuppose that the IRO represents an empty suit, meaning he or she is not really plugged-in and does not really know the details of what is happening at the company.
