Mastering the Gartner Magic Quadrant: Part 1
Reshaping, Entering and Leading an EXISTING Magic Quadrant
A friend of mine spent three years trying to get her startup into an existing magic quadrant. For the first two years, her CEO hammered her for her lack of visible progress, complaining that either she wasn’t doing it right or her investment in Gartner was a waste of time. For the first two years, they didn’t even meet the inclusion criteria. By the third year… she had convinced the analyst to shift the criteria and the name of the report — and this company debuted —in the leader’s category! She was doing something right.
Today, I share some of her tips for entering and shaping an EXISTING category.
Why the Gartner Magic Quadrant Matters for CMOs
Placing well in a Gartner Magic Quadrant is a daunting challenge—but for some markets, it’s one of the most impactful achievements for driving credibility and revenue growth. Gartner, despite our frustration with them, is one of the most trusted analyst firms and holds immense sway with buyers, particularly in B2B tech markets and with larger enterprises.
The Gartner Magic Quadrant (MQ) is more than a report; buyers use it to identify leading vendors, assess risks, and make purchasing decisions. 6Sense’s B2B Buyer Research found that 70% of B2B buyers engage with an analyst or consultant while creating their shortlist, and 84% of the time, contact the winning vendor first. Vendors may not even get a chance to weigh into short-list creation. Being placed in the Leader quadrant can be the difference between being considered and never seeing the deal. The stakes are high.
Should you Compete in an Existing or Advocate for a New Category?
The first decision one must make is whether it is worth the time, effort, and financial investment to compete for an existing category or attempt to get a new category created. The magic quadrant is a resource-intense effort for Gartner, and adding a new category could require new analysts or re-assignment of work. It may be easier to influence a change in the inclusion criteria or even overall category name if the market indeed is evolving.
Last week, I asked on LinkedIn if and how people had been successful in getting Gartner to cover a NEW category. I was blown away by the 108 comments. Many people offered to share their success stories on this difficult, elite path. Horror stories were also shared publicly and privately. I will do interviews and write Part 2 or 3 of this blog, but if you’re in a rush, page through the comments now. They are invaluable. A few highlights that stood out:
Multiple vendors must be present together to justify a new market - a single vendor with a vision isn’t enough.
Gartner’s customers need to be inquiring about/supporting your vision. Gartner cares about its customers and its own revenue. Will this new category help it financially?
It takes multiple years of long, hard work and often depends on a single analyst who may have their own history in the market (one horror story revolved around an analyst who was hired by a competitor and then owned the magic quadrant.)
Key Factors Gartner Considers for Inclusion
It’s worth noting that there’s no easy “hack” for high performance in a Gartner Magic Quadrant. While I’ll detail a case study below, the primary success factors remain:
1. Market Traction: Demonstrated adoption and revenue growth in your category.|
2. Customer Success Stories: Case studies that showcase measurable outcomes for your clients.
3. Product Differentiation: Clear evidence of unique features or capabilities.
4. Strategic Vision: A forward-looking roadmap that aligns with market trends.
If you’re not strong in all of these categories, no # of inquiries or financial investment will help you win.
Success Story: How One Brand Conquered an EXISTING Magic Quadrant
Back to the single, illustrative story of my friend, victorious in evolving a Magic Quadrant over a three-year journey. Her guidance:
Risk Assessment: Step one is risk assessment up front - should you really do this? Take off the rose-colored glasses. Is this possible? Is this real? Three to four years of effort is a best-case scenario. She only goes for it if she thinks she can win.
Analyst Selection: Often, your success comes down to a relationship with a single individual. If you don’t gel with that analyst, should you look at going deeper with a different firm? Maybe a Forrester Wave is a better option, maybe a second-tier or boutique analyst firm. It depends on what your customers value. Gartner and Forrester are influential with big, traditional enterprises and Fortune 500, though Gartner is prioritizing more penetration in mid-market. Smaller firms are influential in certain sub-markets. Every market category has a different analyst mix. Maybe stronger Gartner Peer Review and G2 ratings could be influential.
Analyst Motivations: What is the analyst going to get out of this? My friend categorizes analysts into three categories: narcissist, helper, or academic. Depending on their profile, analysts are driven by different motivations for wanting to work with you. Academics are inspired by their deep curiosity; they get the spark by wanting to learn more and being on the cutting edge. Narcissists want to make a name for themself - “Will this category help me get more press coverage?” they may ask themselves. Helpers are driven by the question, “Is this going to solve real problems for my clients?” Most analysts are a blend, but you’ll be more successful if you understand and cater to their drivers.
Magic Quadrant Success Story: Zero to Leader
“We wanted to join the existing Magic Quadrant in our space, but it was about 30% off from our vision of the market - and we didn’t even qualify based on the inclusion criteria. First, we decided that it would be easier to shift the existing space than create a new one. But we would have to convince them the market was changing and they needed to shift the report.
Strategy: How they approached it:
Analyst Motivations: Our analyst is a helper / academic profile - so we needed to spark his interest. To show him that we were the cool new way that could help his clients, we shared customers who were real innovators. We kept sharing our vision and proof that our approach was the future of smart enterprises. We convinced him that if he kept the inclusion criteria as-is- he would be doing a disservice to his clients who wanted to be more innovative. It’s a big deal for an analyst to change criteria; they have to go in front of a board of peers and can get rejected. He had to have strong conviction to make the change.
Engagement Frequency: We engaged once per month for 3 years. These touches included:
30-minute inquiries
30-minute quarterly briefings
email updates and meaningful interchanges of ideas, asking him questions, sharing about recent wins, and sharing our market point of view
Meet-ups between the analyst and our CEO at industry conferences
Cool Vendor: Our first step was as a cool vendor. This occurred after a relatively brief meeting with the CEO, but it was a signal that we had the right analyst, and he was interested in what we were doing.
Financial Investment: Gartner isn’t pay-to-play; it’s pay-to-access.
As an earlier-stage startup, we didn’t have big money to invest. The first year, we didn’t have a seat - we just used the (free) 30-minute briefings once/quarter, coordinated meet-ups of the CEO and him at big industry events, and engaged with him on social media.
In the second year, we bought into the lowest possible package (1 seat) to get more consistent access. This gave us monthly 30-minute inquiries (conversations), which we used heavily.
Relationships can’t be bought alone - they have to be deeply nurtured over a long period of time. They will require a financial investment, but that’s not enough to be a leader. Deep, personal, 1:1 relationships with the individual analyst are critical.
Analyst Compensation Models:
It’s valuable to understand how the analyst firm and your individual analyst are compensated. At the firm level, how does this change drive more client inquiries, new vendor contracts, more reprint licenses, and more engagement at events?
Analyst bonuses and compensation are partially tied to inquiries (volumes and rating), not briefings. They are compensated to give their opinion, not to hear information and educate themselves on the category - it’s important to engage them where they actually make money.
Always remember what it’s like for the analysts on the other side and how much work they have to put in.
Analyst are not paid as well as they might be at a vendor - many of them do it more for the glory and and influence. How do you feed what drives them?
Bonus tip: If asked to rate your analyst, always give them a 5-star rating; it affects their bonus. Sometimes, the ratings are not fully anonymous and/or easy to figure out. Low scores could undermine all your hard work.
What else have I missed? What should I include in Part 2 or 3?
Have you had success changing or creating a Gartner Magic Quadrant Category?
Bonus: A Humorous Take on the Gartner Magic quadrant
A reward for reading this far : )
Carilu Dietrich is a former CMO, most notably the head of marketing that took Atlassian public. She currently advises CEOs and CMOs of high-growth tech companies. Carilu helps leaders operationalize the chaos of scale, see around corners, and improve marketing and company performance.