How effective are your earnings calls?

It’s gone on long enough that I can no longer ignore the elephant in the room. I’ve tried to look the other way. I’ve tried to quietly make suggestions. Nothing’s worked. Therefore, I’m left with no other course of action but to debunk an American myth and take my life in my hands: a healthy percentage of companies are not hosting effective earnings conference calls with investors.

The reason? They are not properly prepared.

Scarier still is the percentage of companies that fall into this category that don’t realize it.  So… how can you figure out if you are one of those companies? Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

1. Are you reading the release to the participants?
2. Do your opening comments take longer than the time allotted for Q&A?
3. Do you anticipate questions and address them in your opening comments?
4. Do you know how to maintain control of the call should a participant try to impose his/her agenda upon it?
5. Do you have a contingency plan should one of your CEO or CFO not be available to participate in the call at the last minute?
6. Do you rehearse the call in advance as a group?
7. If yes to #6, does the rehearsal also include the IRO playing the role of the investor/analyst in a mock Q&A session?
8. How do you close your call?

I won’t ask you how you answered these questions. I would; however, love to know how you evaluate the effectiveness of your conference calls.

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