We Rebuilt FICO’s Earnings Deck. Here’s the Playbook.
The same process we use with every IR team, shared step by step.
Most earnings decks are built as reference documents. The real story lives in the prepared remarks. The slides just tag along.
We recently worked with FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) to flip that. FICO is one of the most respected companies in the public markets: an exceptional business model, a track record of consistent execution, and strong credibility with investors. The opportunity: make the slides carry the narrative, not just accompany it.
What followed was a true co-creation. The FICO IR team brought deep knowledge of the business, and did much of the heavy lifting on content. We brought the earnings framework, structure and strategy guidance, and design execution. Once the IR team understood how to leverage our process, the collaboration took off.
Below is the process we used. We call it The ABC Earnings Process. We’re sharing the full playbook so you can apply it to your own deck.
A. Assess the Current Situation (Week 1)
The first week is about gathering information and making sense of it. Here’s what that looks like:
- Review current earnings materials. We go back four quarters and look at transcripts, press releases, and the existing presentation (if there is one). This tells us how leadership talks about the business, what gets emphasized, and where the gaps are between what’s said on the call and what’s shown on the slides.
- Deep conversation with the IR team. What’s working in your current messaging? Where do analysts have repeat questions? What does leadership want to proactively drive in the narrative? What’s the vision for the presentation?
- Peer and industry scan. We look at how comparable companies handle their earnings communications. Is there a structure, format, or approach worth learning from?
- Our framework and experience. We layer in our four-part earnings framework, our repository of past projects, and what we’ve learned from building and studying dozens of earnings presentations.
With FICO: By the end of week one, we had a clear picture of the opportunity. The prepared remarks were strong. The deck was not carrying its weight. The path forward was to make the slides tell the story independently, so the presentation could stand on its own.
B. Build the Earnings Story and Structure (Weeks 2–3)
Assessment thinking carries directly into the build. We start with a strawman outline organized around our four-part earnings framework: Highlights, Business Updates, Financials, and Guidance. The outline turns into strawman slides: placeholder pages that map the full structure of the deck. We share examples from past projects and peer benchmarks to show what’s possible. The IR team develops the content, populates data, and builds out slides for their company’s unique metrics. By the end of this phase, we have an 80% ready deck with the narrative, flow, and slide structure locked in.
With FICO, here’s how the four sections came together:
1/ Highlights
A single opening slide that serves as a one-pager for the quarter, organizing key financial takeaways by category with concise commentary. An investor looking at this slide alone walks away informed.
2/ Business Updates
Previously, updates on the Scores and Software segments lived entirely in the prepared remarks. We created dedicated slides that bring these updates to life visually. FICO operates in a complex, regulated industry, and these slides brought clarity to topics that are hard to convey through words alone.
3/ Financials
This was the biggest unlock. Dense tables were replaced with trend charts showing performance over multiple quarters. Narrative headlines were added to every slide, so the takeaway is clear before you even look at the data. We focused on both traditional financial metrics and leading business indicators (e.g., pipeline and ARR). New slides were created where needed.
4/ Guidance
The outlook slide was refreshed with a headline and year-over-year growth context, turning a list of numbers into a forward-looking narrative.
C. Create the Earnings Presentation System (Weeks 4–6)
With the structure and content locked, we moved into creative design. Every slide was designed to be visually clear, consistent, and confident. Just as important, we built a repeatable system. Headlines evolve each quarter, data refreshes, slides can be added, but the backbone stays the same. The IR team now has a presentation they can run quarter after quarter without starting from scratch.
The Result
- Shorter, sharper remarks. Prepared remarks went from approximately 26 minutes to 16 minutes. Not because content was removed, but because the slides now carried the narrative. The CEO and CFO no longer needed to over-explain what was already on screen.
- A deck that stands on its own. An investor can pull up the presentation without listening to the call and understand the quarter. Clear messaging paired with strong visuals makes the story easier to follow, remember, and reference.
- Reinforcement, not revelation. The presentation and prepared remarks now work as a true joint exercise. Those who attend the live call get visual reinforcement of the narrative. Words and visuals together means the message sticks.
- A repeatable system. Headlines evolve, data refreshes, slides can be added, but the backbone stays the same. Built to run quarter after quarter without starting from scratch.
That’s the ABC Earnings Process. Whether you apply it on your own or bring us in to help, the framework works. A strong earnings presentation should carry the narrative, stand on its own, and be built to repeat.
If you want to go at it yourself, take what we’ve shared here and run with it. You’ll see strong results.
If you want to get it right the first time, move faster, and have a team that’s done this before handling the strategy and design alongside you — let’s talk. [Schedule a Call]
👉 Curious to see the FICO transformation slide by slide? [Check out the full before-and-after deck here.]
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