As you get ready for earnings, Q&A prep is customary at most companies. Across the IR ecosystem, almost everyone favors this exercise. But Francesca DeMartino, Pfizer’s Chief IRO, offers a counter view. She says it trains executives to be reactive rather than tell a story. (hear her out below…and for more nuances, listen to her episode on the Winning IR podcast). 

About 10 years ago, Francesca stopped using traditional Q&A documents. Here’s what her team builds instead:

• A document organized by topic, not by question (example topics: expiring patents, vaccines, individual brands) 
• A short elevator pitch for each topic and brand (e.g., during quarter, what changed, how brands performed)

It’s a living document that evolves between quarters, gets sharpened before earnings, and guides executive prep. As Francesca puts it, “It forces you to really think about your talk points, your proof points, your data points.”

Her example makes it click. Say an analyst asks for market share (which Pfizer doesn’t disclose all the time).

• The Q&A-style answer: “85%.” Done. Next question.
• The story-first answer: Start with the brand (“Let me talk to you about X brand. We’re very pleased with the performance in the quarter…”)…lead with the story you want investors to hear, and then give the number.

You’re still answering the question, but providing context that would benefit the investors.

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