Please feel free to comment or disagree. This is stuff that has worked for me, YMMV.
In no particular order:
Bad company does not necessarily equal bad stock.
NEVER FORGET THIS.
No mercy.
For any Larry Niven fans our there, Niven's Law states "Anything worth doing is worth selling repeatedly"
Don't rehash the press release.
Why should people care? So What?
Own it.
This is a feature, not a bug.
Don't just use them as exhibit factories.
On another day your role might be therapist.
Sometimes clients just want to talk.
It just makes you look pitiful.
In other words, clients know who deserves a vote without you asking for it.
This is not easy. I've been doing this job for more than a dozen years and I still struggle with it.
But that's OK. Give the people what they want!
If you don't like your industry this job will make you miserable.
(less relevant for now but someday...)
Part of your job as a sell side analyst is to figure out what “consensus” actually is.
But clients will still ask. And you had better have an answer :-)
It eventually blew up.
But it also got me ranked.
And it might go right. Those are the calls that can make a career.
Treasure these clients.
If you win over clients when they start the relationship can span an entire career. I have big PM clients today who I’ve known since they were jr analysts.