Do Quarterly Business Reviews Drive Customer Success?

How can leadership communicate the most important metrics to customer success while creating a vision and steps to perform across each new quarter? Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) are a fluid method of recapping the previous quarter’s performance while setting up customers for success moving forward.

They function much like a professional sports team watching film to analyze the past game while implementing adjustments for constant improvement. QBRs are flexible and can work within the framework of any business model. Invest the time to develop and implement simple QBR templates to create an open line of communication and effective means of hitting goals.

Functions of the Quarterly Business Review (QBR)

Proper delivery of a QBR presentation serves several important functions for businesses, the primary being a digestible set of recent results and immediate action plans for success. The delivery format has plenty of flexibility with companies choosing digital and/or traditional delivery. Some are personalized for specific stakeholders and others designed to reach a broad group.  

Quarterly Business Reviews are designed to:

• Summarize current performance
• Hold teams accountable for performance
• Deliver hyper-relevant information to customers
• Communicate and reinforce relationship value
• Offer solutions and forecast future performance

The path forward is critical because it keeps the customer engaged while presenting a vision and anticipation for future results. It’s an immediate action plan and in that sense is a living document available for revision in all four quarters. 

Customer Success – Communicate What Matters Most

Leadership teams can quickly go down the rabbit hole and develop extensive quarterly review documents. While this information should live somewhere accessible, the review is best geared toward top-level information. Using a direct and to-the-point approach helps the content to stick while motivating internal team members and customers to hit new objectives.

Use this easy three-step process to focus Customer Success Quarterly Business Review presentations:

1. Summarize key metrics, data and facts
2. Describe setbacks from previous quarter
3. Communicate a clear plan for next quarter

Remember, the overarching goal of the presentation is to engage the customer in an active and productive conversation. Show your wins, admit losses and continually set and evolve goals to drive successful outcomes. Creating a clear picture of customer health helps everyone work better together.

Include the key results, KPIs, ROI, sales forecasts and highlights from the previous quarter. Make a detailed plan for the next quarter with clear goals to help customers track their position and progress. Scoring and showing customer health makes for a good visual on every QBR. The visuals show current standing and you can explain how the data provided is being used to make strategic decisions.  

Benefits of Consistent QBR Presentations

From the customer’s perspective, they want to know what you are doing, what is working and what they should be doing. Failing to create a clear bridge for communication and information relay can quickly deteriorate any relationship and lead to missed revenue opportunities and churn. Ambiguity in B2B partnerships is generally a recipe for failure and is costly to your bottom line.

This is where a QBR serves a critical role and ensures everyone is on the same page. They ultimately:

• Reinforce relationships
• Reveal early warning signs of churn
• Communicate value

Using pre-meeting surveys to gauge customer satisfaction, you can quickly identify the potential for churn and create an internal action plan to correct flaws. The offensive nature of this process not only reduces client churn, it can convert those same on the fence folks into your most loyal customers.

After closing negative feedback loops, you can demonstrate value and highlight the wins to celebrate successes. Collectively, these actions build a positive journey shared by your team and the customer.

Digitized vs. Traditional QBRs

Traditional QBR presentations are done in-person or via conference calls with long format presentations lasting 45 minutes or longer. If this process already exists and is effective and appreciated by the customer, consider keeping it active.

Digitizing QBRs is advantageous for a variety of reasons however. The digital format condenses presentations, communicating the most important information. The short format allows stakeholders to digest the information in minutes without pulling them into long and unnecessary meetings.

Not only does the five-minute digital format make it easy to absorb and process the information, it expands the reach by making it shareable and quick to review across the entire company. Vitally does a great job explaining this in Digitizing Traditional Quarterly Business Reviews.

Use Our Free QBR Templates to Drive Your Next Successful Presentation

We developed a series of Free QBR templates for you to download and use anytime. Change the branding, adjust the messaging, add and delete slides and use the format to fit your team goals.

Pre-Meeting Survey Template

Use this to gather background from customers ahead of the presentation. Gauge their emotions, discover new insights and know where you stand. Use this information to custom tailor your QBR and respond to issues in a way that prevents churn. Don’t underestimate the power of these simple pre-meeting surveys.

QBR Template #1 – Broad Scope Template

Use this deck to cover all the critical elements in a successful QBR presentation. Made for easy customization, it’s the ideal digitized format. Just add your branding, convey the objects, plug in your metrics and use the powerful “Where We Can Win” slide for a strong close.

QBR Template 2 – Segmentation Breakdowns

Ready to focus the message and get ultra-specific? This easy-to-use template packs a powerful punch in a very short format. It’s perfect for distributing across a broad set of stakeholders or tailoring to an individual reader.

ProteusEngage is the leading all-in-one customer success portal with a centralized command center to drive revenue and build stronger relationships through collaboration. Give your team the tools they need to cross sell, upsell, retain clients and close more deals.