How is your business delivering real customer value? While the importance of retaining staff is heavily reiterated, the importance of retaining customers is often neglected - and this is where a Quarterly Business Review (QBR) come in.
Simply put, a Quarterly Business Review (QBR) is a meeting typically held between the Customer Success Manager (CSM) and your client. It's safe to think of these quarterly meetings as business health checks; a strategic, hands-on approach providing the invaluable opportunity to discuss your clients' growth.
In alignment with standard Quarterly Business Review best practices, the CSM or CEO (if a start-up business) will sit face-to-face with the client, in order to discuss the client's results to-date, the state of their business since using that company's product or service, and of course, how their company is able to position their client for greater results in the long term.
Before you conduct your next QBR, here's the essential lowdown to guide you in the right direction:
Building a Long-Lasting Relationship
As the general business rule of thumb goes, communication is key. At the centre of any successful business-client relationship lies open and effective communication. QBRs open the portal for ongoing communication between your company and the client; affirming your concrete dedication to enabling the very Return on Investment (ROI) you promised prior to onboarding.
It's important to note, no two businesses are ever the same and thus, you should treat each customer as a unique business case. By conducting a Quarterly Business Review, you're also able to analyze the effectiveness of your product or service, along with how satisfied they are with the provided training and support.
If you're following these best practices, performing a QBR will allow your company to first identify these areas, and to then strategize for future growth; serving as an exceptional method for retaining customers, which brings us to...
One Solution Doesn't Fit All
Prior to becoming a customer, a prospect will identify the need for your product or service. As a customer, they then employ your company to deliver what's been promised, but if you fail to nurture your customers beyond onboarding, how will you know whether or not these desired outcomes have been met?
According to Gregg Lalle, the Senior Vice President of International Sales and Strategy at ConnectWise, this neglect is better explained as the "show up and throw up" mentality, which a vast majority of Managed Service Providers (MSPs) will have.
By adopting this approach, you inherently suggest to customers that their business is no different from any other business, and in turn, that there's no need to nurture them beyond onboarding; a grave indication that makes all the difference between having short-term and long-term customers.
What You Need to Cover
If you're a startup business, a single Quarterly Business Review may take between 60-90 minutes, while some large-sized enterprises will conduct QBRs in just under 15-30 minutes. However, when deliberating which timeframe is most suitable; it's crucial to first determine which topics you would like to cover - this will permit you to then formulate a QBR template.
Now, depending on the nature of your business, the content you wish to include during your QBR may vary, though best practices' strongly advise to cover a combination of the following topics:
- Return on Investment (ROI) - this includes an overview of the key metrics and results that the customer has achieved since using your product or service. These key metrics popularly include revenue, time, and resources.
- Key Deliverables - this is where you analyze the status of each deliverable that was promised upon onboarding.
- Value Proposition - if you provided this customer with an initial value proposition, a QBR is the perfect time to review this.
- Roadblocks - has your customer received sufficient training and support? Are they having particular issues that are perhaps delaying their results? This segment is used to openly discuss the overall customer experience.
- Milestones - at the end of your QBR, you may wish to set key milestones for both your company and its customers, which you can work toward by way of ensuring their business goals are kept on track prior to the next QBR.
When deciding which focus topics to cover during your next Quarterly Business Review, it's best to conduct an analysis of the above points as a best practices' cross-reference with your existing business model.
We hope this guide has helped you to better understand Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs). In case you missed our previous post, discover MSP Best Practice: How to Kickstart Marketing for your ultimate starter guide. In the meantime, if you would like to receive the latest news, thought leadership content, and more, simply subscribe to Wise-Sync communications here, and we'll keep you posted!
