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How can you improve your Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) process?

Written by Alice Garwood | Mar 16, 2023 1:25:42 PM

Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) are a crucial point of contact in the renewal process. Below, we have 9 ways that you can demonstrate excellence in your Business Reviews whether these are Quarterly Business Reviews, monthly or annual.  

1. What is your end goal? 

By the end of this Quarterly Business Review, what are you hoping to achieve? Is this an opportunity to demonstrate your hard work? Or are you hoping to sell more services? Being clear on this will make your QBR run more smoothly. 
 
Alongside this, it is important to remember that your client will also have a goal and an expectation for this QBR. It’s important to remain mindful that there are two sides to a QBR meeting, two sets of needs to be met. 

Be realistic. There’s no point planning to upsell them on your latest innovations if you haven’t met your KPIs. 

 

2. Have a clear plan of action 

How are you going to achieve your goal? 

Your Quarterly Business Reviews should be more than simply sharing data and having a chat about next steps. Demonstrating you are completing your contracted work is the baseline that you should be achieving day-to-day. 

Create a step-by-step plan of what you are going to go through and set clear boundaries with colleagues who will be present as to how this will be executed. And stick to it! 

Consider sharing: 

  • Value-adding content. Whitepapers, industry updates, research and predictions for their industry. 
  • Shout about innovation. What are you working on? How might this be of interest to your clients? 
  • Look forward. Share ideas for how you can further deliver on your contract and add to the service you are already providing with a view to renewing in the future. How might your innovations be useful from a cross-selling perspective? 

The better prepared you are the more trustworthy you are to your clients and the more likely they will renew or consider other relevant services that you supply. 

 

3. Aim to over-deliver 

As stated above, meeting the established goals of your contract is the minimum you should be providing your clients.  

Your client has already invested in onboarding your company, how can you make life simpler for your client? Can you provide solutions to issues outside your existing remit? Highlight these opportunities for growth. Incorporating this type of approach into the agenda shows focus and long-term engagement. It shows your commitment to a positive, progressive working relationship, rather than doing one job and moving on. 

 

4. Don’t risk being wrong 

Sharing incorrect data or unresearched information in a Quarterly Business Review is inexcusable.

Check everything is correct and then check it again! 

 

5. Get the right people into the room 

Who should be attending your QBR meeting? Firstly, find out who’s coming from the client’s side and mirror their numbers and the seniority of those in attendance. If there are only 3 people from the client attending and you turn up with 10, it may feel more like a threat than a friendly exchange of ideas and possibilities. Equally, if your client has sent senior leadership to the QBR meeting, make sure you are doing the same to ensure they feel valued

 

6. Make sure everyone turns up 

Making sure your team turns up is easy, but getting your clients to commit is harder. 

How can you ensure their attendance? 

Simple reminders can go a long way. 2 weeks in advance, 1 week in advance and the day before. Let them know you’re looking forward to seeing them and get them excited about some of the topics you’re going to cover. 

Manage their expectations. Share your agenda ahead of time so that they feel they have as full a picture as possible of what you are going to cover. This will guarantee emotional buy-in and will mean they are less likely to cancel. 

 

7. Complete outstanding actions in advance 

Check back through your previous Quarterly Business Reviews and make sure all actions have been covered in advance. If there is anything outstanding, now is the time to address this. Don’t wait until your QBR! 

Your Quarterly Business Reviews should be an opportunity to look forward, not to cover old ground.  

 

8. Get your tech right 

Life happens, but whether you are delivering your review online or in person, make sure everything is charged, working and available. Spending 10 minutes struggling to connect is going to reduce the trust between you and your client. 

There’s an advantage to holding a Quarterly Business Review on “home ground”, but as the supplier it is usually you that is expected to do the travelling. This means you are at a disadvantage from the start.  

Why not level the playing field by meeting online instead? By partnering with the right tech provider, you can make your reviews more slick, more focused and of a higher quality. 

 

How can we help? 

At Clientshare we have developed Pulse, a Quarterly Business Reviews platform to simplify and unify your QBR process. Even if you’re only having your business reviews annually, our platform creates a seamless approach to the process, allows you to share the QBR deck with hundreds of stakeholders in moments, gather CSAT and NPS as well as demonstrate your value beyond that of a service provider.  

Why not take 30 seconds to watch our Pulse intro video? 

Keen to know more? Book a demo with our team today. They will be happy to help with all enquiries.