By: Dr. Patrick J. Wolf
Updated: March 20, 2024
As a pivotal touchpoint between field teams, managers, and organizational leadership, properly running Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) presents unmatched opportunities to strategize, align on objectives, and secure executive support. Conversely, poorly structured QBRs devolve into tedious presentations offering little tangible value, often hurting customer retention.
This article is a comprehensive playbook for planning your next QBR to guarantee more collaborative, actionable meetings with value at the forefront.
I. Build a Strategic Mindset
Counterintuitively, effective QBRs spend minimal time in the weeds of operational details. Instead, focus conversations on higher-level trends, market indicators, capability priorities, and multi-quarter strategic planning to capture leadership’s attention.
Strategic Areas to Emphasize:
Macroeconomic trends affecting pipeline velocity or contract sizes.
Progress advancing major account penetration and marquee deal cultivation.
Capability gaps impeding the pursuit of divisional growth goals.
Competitor partnerships, M&A, or positioning shifts.
Recommendations on realigning initiatives or investments to address risks and opportunities.
By grounding conversations at the strategic level, you spark critical thinking vs. status updates. Design QBR content and discourse to engage executive perspectives and inputs.
II. Prepare Value-Driven Dashboards
Dashboarding provides invaluable visibility when grounded in financial value contexts. Rather than presenting operational metrics in a vacuum, apply value realization methods linking activities to concrete business outcomes.
Examples of value-centric dashboard elements:
5-Year Revenue Impact Modeling draws a correlation between leading pipeline KPIs and multi-year revenue recognition given historical conversion rates. Size total addressable revenue unlocked by current actions.
Business Case Projections vs. Actuals. For newly launched products or campaigns, contrast projected multi-year value creation against in-flight performance. Assess return timelines versus plan.
Customer Lifetime Value Tracking demonstrates expanding customer value by plotting repeat purchase rates, retention levels, and advocacy metrics. Show correlation to efforts.
Automated Predictive Forecasting leverages predictive analytics to estimate deal close likelihoods. Blend human judgment with data science, projecting risk-adjusted returns tailored to initiative maturity.
To build these value-focused dashboards:
Deconstruct business case financial models are associating early indicators to total lifetime value.
Instrument data feeds to populate key value drivers on an ongoing basis.
Visualize current value trajectories against targets.
Leading indicators become farsighted telescopes into future earnings. Embed these analyzed through value blueprints to maintain focus on meeting (or exceeding) business case realizations. This grounds conversations in actualized versus theoretical value.
This value realization should be at the forefront of continual and constant measurement, tracking, and project scopes. If you don't have a business value focus in your customer center of excellence, you are setting yourself up to fail.
III. Set the Agenda to Inspire Dialog
QBRs function best as balanced, two-way conversations rather than one-sided data dumps. Set the tone using agendas that integrate stakeholder perspectives. Offer thought-provoking discussion launch points.
Sample Agenda Talking Points:
“Here are three significant market trends that could inform our 2023 planning. I’m curious which you see holding the most opportunity if capitalized effectively?”
“Based on our historic pipeline-to-revenue conversion metrics, meeting our growth targets requires expanding our enterprise customer funnel by 20%. Does this align with your expectations, or should we discuss potential target adjustments?”
“As evidenced by extended sales cycles and smaller initial deal sizes, we’re seeing conservative procurement sentiment across key industries in the wake of macro uncertainty. How might we adapt our consultative selling and packaging to reignite growth despite external choppiness?”*These are detailed examples; make them more human! Don't copy and paste, and don't read a script. Be agile.
Solicit responses with open-ended frames to spur more meaningful guidance. Signal that you want their wisdom and reactions.
IV. Right-Size Meeting Duration
With executives perennially time-constrained, they err toward concise meetings tightly focused on issues requiring their input. Short and impactful surpasses dragged-out presentations, rehashing known details.
Ideal QBR Duration Ranges:
C-Level Execs: 20-45 mins
Divisional Leadership: 45-60 mins
First-Line Managers: 60-90 mins
Pad out agendas to fill longer blocks only when deep-dive analyses are required to shape major decisions. Otherwise, keep discussions moving quickly between insights and actions.
V. Wrap with Relationship Building
Concluding QBRs by summarizing key takeaways and next steps helps cement mutual understanding. But go further and demonstrate that this meeting’s value lies in strengthening working relationships and alignment.
Concluding Moment Best Practices:
Thank the participants for their unique guidance and time.
Emphasize eagerness to pursue their proposed ideas.
Offer assistance executing any related projects.
Suggest meeting over coffee one-on-one next quarter to deepen the partnership.
If there is no existing rapport - propose getting together informally to connect.
Quarterly touchpoints present rare opportunities to develop connections with influential internal partners. You can invest time nurturing these relationships beyond looking at facts and figures.
Apply these well-rounded techniques to facilitate richer alignment through Quarterly Business Reviews. Just remember - data informs, and relationships transform.
Dr. Patrick J. Wolf is a seasoned business value and strategy leader who leverages A.I., ML, and emerging technologies to drive transformation in SaaS businesses. As the head of the Business Value and Strategy Advisor team for Qlik, he leads initiatives to align technology platforms with strategic objectives, resulting in enhanced business outcomes. Dr. Wolf brings a unique blend of academic rigor and practical business acumen to his role with a Ph.D. in Strategic Communication and Media, an MBA in Business Administration, and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering. Additionally, he is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. He actively engages in academia as a guest lecturer and a keynote speaker at other executive summits. Dr. Wolf's ability to articulate complex concepts and drive consensus across organizations makes him a trusted leader and strategic advisor.
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