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Is your QBR a meeting you'd actually want to attend? If you hesitated, it might be time for a change. 🤔 #QBR #CustomerSuccess #BusinessStrategy Many see QBRs as a necessary evil, but they can be a powerful tool when done right. Seasoned Customer Success Managers know that success lies in focusing on the customer, not yourself. 1️⃣ **Know Your Customer**: Understand their goals, challenges, and what makes them tick. Tailor your QBR to showcase how your partnership benefits them. 2️⃣ **Balance Positives and Negatives**: Don't shy away from addressing challenges. Show how you've learned and resolved issues, building trust. 3️⃣ **Engagement is Key**: Encourage participation by using narratives, questions, and yes-no queries. Get them talking and invested. 4️⃣ **Prepare Thoroughly**: Know your data inside out to impress your customer with your knowledge. Show you're ready for any question. 5️⃣ **Keep it Short**: Introductions are essential but can drag on. Streamline them to save time for meaningful discussion. 6️⃣ **Follow Up Effectively**: Send a recap of positives, action items, and questions discussed. Show accountability and appreciation. Remember, QBRs are what you make them. If your QBR inspires confidence in your partnership, it becomes a valuable asset. 💼💪

The secret to stress-free QBRs? Treat them like any other week. Most teams treat QBRs like a quarterly fire drill: - Scrambling to pull data - Bending over backwards to generate reports - Canceling weekend plans to prep But the key to crushing your QBRs is making them a non-event. How? Integrate QBR prep into your weekly rhythm: - Kick off the week with a team planning meeting - End the week with an executive summary of activities & results - Build your lead plan, account plan, & pipeline plan as you go When QBR-worthy updates are part of your team's DNA... You'll be ready to rock that boardroom. Your "presentation" will simply be: - KPIs with strategic narratives - Explanations of how these activities drive the business - A clear picture of Marketing's impact on the org The best QBRs don't feel like QBRs at all. They're just a natural extension of the work you're already doing. Bonus: Consistently communicating Marketing's efforts & wins each week eliminates any chance of a credibility gap forming. You'll never have to justify your existence again. Watch this video for more tips to make QBRs a breeze:

Imagine a QBR that's not about sitting through an hours-long pitch, but is rather an opportunity to reconnect with your customer's desired outcomes. 💡 No stacks of slides, no lengthy presentations, just a focused discussion on what really matters: their progress and how you can help them move faster and further. This is real customer success and it starts with a collaborative success plan. Think about it: QBRs as strategy sessions, dedicated to aligning with your customer's vision and reinforcing your role as their trusted partner. #customersuccess #qbr #customeroutcomes

🌟 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 (𝗤𝗕𝗥𝘀) 🌟 𝗘𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗤𝗕𝗥𝘀: Quarterly Business Reviews are pivotal for success in any organization. They're not just meetings; they're platforms for progress, performance assessment, and growth opportunities. A well-conducted QBR can mean staying competitive, meeting customer needs, and fostering closer ties. 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀: 🎯 Prompt problem-solving 🤝 Building trust and collaboration ✅ Progress tracking against goals 🔄 Continuous relevance and improvement 𝟵 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗤𝗕𝗥𝘀: 1️⃣ Choose Your Customers Wisely: Focus on valuable, engaged, and diverse customers. 2️⃣ Define Clear Objectives and Goals: Set specific, measurable targets. 3️⃣ Invite Key Customer Stakeholders: Gather diverse perspectives. 4️⃣ Create and Share an Agenda: Guide focused discussions. 5️⃣ Use Data and Metrics Effectively: Guide decisions and improvements. 6️⃣ Encourage Active Participation: Foster a collaborative atmosphere. 7️⃣ Review Progress Against Goals: Adjust strategies based on feedback. 8️⃣ Share QBR Insights: Apply insights across teams. 9️⃣ Plan for the Next Quarter: Set actionable and measurable goals. Effective QBRs are crucial for long-term customer relationships and mutual growth. By implementing these best practices, you can turn QBRs into a dynamic tool for driving future growth and improvement.

I was privileged enough to attend the training session hosted by Diana De Jesus yesterday on Making Your Quarterly Business Reviews (QBR) Strategic. It was indeed a rich and informative session where we dived into the QBR intricacies and discussed extensively on tasks to cover before, during, and after a QBR session, the very right ingredients of a QBR, and how to apply RISE (Relationship, Insights, Strategy and Execution) to a task, like QBR. We took a moment to self-reflect and to ask ourselves a unique and often overlooked question: “𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘘𝘉𝘙?” I mean… no one wants to attend a QBR to listen to numbers and stats they aren’t sure are translating to value for them or their businesses🤷🏻♀️ That’s not what they want to hear…They want you to show them the Value and ROI💸…because if you don’t, they won’t see! Diana De Jesus reinforced our understanding again that a strategic, impactful, and productive QBR begins with a mind-shift from "what's in it for me" to "what's in it for them" and how to achieve that through value-first engagement and data story telling. Of course, it was a Masterclass, but I’ll let you in on a summary☺️ 𝙏𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙌𝘽𝙍 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙🚮 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚🙇🏻♀️: ✦Know the right people to get onboard during a QBR ✦Strategically get them onboard ✦Turn your data into insights ✦Tell the data story ✦Showcase ROI and value of your product specific to key client stakeholders in the QBR ✦Collaborate on the next big thing ✦Check Check Check✅✅✅ Thank you again, Diana De Jesus for this amazing and productive masterclass🔥 And guess what?…I’m en route to smashing my next QBR🔥🔥🔥 #CustomerSuccess #StrategicQBR #SaaS #B2B #Tech

Here’s a question I ask every customer in every QBR meeting (after the 2nd QBR, they proactively answer it) “What does success look like for you?” The obvious reason is: I can’t help customers succeed if I don’t know their goals/objectives. But, the not-so-obvious reason is: It helps me address unrealistic expectations before they turn into disappointments. So next time you’re on a QBR, ask this question. You can't prove your value without it. P.S. Please share if you find this useful ♻️ #CustomerSuccess #CSM #CustomerRelations #CSSpotlight✨

💡Great and realistic Insights on how to make the QBRs with your clients. 😉

💡Here is my view and action plan for QBR meetings💡 🔍 Preparation Read the client's annual business report, if available. Go through the last QBR if you had one. Gather as much data as you can, such as adoption, tickets, feature requests, telemetry... 🎯 Clear Agenda Communicate clearly to the client the structure of the meeting and what is expected of him. 💡 Demonstrate Value Showcase successes, metrics, and goals completed since the last QBR. Align it with their business goals from the first step. 🚧 Address Challenges Be transparent about the issues and undelivered goals. How did it get there, and what steps were taken to mitigate this in the future. 🤝 Encourage discussion. Foster open dialogue and feedback. Prepare a Q&A session with open-ended questions, as this is a unique opportunity to get insights you can't get over an email or a call. 📅 Follow-Up Summarize action items and schedule follow-ups to ensure progress. Be free to use it if you find it helpful, but I'm always looking to improve it. What is missing? Do you have any ideas to make it better? #customersuccess #QBR

We need to redefine Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs)! They've become sales presentations with non-interested participants. If we genuinely want to be a part of our customer's journey, we must align with their goals. It's high time we rethink QBRs. 🎯 I'm all for upsell, cross-sell, renewal! But it's either hopeless or downright unethical if that's at the expense of the customer's actual need and the value they are receiving. We need to ✨𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧: Understand their objectives and expectations. Let's actively listen and plan according to their goals. ✨𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐐𝐁𝐑𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐬: This means using actionable Success Plans that are more than just about feature adoption and from our product's perspectives. Track progress and measure success based on their metrics!!!! ✨𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐖𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Treat customers as partners and involve multiple departments and levels from your company and your customers. ✨𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭𝐲: You don't need complex analytic integrations to get going and provide meaningful and useful Success Plans. It's time for a QBR revolution! You can't do a QBR without a Success Plan and Success Plans go stale without QBRs. #customersuccess #successplans #qbrs

There’s a lot of talk these days about QBR and of course it’s not binary, they’re not either all good or all bad. But let’s talk about the bad. Bad QBR‘s are based on a gigantic assumption. That we know the outcome the customer needs. But we never really asked. So you come in with a lot of slides and a lot of stats about your product. But are they connected to what the customer is trying to get done by using your product? And are those stats connected to what your customer’s company is trying to accomplish? We assume they are. But they’re probably not. Because we’re so busy talking about our product. When we should have been asking about THEM. >> What defines success in their job, INDEPENDENT of your product? >> What are their COMPANY’S top priorities and challenges that your product may be tied to? Getting the answers to those questions will help your NEXT QBR be a good one. ———- There’s a better way. It’s called the UBR. It’s a completely customer, focused conversation where they reveal what’s most important to THEM. See the link in the comments for more information.