The unexpected and unprecedented spread of COVID- 19 has forced most businesses to adapt to the virtual environment. This applies even for meetings and Quarterly Business Reviews.
Onsite Quarterly Business Reviews (QBR) is much more effective and fruitful. Your bond with customers and their team is stronger as you form a more personal connection but if not possible, virtual QBRs also solve the purpose to some extent. Many organizations are choosing to postpone or forego QBR in midst of Covid -19 but that would mean missing out on an important opportunity to review projects and outcomes, address concerns and forge better relationships.
At CustomerSuccessBox, we have been conducting our QBR remotely for some time and they have been successful with engagement being strong throughout.
Here we will discuss the challenges, the process to be followed while conducting QBR remotely.
Why QBR?
Doing effective QBRs can not only bring financial benefits but also help you improve your product.
In the SaaS world, along with a mindblowing product you have to do several other things to get to recurring revenue like
- Make sure the customer is able to achieve their goals.
- Build a solid relationship with the customer.
- Constantly improving your product to solve more complementary problems of the user.
- Making sure that the product grows and becomes irreplaceable as the client grows.
Pro tip: Know more on different types of QBR
This leads to mammoth pressure on the customer success team. Here is where business reviews /QBR acts as a weapon in the arsenal of the customer success team that can help make your product indispensable for the customer.
Know how often you need to conduct QBRs
Preparing for Remote QBR
A QBR is a formal meeting and hence needs meticulous planning. Considering how difficult it is to retain attention and information in any virtual setting, this section dives into the steps that need to be taken to ensure you have an effective QBR.
Prepare an Agenda
To make your QBR effective, it important that you send the agenda to all the stakeholders ahead of time so that they can review the important points and know what would be discussed in the review meeting. They can also jot down if anything they want to include in the agenda.
Your agenda should touch on all the key issues that will be covered. Some common topics include:
- A review of the past performance results since the last QBR. Should have the ROI communication & validation
- Any roadblocks faced and how they were solved and can be prevented in future
- A discussion on the product road map
- A discussion on future work planned, potential business impact, and also the timelines
- Setting goals for the following quarter
- Also discussion on any potential new use cases
Address and plan for technical issues
Plan for the technology that will be used well in advance. Which video platform to be used, microphone, backdrop, and light all need to be frozen well in advance. You need to test the solution with your team in advance. Develop a contingency plan in case there are any technical glitches. Be sure to send the invite well in advance with clear instructions on joining the event. An hour prior to the event, a reminder email needs to go out to all the participants with the details.
Segment your sessions
Keep a five-minute break between each session to drive engagement. The breakout session can be used for fostering brainstorming, discussing highlights, and also discussing new practices. Each session should not be more than 20-30 minutes each.
Preparing Impactful Presentations
The major challenge in conducting a remote QBR is maintaining audience engagement. Giving something simple and well-prepared will help. Ensure the presentation uses easy-to-read colors and fonts. Incorporate more graphs and charts. While preparing the content, keep your audience in mind. Refrain from making it information-dense else your audience might lose attention and likely to fall asleep. Back your insights with data.
Record the QBR
It is likely that some people might be unable to attend the session or people might want to reflect on the QBR. Therefore while selecting a technology platform to ensure it allows the recording facility. It is also helpful for training your new CSM on ways to conducting a QBR.
Things to keep in mind during the session
Ensure the session do not run longer than their allocated time. Appoint a moderator to keep the session on track. If the attendees have a question, the moderator can not and schedule it later for discussions. After the session, try to run a quiz, survey to understand the audience’s sentiments also to solidify the learnings.
Things to do Post QBR
It is important to follow up with your clients after the remote QBR. You need to address any concerns or questions they may have. Also, share the presentation deck with the attendees. Take their feedback to understand what they liked and what can be improved. You could also take ideas for incorporating in the next QBR.
Bonus tip: Get access to QBR template
Takeaway
We are facing unprecedented challenges that have forced the way we work. Every organisation has adopted digital ways to adjust to this new normal and now QBR are also being conducted virtually and has seen its benefits.
The key to having successful remote QBRs is developing presentations that is engaging and deliver value to your audience.
It is important to make adjustments after each business review so that you can get better results each time. As you start getting value, not only you will feel motivated and excited your customers would also be eagerly waiting for the next QBR. Afterall, QBRs are the effective ways of strengthening the relationship and taking it to the next level.
Bonus tip: Download the checklist for conducting QBR remotely
P.S. – The main image has been taken from pexels.com
