What is a QBR?

QBR Meaning

A QBR is a Quarterly Business Review. It’s a repeatable meeting that runs on a three-month schedule between you and your key client stakeholders. In my context, it’s between a Customer Success team and an external client.

(There are other definitions of QBRs, such as Go To Market teams having QBRs that are internal meetings, primarily looking at the sales pipeline. This is an entirely different topic that’s outside of my scope.)

A QBR is primarily used to align with your client’s goals and objectives and present progress against them. Demonstrating the value that your product and services have delivered is paramount.

QBRs act as perfect navigational aids. They can tell you where you have come from and, more importantly, where you are going.

What a QBR isn’t

A sales meeting: While a good QBR shouldn’t shy away from commercial matters, it’s important not to use a QBR as a hard sell. Of course, if your client is seeing ROI in your product and has maxed out their contract, this should be raised as an opportunity to expand. But don’t use a QBR to pitch irrelevant add-ons or upgrades.

I have first-hand experience of an over-eager AE looking at a QBR as an opportunity for an upsell, and it was obvious. Back in 2019, we had an account that was in a very good place. They saw value and were invested in our partnership. However, this account hadn’t purchased any additional capacity for over a year. Consequently, the AE just wanted to “sell them something” and forced an upsell slide into the agenda. When they came to present it, it was evident to the client they didn’t need it, and they called this out. They saw it precisely for what it was. On the next call with them, they spoke about this and how it negatively impacted our relationship. An element of trust had been eroded. That’s not a good place for a CSM to be.

A product roadmap: Whilst you have a good audience, it can be tempting to use the QBR to take your client through your latest roadmap, but I would urge caution here. Yes, highlight new product features that will specifically solve the client's documented goals, but don’t go through the entire roadmap; large parts of it could be irrelevant. A Product Roadmap session is a legitimate meeting in its own right and is better suited to more day-to-day users and technical stakeholders.

Issues audit: QBRs also shouldn’t be the place to review each support ticket you’ve received in the last three months. Do highlight any overriding trends you’ve seen or how a P0/P1 issue was solved, but don’t get drawn into the minute technical problems. Your senior stakeholders will only have minimal interest in these tactical matters, and you will lose their attention very quickly.

Who should attend a QBR?

On the client side, this would be your main stakeholders, your Budget Holder, Executive Sponsor, Key Decision Maker etc. On your side, this would be the Customer Success Manager, maybe your CS Lead, and very likely your Account Executive and their leader. The exact makeup might vary, but make sure that whoever is attending has a purpose for being in the meeting. Also, try to balance the seniority on both sides. If the CMO at the client is attending, ensure you bring your senior leadership as well. It’s important to use the QBR to build relationships at all levels.

Do you need to run QBRs?

No. Not if you don’t want to, but if you don’t, you are missing a crucial touch point with your client to learn and understand their aims and how you will achieve them together. As a certain level of time and energy on both sides goes into a QBR, you might also want to offer it only to your top segment of accounts.

Do they need to be every 3 months?

Not entirely. While some clients might want a firm three-month schedule, it often makes more sense to have a slightly more flexible cadence and schedule them to align with certain account milestones. I have also known them to be run on a bi-annual basis with a deeper agenda, coupled with a workshop.

Are QBRs the same thing as an EBR?

Given that not everyone schedules these meetings quarterly, the name might change to an “Executive Business Review,” and this is entirely fine. You can call the meetings whatever you want, as long as both sides are very clear on their purpose. I have worked at companies where these meetings are also called Success Reviews.

EBRs can also be separate meetings when a renewal is coming up. In this manner, they are used as an account summary of all the work and value the client has received over the previous term, and the new proposal you are making for their continued business. Whilst the audience and parts of the content will overlap with a QBR, they have a specific purpose in presenting a commercial renewal offer.

To help CSMs, I’ve documented the six essential components that helped me run better QBRs and ensured I hit my NRR targets. You can download this here for free.