Any recommendations on the best way to conduct an internal quarterly/book of business review with CS

Gautam Sawhney

 

Brian LaFaille

@Gautam Sawhney: We started doing this exercise a few years ago. It's a great opportunity for others in the business to hear directly from CSMs on the "State of the Customer". Very similar to a sales QBRs in which an AE reviews pipeline, CS QBRs are meant to elevate the position of CSMs as providing the Pulse of the business to others in the company. 

Our learnings:

1. Plan QBRs 12 months out so both your business partners and CSMs know when these meetings will be taking place. Ensure these don't overlap with Sales QBRs. 
2. Build out the list of attendees including: Other departmental leaders, all CS leadership, other CSMs. 
3. As a leader, kick off with review of key KPIs, vision and mission of the CS department, and a few customer success value stories (Detailing the work CS accomplished with a few key customers and the value the customer saw from your product or service) 
4. Use the opportunity for CSMs to elevate the work they've accomplished in the last 3 months, and what's ahead for the next 3 months: This gives your CSMs the ability to present to other senior leaders on what was accomplished with their customers and puts them on the stage to feel like a rockstar. 
5. Keep the QBRs to 30 minutes per CSM 
6. Allow CSMs to state the current internal and external opportunities for improvement & themes across the customer portfolio 
7. Allow CSM to walk through the success plan on focus accounts 
8. Leverage a consistent framework for CSMs to map out where customers within the portfolio stand in terms of priority and focus. We leveraged a framework like the following: