Deliverable for QBR/EBR?

Brian Hartley

Curious what folks are sharing during the QBR/EBR?  Or any meeting which involves higher level stakeholders?  

Is it a PowerPoint?  If so, how many slides are you sharing and what are some examples of content? (let's assume you have 60 minutes)?

Is it a joint success plan?

Something different? Packet?

TLDR: What are you sharing to facilitate a productive conversation? 

For us, we try to create a PPT which aligns with the goals set forth by the customer, have them discuss their current business climate and then we share our product roadmap.  Typically 5-7 slides.  Nothing too heavy on the slides.

 

EDIT: Ironically stumbled into this article today, somewhat relevant: https://tomtunguz.com/written-board-meetings/

Andreas Knoefel

Tom Tunguz is always a great read (Thumbs up).

I strive for a 30 minute meeting, as senior leaders calendars on both sides are always full.

I validate the presentation with the customer team ahead of time and have the following slides:

1. Business ROI: ahead/on/off schedule
2. Pertinent issues hampering the joint success plan (if any)
3. Special initiatives updates
4. Roadmap update highlights (previewed with the customer team)
5. Jointly developed recommended success plan modifications
6. Next meeting date

Brian Hartley

Perfect, thanks @Andreas Knoefel !

Alejandro Sanchez

Totally agree with @Andreas Knoefel on the length and the topics. Two quick things. 

1. You ask what's shared before to have a productive conversation. I always send summarized and actionable follow up notes right after a QBR meeting ends (I mean within a few hours to take advantage of freshness and higher read rate).  And before the new QBR happens, I send an update with the agenda of the new QBR and that includes a quick status of the to dos from last time. Sending this ahead of time is key so you control the conversation flow and topics. I also include a first slide with a quick visual (can be a table) listing key deliverables from last time with a status (delivered/on track/delayed) and ETA (I pad these off course as everyone internally hates ETAs but clients always ask for them)
2. In the ROI section that Andreas mentions, I also include a copy of our latest discussion of the Desired outcome and goal. Make sure everyone is reminded of what are we all trying to achieve and make sure we are still on the same page.

Steve Bernstein

@Alejandro Sanchez and @Andreas Knoefel provided critical components.  In addition, our clients use the QBR as a "forcing function" to get feedback from all the key contacts in the account (i.e. have the stakeholders across various persona complete a short assessment of their experiences and success). With the commitment to share the feedback and discuss how to best address it in the QBR, they routinely achieve 80%+ response (participation) rates which provides actionable feedback in the account and true engagement from all the right contacts, while also strengthening relationships with the stakeholder team because the process demonstrates that you care and are truly listening.  Other benefits of the approach are highly accurate contact lists in Salesforce, clear health indicator(s) from the accounts, nearly self-documenting customer history, and a true Voice-of-Customer capability so the rest of the company also hears what's working and what needs improvement, straight from customers' own mouth, making it trustworthy and actionable to drive optimal 1:Many improvements.

Btw, even without a formal QBR, this is an easy process to run for smaller accounts as well. Engaging the champion with the commitment to to address the feedback is the key to driving up participation rates (and you can't just do it via a "survey invitation" -- put something good into the process to get something good out of it!) and acquiring a good predictor of retention and a driver of expansion.

David Ellin

Echoing @Steve Bernstein's comments about feedback [fist bumps]. My CSMs include a summary of past survey results/sentiment/verbatim comments in the QBR and ask for current feedback/sentiment. This is very helpful if you include sentiment as part of your Customer Health Score.

A few additional comments:

IMO, QBRs should be 5% rear-looking, 20% current initiatives and 75% forward-looking.

Rear-looking: past survey results, sentiment, verbatim comments; wins/accomplishments; key initiatives completed

Current: Key initiative updates (high-level); if in renewal/up-sell/cross-sell - update status; provide relevant insights for customer - industry trends, competitive landscape, new technologies, etc.; ask for current feedback/sentiment (for health score) 

 Forward-looking: updates to customer goals, objectives, obstacles and success factors. What's changed in their business (people (updates to relationship maps), focus, funding, direction, etc.)? Roadmap update; plans for future initiatives (high-level) and possibly include schedule for kick-off meetings, etc.; schedule next meeting; tell customer how much they're valued.

QBRs are also a great time (if the relationship is strong) to ask them to be a reference or case study; possibly ask for referral into other business units within their company (if enterprise-size).

Lastly, if (in a normal world) you have traveled for the QBR to a customer site, try to get a lunch/dinner with the customer. It's a great way to build the "human" side of the relationships.