How to run QBRs your Customers love

Hi, Markus here. Welcome to a new episode of the Customer-Value-Led-Growth Newsletter.

I share strategies and guides to help you become a proactive CSM delivering more value for your customers and revenue for your company every week.

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It was destined to happen. Last week QBRs have been pronounced dead on LinkedIn for the (estimated) 8457th time. But I say that they have become more important than ever due to ever-growing customer expectations.

Of course, if you are running QBRs like most CSMs, they are utterly useless. One-sided monologues, way too many slides, 95% of content is self-centric and no takeaways. If I were the customer, I’d avoid them at all costs too.

But that’s not it’s supposed to be. A QBR is a periodic review of your customers’ progress toward their goals. The conversation, yes it’s a conversation and not a presentation, is going into 1 out of 3 directions:

1. A demonstration of value

Customers’ results are meeting or exceeding expectations. If your customers have e.g. hit their annual goal after 6 months already, you will have a very pleasant conversation. Talking about opportunities to double down or raising the bar to the next goal.

There’s even a possibility that you are touching expansions, up- and cross-sells as customers may require more resources, features or products for the next stage.

2. A course correction

This is why it’s so important to have those QBRs regularly, especially with your new customers. If you reach out to customers after 11 months, learning that they don’t renew, you have 30 days to turn the tide.

What are the odds of success? It even requires customers who are deeply frustrated to give you a second chance. If you detect that your customers have fallen behind after 3 or 6 months, there’s time to fix it.

3. A re-calibration 

“What if customers change their goals?” This is a question CSMs frequently ask me. What I can tell you with certainty is that you should not wait for them to actively reach out and tell you.

Unless you truly became an extension of their team and are always in the loop for updates. If your customers are changing direction, your QBR turns into a re-discovery meeting.

You can’t afford missing either of these conversations. In today’s post, I’ll show you how to turn your QBRs into an asset and something your customers are looking forward to:

1. Summary

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