13 Horrors of QBRs (and How to Avoid Them)
Quarterly business reviews can be the stuff of nightmares. Here are the 13 horrors of QBRs and how to avoid them.
1. Digging Your Own Grave…
By spending countless hours creating a presentation from scratch. Instead, use a QBR template to get going faster.
2. Trying to Be Like Van Helsing
You’re not a monster hunter, nor are you a data hunter. Important customer information should be tracked and organized throughout the year so when the time comes for a quarterly business review, you’ve got everything you need at your fingertips.
3. Not Prepping Like It’s the Zombie Apocalypse
Data points for your presentation are like the supplies you need for the zombie apocalypse – less is more.
4. Waiting Until Witching Hour
Putting together a presentation at the last minute is not only setting yourself up for failure, you’re also definitely setting yourself up for pulling an all-nighter. Instead, set yourself up for success by getting started early.
5. Thinking You Can Avoid the Next Full Moon
Like the moon, QBRs will cycle around again, and they’re unavoidable. The solution? Find and agree upon a consistent meeting cycle that works best for everyone involved. Maybe it’s only twice a year, maybe it’s once a month (in which case, keep an eye out for wolf bites). Either way, as long as it is a timeframe everyone is happy with, you’ll be more likely to have participation.
6. Keeping Issues Under Wraps
Ignoring any issues uncovered within an account during the quarterly business review process only delays facing the truth. Think of finding these issues as discovering a hidden tomb – it’s a wealth of information that you can use to learn from and use to improve your process.
7. Your Data Tells a Scary Story
Not seeing improvement? You still have to be honest with your customers or, if it’s an internal QBR, with your team. Consistently decreasing or stagnant data is just as important to report as vast increases. It might be an unfortunate wake up call, but it can lead to bigger changes and improvements in the long run.
8. Bad Blood
Business reviews are also a great time to examine your customer relationships and ways to strengthen them. It’s the time to identify if there’s any bad blood so it can be addressed quickly before it’s too late.
9. All the Tricks and Treats
Another way to keep your presentation falling flat? Make sure to include key learnings, goals, and action items for next time.
10. Pumpkin Spice It Up
An often overlooked aspect of business reviews is making your presentation interesting to your audience. Keep it short and to the point, and use visuals to help you tell your story.
11. Getting Ghosted
Do your customers keep putting off your QBR meeting? If they’re not making it a priority, try some of these ghost-busters:
Not using technology to help with your business reviews is a big mistake. For example, the wickedly clever PROLIFIQ CRUSH app, which is a native Salesforce key account management solution, will make your QBR a breeze. Learn more on the AppExchange.
12. Double Business, Not Toil and Trouble
Continuing to drive business in the age of working virtually has proven to be difficult in some ways. But agile sales teams are taking this time to identify opportunities among existing accounts to cross-sell and up-sell. Try incorporating this into your regular business review prep to save time and get direction.
13. Silverbullet Solution
