What is Quarterly Business Review (QBR) and How does it help Your Customer Education Strategy?

Once there was a B2B SaaS company; let's call them 'TechB.' They had a great product, and their customers seemed to be satisfied. However, there was a feeling that they could do better. The Customer Success Manager, Sarah, decided to hold a Quarterly Business Reviews (QBR) meeting with one of their biggest customers.

During the meeting, Sarah discovered that there were certain features of the product that the customer was not aware of. She also realized these features could greatly benefit their business.

By providing the necessary education during the QBR, Sarah was able to increase the customer's usage of the product. Moreover she was able to improve their overall satisfaction. The customer was so pleased with the results that they decided to upgrade to a higher-priced version of the product. This in turn increased revenue for TechB*.

Now you might wonder what is QBR. And most importantly, how can you benefit from it the way TechB did?

Well, this is what this article is about. Let's get started.

What is QBR?

A Quarterly Business Review (QBR) is a meeting that happens every three months between a business and its customer or partner.

The purpose of the Customer success QBR meeting is to review how the business's product or service has helped the customer's business. It is a meeting to discuss any improvements that can be made to the business.

The Customer Success QBR meeting is usually led by someone from the Customer Success Team. Their job is to make sure the customer is happy and stays with the business.

Why is QBR Important for Your Customer Education Strategy?

QBR process is a vital piece of a comprehensive customer education strategy for several reasons.

1. Provides an Opportunity to Assess Customer Knowledge

Customer education aims to make sure that customers know how to use the products and services they have. QBR sessions with customers can help you check how much your customers understand and find areas where they need more help.

By going over customer progress and answering questions during QBRs, you can help your customers adopt the product faster and better.

2. Helps to Build Trust and Rapport with Customers

QBRs are an excellent opportunity for you to strengthen your bond with the customers. By showing an interest in the customers' success, you can build trust and rapport, leading to increased loyalty and retention.

Additionally, by providing training materials and tips during QBRs, you can demonstrate your expertise and establish yourself as a trusted advisor.

3. Enables You to Gather Valuable Feedback

In QBRs, you can ask your customers for feedback on their experiences with your products. This feedback is vital for finding areas to improve, addressing customer concerns, and making the overall experience better. This will make your customers happier with your product.

Salesforce, a leading CRM software provider, is a great example of this. The company uses QBRs to help customers align their business goals with their products and services. During the QBR, the account manager gathers feedback on improvement and provides an overview of the customer's performance metrics.

4. Provides an Opportunity to Upsell and Cross-Sell

During QBRs, you can talk to your customers about new products and features. By letting them know about these offerings, you may be able to sell them more things or offer complementary products.

For instance, if a customer is using the basic version of your product, you can use a QBR to explain why upgrading to a more advanced version is a good idea. This will help you make more money and help your customers improve their key performance indicators (KPIs).

To dive deep into how can you achieve this, refer to the following article on How Customer Training Can Boost Upselling and Cross-selling.

5. Helps to Identify New Opportunities for Growth

Finally, QBRs help you find new growth opportunities. By discussing your customers' goals, you can identify new products and services that could help them.

Additionally, by reviewing customers' experiences with your products over time, you can identify new action items and improvements that could improve your products' value. This will help to ensure that you remain relevant and competitive over time.

How to Incorporate QBR into Your Customer Education Strategy

To incorporate QBR into your customer education strategy, consider the following steps:

1. Schedule QBR Meetings in Advance

Plan QBR meetings with your customers every three months to review their progress and talk about any problems they have. Schedule the meetings ahead of time so that everyone can attend.

2. Develop an All-Inclusive Agenda

It is vital to develop an agenda that includes several aspects of your customer success. For instance, the agenda can cover the following.

• Review of the customer's progress.
• Identify any challenges or issues the customers face.
• Discuss strategies to overcome challenges.
• Educate customers on new products and features.
• Identify upsell opportunities.
• Review customer success metrics.

3. Focus On the Customer's Goals

During the QBR meeting, it is important to focus on what your customers strive to achieve. Take into account their high level goals for the short and the long term.

By knowing the customer's goals, you can identify areas where you can add value and help the customer achieve success. This approach fosters a customer-centric partnership that is essential to achieving customer success.

QBR is Your Need of the Hour

QBRs are useful to help customers succeed. By being proactive in understanding the customer's goals and objectives, you can show that you are invested in their success and build a strong partnership.

While there are several agendas for a QBR, you should prioritize customer feedback and education. They'll enable you to know your customers better and eventually, help them.

To get started, you can leverage Trainn's customer education modules. Our customer training platform is designed to help you enable your customers to get the most out of your products and services.

Sign up today to start delivering effective and engaging training to your customers.