Are Your Customer QBR’s Happening?
A QBR or Quarterly Business Review is a scheduled quarterly meeting with your managed customers to provide an overview of their business technology health, to assess any current issues, as well as plan for any future expenditures or needs. The biggest problem for many MSP practices is that QBR’s are just not happening.
There are a number of reasons that a QBR doesn’t happen and things you can do to make sure they do:
Customer is unavailable
Try scheduling the meetings in advance, for instance at the end of the previous meeting, schedule the next one on the spot with the customer and send a meeting invite assuring it is in both calendars. Though this is not a guarantee that the meeting will occur there is higher likelihood of availability.
Customer Tunes Out
Often times when a meeting occurs it is difficult to keep the customer focused or engaged. This is generally contributed to the format of the QBR itself. Many MSP’s utilize long, data driven reports in an attempt to show value to the customer. Some MSP’s just read this information page by page to the customer, providing no interaction or interest. Though it is a good idea to have a deliverable, instead create an agenda to go over and highlight concerns, specific accomplishments, and future needs/budget.
You Don’t Have Time
This is probably the one we hear most often and usually just means you don’t want to. It is more than important to create and maintain your customer relationships and a QBR is a great way to do that. It may not be necessary to have these meetings quarterly with every customer but making sure there is a recurring meeting is necessary. Make the time!
Always Bring a Token of Gratitude
Going to a customer’s office with a small token of appreciation like donuts, coffee, smoothies, or lunch can create an event that the entire office looks forward to. This can help to build the relationship as well as assure a customer’s availability. If calling to set a meeting, mention that you would like to bring the office one of these tokens and come by for your quarterly sit down. Mentioning this can also help to gain the meeting.
It is easy for MSP’s to get comfortable once they have a contract or long term agreement. The reality is they should always be working to build the relationship, maintain the agreement, and build customer loyalty. By providing regular QBR’s all of these can be accomplished and so much more!
Frank Gurnee
VP, Channel Services, ExchangeDefender
(877) 546-0316 x4777
frank@ownwebnow.com