How to Get Better Results from Quarterly Business Reviews

Quarterly business reviews (QBRs) often are long and bloated, with data-heavy presentations that lack forward-looking actions and forget to align teams around a common goal protocol for internal sales teams globally.

Recent survey data from Mural proves it: Most (85%) go-to-market teams feel confident in their collaboration efforts, but the same percentage are often working toward different goals.

With your next QBR, don’t waste time on another check-the-box meeting. Use it to holistically look at performance, ensure everyone is working toward the same goals, and provide meaningful insights and actions.

Start with Goals, Not Metrics

While metrics are crucial for measuring progress, anchoring the QBR around overarching objectives and the customer’s pain point can help reframe the conversation and make the QBR more impactful. Instead of simply reviewing numbers and stats, teams should discuss why customers converted or not as well as how the team’s current efforts and messaging align – or don’t – with the overarching goal.

For instance, in addition to discussing how much revenue new clients are worth, QBRs should also address which messaging got that prospect to sign the dotted line. Maybe the salesperson focused on a specific proof point or provided a customer case study that finally won over the prospect. This shifts the QBR from a simple metric review to a strategic discussion about how to replicate solution-focused selling to drive future growth.

When everyone understands and is aligned around the “why,” the entire sales organization can move forward with greater purpose, motivation, and a sense of camaraderie. Ultimately, this can lead to faster market entry, more qualified leads, accelerated deal cycles, and higher win rates.

Make QBRs a Conversation, Not a Presentation

The traditional, lengthy presentation format of QBRs often leads to disengaged listeners due to information overload and a lack of prompted participation. To combat this, those leading the QBRs should be as concise as possible, cutting the fluff to focus more on decision-making and strategic next steps rather than a detailed play-by-play of the past quarter.

This requires presenters to be disciplined – presenting only the most critical information and then facilitating discussions that lead to actionable insights.

In practice, this could look like: “Our win rate for new SMB accounts dropped by 30% last quarter. Sales reps are reporting that prospects are struggling to understand the ROI for this product. How can we adjust our talk track and provide proof points to help us overcome this objection?”

Perhaps equally as important is what this conversation should not look like: “Our sales reps made an average of 250 calls and ran 150 demos.” While these are important metrics to track, solely focusing on backward-looking numbers – instead of using previous quarter results to pull out next steps to improve the team’s performance – is a waste of the team’s valuable time.

By respecting attendees’ time and focusing on actionable conversations, QBRs become more efficient, retain participants’ attention and energy, and lead to a more engaging and motivating experience that leads to tangible results.

Visually Co-Create Next Quarter’s Strategy

To get the creative juices flowing, QBRs must transition from a passive information dump to a collaborative strategy planning session. Instead of simply handing over a PDF detailing future plans, sales leaders should involve all teams in building a shared strategy based on insights uncovered in the previous quarter’s review.

Our research found that 81% of GTM teams report that visuals drive greater alignment and efficiency; QBRs are no exception. Sales leaders who ditch the traditional slide deck in favor of a shared visual workspace will excite individuals across teams to collaboratively define your ideal customer profile, their customer journey, and how each team’s efforts contribute to addressing their pain point.

By moving beyond static slides, QBRs can become vibrant, impactful sessions where attendees are excited to collaborate live, leading to more engaging and motivating discussions.

Customize, Customize, Customize

In a world of heightened data collection and personalization, a one-size-fits-all approach is no longer considered best practice. The information and level of detail presented in a QBR should be customized based on the role of those involved (e.g., executives, operations, individual contributors) and the current business stage (e.g., growth, mature market).

For instance, executives might focus on high-level strategic alignment and market trends, while sales reps might benefit more from discussions around specific customer challenges and sales tactics.

Tailoring the content ensures the QBR resonates with and personally motivates participants, driving better sales processes and results. This customized approach then builds a more personalized and cohesive customer experience, leading to improved conversion rates, shorter sales cycles, and greater revenue.

Make QBRs a Catalyst for Growth

By embracing these principles – starting with shared goals, maintaining brevity, fostering co-creation, leveraging visual collaboration, and tailoring content – sales leaders can transform QBRs from dreaded obligations into dynamic, engaging, and motivating sessions.

As a result, they will empower their teams and drive sustained success, helping them get to market faster, earn more qualified leads, accelerate deal cycles, and achieve better win rates.

Chris Geraci is the vice president of sales at Mural, a leading visual collaboration platform.