How Can QBR Improve Business Relations

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quarterly business review

Building a strong and mutual client relationship is possibly the most important element in sustaining a successful business. There is value in the relationship that bonds the connection between them — enabling them to benefit from each other. But how do businesses build up relationships? One good way to do that is through regular meetings like a quarterly business review or QBR that sets light and shows the achievements and possibilities their business partnership will provide.

From the term itself, a quarterly business review is a meeting with a client done every quarter of the year. However, it is not really necessary to do this every quarter. As a business executive, you don’t often have the liberty of time, same as your clients. This is the reason why some choose to call it as the executive business review (EBR) or simply business review.

This meeting aims to discuss your clients’ business and the ways on how you can assist them to achieve their long-term plans. It shows them that there are real improvements in their processes through the service you have provided. As the meeting unveils their business needs, you can give them advice on how to solve it.

Conducting quarterly business review is more effective compared to merely sending them data about the progress of their business upon utilizing your services. Why? While data affects their decisions and predicts outcomes, it can’t still beat the power of a strategic, face-to-face meeting.

Take this as an example: a BPO company that provides call center and back-office services can better explain their clients that impact of their services if they present it face-to-face (personal or video call) than only sending them graphs and charts with short descriptions. The BPO company, on the other hand, will determine specific needs of clients (e.g., increase leads, company expansion, additional products). But instead of telling the client to avail of another service, in a quarterly business review, the BPO company should suggest strategic ways on how they can solve it. For instance, if the client worries about the decreasing quality of leads, the BPO company can assist them in determining the root cause of the problem then pitch solutions afterward. In other words, QBRs should be strategic, not tactical.

Improving business relations through QBR

How can quarterly business reviews exactly improve business relations? Here are the answers:

1. Strategic support.
By determining the client’s unique business needs, both you and your client can brainstorm possible solutions. You can use your data to make an informed decision about their concerns in order to come up with a solution that works both ways.

2. One-to-one communication. In QBRs, communication is not made through emails or phone calls. Instead, both you and your clients can see each other personally or through video conference. This method is an effective way to strengthen the partnership.

3. An honest discussion about the client’s status. During quarterly business reviews, clients are encouraged to openly share their goals or the issues they encounter with their business.

4. A positive relationship between executives. When you are planning for a quarterly business review, it is important to attend it yourself as a business executive. This way, business executives from other parties will also be encouraged to attend as well. This also shows that you give importance to meeting and listening to your clients.

5. Highlight on ROI. QBRs give you the opportunity to highlight the ROI of your product, and eventually, reinforce its value to customers. Through this, you can also prove that you really strive to provide positive ROI to your clients, and you expect to do so within a 90-day period or before the next QBR.

By strategically planning for your next QBR, building a strong and mutual business relations will become less challenging for you.

Fred Chua
I am a Philippine-certified Electronics and Communications Engineer who serves as the CEO of Magellan Solutions Outsourcing Inc. Magellan Solutions is one of the top call centers/BPO companies in the world that can deliver high-performing operations to businesses of any type and any size.

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