What Does QBR Stand for? A Brief Guide

What does QBR stand for, and why is it so important in today’s business world? Simply put, finding a consistent QBR meaning can be difficult in today’s world full of acronyms. For those in the sales and business landscape, QBR usually means “Quarterly Business Review”.

The QBR is an excellent opportunity for sales managers and salespeople to gain an understanding of their performance and look for opportunities to excel with their customers in the months ahead.

What is a QBR in Business?

So, what is a business review?

A QBR, or Quarterly Business Review, is a review a salesperson or sales manager holds with their customers on a “quarterly” basis to review how you’re supporting their business, and how you might be able to deliver more value. QBRs can also be held with sales reps, ensuring these reps have the right guidance to succeed in the next 90 days.

While each business will have its own unique QBR template, the quarterly business, or quarterly connection review, generally involves going through all the progress made in the previous 90 days. After discussing the goals you’ve achieved, and the metrics you’re delivering, you can discuss the plan for what you hope to accomplish in the next 90 days. This forms a crucial part of a sales manager’s responsibilities for delivering on client expectations.

Most companies conduct reviews every fiscal quarter to help preserve the relationship between the business and the client and set the path for new achievements.

QBR Template: What Questions Do Companies Ask?

A QBR or Quarterly Connection Review can be a powerful opportunity for salespeople to learn more about the expectations of customers and come up with new strategies for success. Unfortunately, many managers and reps tend to look at these reviews as basic account reviews.

For a QBR to be truly effective at driving great results, they need to be used as a forum where reps and sales managers can align on territory plans and explore new ways to delight customers in the future. Some of the questions a QBR template should always cover include:

1. What happened?

The first stage in any QBR involves looking at the last ninety days, and exploring all of the important KPIs, metrics, and information gathered during that time. Look at the deals won in the last quarter, and why they were won, and which deals were lost.

QBRs are an opportunity to determine what kind of actions you should be doubling down on and figure out areas where you may need to do things differently. Sales managers and reps should use evidence from what happened in the last 90 days as the foundations for the next 90 days of sales strategies.

2. What needs to be reviewed?

A quarterly business review is a chance to review sales pipelines and opportunities for insights into how healthy your sales strategy actually is. During the QBR, sales managers and reps should review the pipeline, looking at things like:

• Deals stuck in specific stages of the sales process
• Coverage (Divided by quota) for the impending quarter
• Deals forecasted out two or three quarters which could be brought in
• The right mixture of low-risk, and long-shot deals
• The needs of prospects who match your channels and value proposition

Managers can use QBRs to realign with reps around ideal customer profiles, and even determine whether the goals they have set in place are “SMART” enough to drive results. For instance, all goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, result-based and time-bound.

3. How will we improve?

QBRs aren’t just about looking back over the achievements of the last 90 days, they also evolve a discussion of the future, and what future goals might look like. During the discussion, sales reps and managers can discuss the set of goals employees are going to be aiming for in the next 90 days, and how they’re going to proceed with achieving those targets.

In QBRs held with customers, the “how we improve” section can also include gathering feedback from customers and using their advice on how to improve results in the next 90 months. Together, everyone involved in the meeting can create an action plan designed to generate confidence and unlock new opportunities.

Does a QBR Have to be Quarterly?

Notably, while most QBR are held on a quarterly basis, this doesn’t mean all companies have to follow the same pattern. Some companies will find it’s easier to run a review on an as-needed basis, based on the complexity of their customer’s operations, and the nature of their sales reps.