So we’ve looked at the importance of regularly analysing your company performance. And it makes sense to do these as a quarterly business review (QBR).
Here at Team Tubb, these are an opportunity for all of us to reflect on what has happened and use that information to take the initiative on what will happen in the coming months.
Both Richard and Steve have noticed that many MSPs carry out regular QBRs with their clients, and even invest in specialist software to make it easier. But they rarely do one internally.
Why Should You Do a Quarterly Review
If you’re committed to giving your MSP clients the best possible service, then you need to be honest about how your business is performing. The business world is changing rapidly, and owners are increasingly reliant on technology.
So how does your MSP help to manage the complexity of modern entrepreneurship? Are you responding to client requests and adjusting your offerings accordingly? Or are you still selling the same things you gave since you started?
What about cybersecurity? The rise in popularity of AI? Or even just managing networks for remote and hybrid workers? The advantage of doing a QBR rather than waiting to review annually means that you can be proactive in adjusting your business according to what clients want from you.
Being clear on which of your solutions sell the best, your CSAT score and the efficiency of your systems will improve profitability, efficiency and longevity. Get familiar with your data and don’t be afraid to make changes when something isn’t working.
The 3,2,1 Quarterly Review Methodology
There are all kinds of ways to carry out your QBR and it depends on the size and nature of your business which one you choose. However, Richard favours the ‘3, 2, 1 Quarterly Review’, which you might like to try yourself.
It’s based on 3 key questions, 2 main decisions and 1 core action. And importantly, it requires everyone in the business to participate in a simple conversation which can yield powerful results.
You may choose to do this as part of a company-wide meeting, either in person or online. Or, if you have a larger organisation, you can ask the team leaders or departmental heads to ask the questions in each area and collate the responses.
So how do you do it? Ask these three key questions first:
- Regarding our services, what has been most popular and least popular in the past 3 months?
- Let’s look at our systems. What has supported our service delivery and what got in the way of excellence?
- About our technical solutions, what has provided us with the best value and what has been superseded with better alternatives?
Give people plenty of time to share their thoughts and take notes, or record the conversation for transcription later.
Stage two is clarifying the two main decisions that occur from stage one:
- Informed by those answers, what should we remove across our services, systems and solutions?
- And what should we retain and reinforce across all three areas?
This leads to the one core action:
- Create a timetable of practical actions to complete the removal and reinforcement of your services, systems, and solutions in a timely manner
What Should You Do With the Responses?
If you’ve done this within teams rather than with the whole company, you’re going to need to allocate some time to review the results. You may choose to put together a small QBR team or leave it to the senior leaders.
Look for commonalities and anything that surprises you. Go back to the managers for clarification if you need it. Remember, though, that you’ll be doing the whole exercise again in three months’ time, so don’t spend too long on analysis.
If the teams have answered the questions properly and your company culture and communications are strong, the answers should largely be the same. So the one core action should be straightforward.
Make sure that any decisions taken at the C-suite level are cascaded down throughout every department and team in the organisation. You’ve asked each employee to make a contribution to the quarterly business review, so it’s important to acknowledge that.
The decisions and the actions timetable should be shared too, in advance of any changes being implemented. People need to take ownership of their individual actions and the overall direction of the business. So showing them how they’ve helped to shape that really encourages them to invest.
Richard shares this final piece of advice: “My recommendation for your business review is that the conversations should really be taking place with a sense of celebration. What we do and how we do it merits the occasional applause. After all, if we can’t be our business’ biggest fan, who will?”
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