write-qbr

Prepare a Quarterly Business Review for $ARGUMENTS.

A QBR is a strategic conversation, not a product demo. It must lead with value delivered, acknowledge challenges honestly, and propose specific next steps. The document should be ready for presentation to the customer's executive sponsor.

Step 1 — Gather account data

Collect all relevant data before writing anything:

1. Health score. Pull the latest health assessment (or run /customer-success:health-assessment if none exists). Record the composite score and dimension breakdown.
2. Usage metrics. DAU/MAU, feature adoption rates, usage trends over the quarter. Identify features used heavily and features not adopted.
3. Support history. Tickets opened this quarter — volume, severity, resolution time, recurring themes. Note any P1/P2 incidents.
4. Goals from last QBR. What did we commit to? What did the customer commit to? Track each goal to completion status.
5. Commercial context. Contract renewal date, current tier, billing status, any pricing discussions.
6. Relationship signals. NPS/CSAT scores, meeting attendance, executive sponsor engagement, champion status.

Rule: If data is unavailable for a dimension, state the gap explicitly. Do not fabricate metrics. "Usage data unavailable — analytics integration pending" is honest; an invented number is a trust-destroying liability.

Step 2 — Analyse value delivered

Translate raw metrics into business outcomes the customer cares about:

ROI and goal tracking

Goal (from last QBR)	Target	Actual	Status	Evidence
[Goal 1]	[metric target]	[metric actual]	[Met / Partial / Missed]	[specific data]
[Goal 2]	[metric target]	[metric actual]	[Met / Partial / Missed]	[specific data]

Usage highlights

Metric	Last quarter	This quarter	Change	Interpretation
[Key metric 1]	[value]	[value]	[+/- %]	[what this means for the customer]
[Key metric 2]	[value]	[value]	[+/- %]	[what this means for the customer]

Value narrative

Write 2-3 paragraphs summarising the value story in business language, not product language. "Your team resolved 40% more support tickets this quarter using the automation workflows" not "Automation workflow usage increased 40%."

Rules for value analysis:

• Quantify everything. "Your team saved approximately 120 hours this quarter" not "Your team saved a lot of time."
• Tie metrics to their goals, not ours. Frame usage in terms of customer outcomes, not product engagement.
• Acknowledge missed goals honestly. If we did not deliver on a commitment, say so with a remediation plan.

Step 3 — Identify risks and recommendations

Risks

Risk	Severity	Evidence	Recommended action
[Underutilised feature]	Medium	[adoption rate, usage data]	[Training session, workflow review]
[Support pattern]	[severity]	[ticket trends]	[root cause fix, process change]
[Relationship gap]	[severity]	[engagement signals]	[executive outreach, sponsor identification]
[Renewal concern]	[severity]	[commercial signals]	[value reinforcement, pricing discussion]

Expansion opportunities

Identify specific expansion signals — but only recommend expansion for healthy accounts.

Opportunity	Signal	Estimated value	Timing
[Upsell / cross-sell opportunity]	[what triggered this — usage pattern, team growth, feature request]	[ARR impact]	[this quarter / next quarter]

Strategic recommendations

Provide 3-5 specific recommendations for the next quarter. Each must be:

• Specific — "Run a 2-hour training session on reporting features for the analytics team" not "Increase adoption"
• Tied to evidence — linked to a metric, risk, or opportunity identified above
• Owned — who is responsible (us or the customer)
• Time-bound — when it should happen

Step 4 — Prepare the QBR document

Assemble the final QBR using this template:

# Quarterly Business Review: [Customer Name]

**Quarter:** [Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 YYYY]
**Prepared by:** [CSM name]
**Date:** [date]
**Next QBR:** [scheduled date]

## Executive Summary
[3-5 sentences: health status, key wins, key challenges, top recommendation]

## Value Delivered This Quarter

### Goals Scorecard
| Goal | Target | Actual | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| [goal] | [target] | [actual] | [Met / Partial / Missed] |

### Key Wins
1. [Win with quantified impact]
2. [Win with quantified impact]
3. [Win with quantified impact]

### Usage Trends
| Metric | Last quarter | This quarter | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| [metric] | [value] | [value] | [delta] |

## Challenges and Lessons Learned
| Challenge | Impact | What we did | Current status |
|---|---|---|---|
| [issue] | [business impact] | [response] | [resolved / in progress / monitoring] |

## Health Overview
- **Composite score:** [0-100] ([Healthy / Neutral / At Risk / Critical])
- **Trend:** [improving / stable / declining]
- **Key signals:** [top 2-3 health signals]

## Recommendations for Next Quarter

### Goals
| Goal | Metric | Target | Owner | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [specific goal] | [how measured] | [number] | [us / customer] | [by when] |

### Expansion Opportunities
| Opportunity | Business case | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| [opportunity] | [why it makes sense for them] | [specific action] |

## Appendix
- Detailed usage data
- Support ticket summary
- Feature adoption breakdown

Rules

• Quantify everything. A QBR without numbers is a conversation without substance. Every claim about value needs a metric.
• Lead with value, not product updates. The customer does not care about your release notes. They care about what those releases did for them. Product updates go in the appendix, not the executive summary.
• Be honest about challenges. Hiding problems from the customer destroys trust. Acknowledging them with a remediation plan builds it. If there was a P1 incident, address it directly.
• Recommendations must be specific. "Improve adoption" is not a recommendation. "Schedule a 90-minute training session for the 12-person analytics team on the reporting module by end of next month" is a recommendation.
• Do not propose expansion to unhealthy accounts. If the customer is At Risk or Critical, the QBR should focus on stabilisation, not upselling. Expansion conversations with struggling customers accelerate churn.
• Track commitments both ways. A QBR captures what we will do and what the customer will do. Both sides need accountability.

Related Skills

• /customer-success:health-assessment — feeds the health score and dimension breakdown into the QBR. Run a health assessment before preparing the QBR.
• /customer-success:expansion-plan — when the QBR reveals expansion opportunities in a healthy account, use this skill to build a detailed expansion plan.