qbr-deck

QBR Deck Skill

Produce a complete Quarterly Business Review deck — structured, data-backed, and customer-focused. A good QBR demonstrates value delivered, aligns on goals for the next quarter, and strengthens the executive relationship. It should never feel like a product demo or a vendor update.

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not already provided:

• Account name, CSM name, and customer stakeholders attending
• Contract details — ARR, contract start date, renewal date
• Last quarter's goals (from previous QBR or kickoff)
• Usage and adoption data — key metrics for the quarter
• Support summary — tickets raised, resolution time, any escalations
• Business outcomes the customer cares about — what success looks like for them
• Product updates or new features relevant to this customer
• Goals for next quarter
• Any open commercial conversations (expansion, renewal, at-risk signals)

QBR Principles

• Lead with customer outcomes, not product features
• Every metric should connect to a business result the customer cares about
• The agenda is a conversation, not a presentation — build in time for customer input at every stage
• Close with mutual commitments, not just vendor actions

Output Format

---

QBR: [Account Name] × [Your Company]

[Quarter] [Year] Business Review

Date: [Date] | Location / Call link: [TBC]

Customer attendees: [Names and roles]

[Your company] attendees: [Names and roles]

---

Slide 1: Agenda (5 min)

| Time | Topic | Owner |

|---|---|---|

| 0:00 | Welcome and introductions | CSM |

| 0:05 | [Last quarter] — how did we do? | CSM + Customer |

| 0:20 | Value delivered — business impact | CSM |

| 0:35 | What's coming — roadmap preview | CSM / Product |

| 0:45 | [Next quarter] — goals and priorities | Customer |

| 0:55 | Actions and mutual commitments | CSM |

| 1:00 | Close | |

Talking point: "We've kept today to 60 minutes. We want as much of this to be a conversation as possible — please push back, redirect, and ask questions throughout."

---

Slide 2: Where We Are Together (2 min)

Partnership snapshot:

• Customer since: [Date]
• Contract value: £/$/€[ARR]/year
• Renewal date: [Date]
• Active users: [N] of [N] licensed seats ([X]% adoption)
• Products / modules active: [List]

Talking point: "Before we dive in — a quick picture of where we are. [X] months in, [Y] active users, and this is our [Nth] QBR together."

---

Slide 3: Last Quarter — Goals We Set Together (5 min)

| Goal | Set in [Last QBR / Kickoff] | Status |

|---|---|---|

| [Goal 1] | [What we committed to] | ✅ Achieved / ⚠️ Partial / ❌ Missed |

| [Goal 2] | [What we committed to] | ✅ Achieved / ⚠️ Partial / ❌ Missed |

| [Goal 3] | [What we committed to] | ✅ Achieved / ⚠️ Partial / ❌ Missed |

For any partial or missed goal: state what happened and what changes next quarter.

Talking point: "Let's start with accountability. Here's what we said we'd achieve last quarter — let's be honest about where we landed."

---

Slide 4: Usage and Adoption (5 min)

Quarter-over-quarter trend:

| Metric | [Q-1] | [Q] | Change |

|---|---|---|---|

| Monthly active users | [N] | [N] | +/-X% |

| Sessions per user per week | [N] | [N] | +/-X% |

| [Key feature 1] adoption | [X]% | [X]% | +/-X% |

| [Key feature 2] adoption | [X]% | [X]% | +/-X% |

Highlights:

• [Positive adoption trend to call out]
• [Feature or workflow with strongest engagement]

Opportunity:

• [Feature with low adoption that could drive more value — link to their goals]

Talking point: "Usage is [up / stable / something we want to talk about]. The area I'd like to focus on is [feature] — we're not seeing the adoption we'd expect given [their goal], and I want to understand why."

---

Slide 5: Business Impact — Value Delivered (10 min)

Lead with outcomes, not activity.

[Outcome 1: customer's primary success metric]

• Before: [baseline]
• Now: [current state]
• Impact: [quantified business result — time saved, revenue influenced, cost reduced, risk mitigated]

[Outcome 2]

• [Same structure]

[Outcome 3]

• [Same structure]

Customer evidence (use if available):

> "[Quote from champion or user about value experienced]"

Talking point: "This is the section I most want your input on. Are these the outcomes that matter to your business? Are there other ways you're measuring success that we should be tracking?"

---

Slide 6: Support Summary (3 min)

| Metric | This quarter | Last quarter | Trend |

|---|---|---|---|

| Tickets raised | [N] | [N] | ↑ / → / ↓ |

| Average resolution time | [X hrs] | [X hrs] | ↑ / → / ↓ |

| P1 / critical issues | [N] | [N] | ↑ / → / ↓ |

| CSAT score | [X/10] | [X/10] | ↑ / → / ↓ |

Notable issues this quarter:

• [Any escalation or major ticket — brief summary and resolution]

What we're doing differently:

• [Any process change or improvement based on support patterns]

---

Slide 7: What's Coming — Roadmap Preview (5 min)

Focus only on what's relevant to this customer's goals. Do not dump the full roadmap.

| Feature / Improvement | Expected | Why it matters to [Account Name] |

|---|---|---|

| [Feature 1] | [Q+1] | [Direct link to their goal or pain point] |

| [Feature 2] | [Q+1 / Q+2] | [Direct link] |

| [Feature 3] | [H2] | [Direct link] |

Talking point: "I've filtered the roadmap to what I think matters most to your team. I'd love your reaction — are these the right priorities from your perspective?"

---

Slide 8: Next Quarter — Your Goals (10 min)

Customer input section — facilitate, don't present.

Prompt questions:

• "What does success look like for your team in [next quarter]?"
• "What's the biggest challenge you're trying to solve in the next 90 days?"
• "Is there anything about the way you're using [product] you want to change?"

Capture live:

| Goal for next quarter | Owner (customer) | How we'll support it | How we'll measure it |

|---|---|---|---|

| [Goal 1] | [Name] | [CSM / product action] | [Metric] |

| [Goal 2] | [Name] | [CSM / product action] | [Metric] |

---

Slide 9: Mutual Commitments (5 min)

[Your company] commits to:

1. [Specific action — owner — by when]
2. [Specific action — owner — by when]
3. [Specific action — owner — by when]

[Account Name] commits to:

1. [Specific action — owner — by when]
2. [Specific action — owner — by when]

Next touchpoint: [Date of next check-in or mid-quarter review]

---

Slide 10: Thank You + Open Q&A (5 min)

• Recap the one headline from today: [The single most important thing you want them to remember]
• Confirm actions are captured and shared after the call
• Ask: "Is there anything we didn't cover today that you wanted to raise?"

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Preparation Checklist

• [ ] Usage data pulled and QoQ comparison calculated
• [ ] Last QBR goals reviewed — status confirmed before the meeting
• [ ] Business outcomes framed in customer language (not product language)
• [ ] Roadmap filtered to this account's specific use cases
• [ ] Customer's goals for next quarter researched or pre-confirmed with champion
• [ ] Executive sponsor briefed on any sensitive topics before the call
• [ ] Actions from previous QBR reviewed — any outstanding items addressed

Scoring Rubric (0–40)

Score any output of this skill before handing it over; 32+ is ship-quality.

| Dimension | 0 | 5 | 10 |

|---|---|---|---|

| Outcome framing | Value slide is product activity (logins, sessions, features shipped) dressed as impact | Business outcomes present but unquantified, or quantified in vendor units rather than the customer's own metrics and currency | Every value claim is a before/after in the customer's units (hours, spend, attrition, £/$), and shaky attribution is disclosed rather than claimed |

| Accountability honesty | Last quarter's goals missing, or every goal quietly marked achieved; problems and escalations omitted | Goals graded but misses lack a cause and a changed plan; support issues mentioned only in passing | Every goal graded ✅/⚠️/❌ with cause and corrective plan for misses, and the quarter's worst moment (outage, escalation, disputed number) gets its own airtime with what changes next |

| Customer airtime & facilitation | Deck is a one-way vendor presentation; no customer input sections | Agenda nominally includes customer slots but talking points don't actually hand over the floor, or airtime totals under 20 minutes | Customer holds 20+ minutes by the agenda, the goals slide is pure facilitation with prompts and a live-capture table, and multiple talking points explicitly invite pushback |

| Commitments & relevance | No mutual commitments; roadmap is a full product dump | Commitments exist but are vendor-only or undated; some roadmap items lack a link to this customer's goals | Both sides own named, dated commitments, every roadmap row states why it matters to this account, and a next touchpoint is booked before the deck ends |

Quality Checks

• [ ] Every slide has a talking point, not just a title
• [ ] Value slide leads with business outcomes, not product activity
• [ ] Roadmap preview links each item to a customer goal
• [ ] Mutual commitments section has real owners on both sides
• [ ] Customer has at least 20 minutes of airtime in the agenda

Anti-Patterns

• [ ] Do not fill the QBR with product activity metrics — lead with business outcomes the customer cares about
• [ ] Do not present a roadmap without linking each item to a customer goal — vendor priorities are not a QBR agenda
• [ ] Do not run a QBR as a one-sided presentation — it must include structured time for the customer to speak
• [ ] Do not close a QBR without documented mutual commitments with named owners on both sides
• [ ] Do not skip the "what's not working" slide — suppressing problems erodes trust and misses renewal risks