The Complete MSP QBR Process

At Managed Services Platform our goal has always been to make your MSP business more productive to face the ever growing expectations of client engagement activities. 

In this article we've collected all the best practices you can utilize to connect the dots on how to prepare, deliver and follow up client meetings. Use this article as a reference guide and sources of many articles, blog posts and feature highlights that can help you make both you and clients more productive.

We've added new sections based on the the new software features and integrations of Managed Services Platform 2021 February Release. 

How Can You Make your QBRs Even More Productive?
WATCH Our February Feature Release  RECORDED Webinar

Overview

When you conduct your QBR you want to make sure that you can run the sessions very efficiently.

In the first section we share the best practices in order to set you up for success. This phase is a one-off activity that you review once a year. We identified the best practices you can leverage to plan your QBR and set up the tools for productivity.

In the second section we share best practices regarding effectively preparing the meetings, running the sessions and following up internally and with clients to tie up all loose ends. This phase will help you execute QBRs faster with less resources.

Use the links to leverage the different resources, share them with your team and apply one at a time!

Phase I. Preparation

Start the process that will make you ready to do more QBRs in less time with better results.

1. Plan for Success

Let's start with a small plan. You do not have to invest a lot of time on this part upfront, but clearing a couple things will help down the road.

1.1 Define your QBR Value Proposition

It might be obviously valuable to you to run QBRs with clients, but they might be unsure why these meetings are happening or why they (and more importantly who) should attend.

• Define critical roles and topics for your QBR
• Make your QBR Process Repeatable

The result is a clear understanding why clients should care and who is going to communicate to whom during the QBRs.

1.2 Define your QBR playbook

You have limited time to prepare, run and follow up on client QBRs. The best practice is to calculate the time you can spend on your client segments then create an annual calendar for easy scheduling. 

• Plan your account management time budget per client segment
• Define an Annual QBR Playbook

The result is a clear picture of the capacity needed and the annual schedule of the QBR activities.

2. Setup for Productivity

2.1 Select Templates

After you have both the main agenda for the sessions and the time budget it's time to choose a template. We have three templates you can start with that involve your time, client maturity and agenda items.

• Which agenda items will get executives interested
• Choose a QBR template to start

The result is a meeting template including the agenda items and widgets for each topic discussed throughout the QBR.

2.2 Setup Touch points

Consistency is key. After you have the client rhythm in mind you can start either designing custom client annual playbooks (Delegate and Team Plans) with the Client Engagement Score (CES™)  module or just setup your clients with Annual/Quarterly/Monthly touchpoints.

• Setup a detailed client segment playbook (Delegate and Team Plans only)
• Setup Touch Points with PSA integration (All Plans) 🔥NEW FEATURE🔥

The result is a structure in a system that will keep track, remind and help busy individuals to stay on top of client QBRs and not let clients falls through the cracks.

Phase II: Execution

During the execution you are going to prepare for individual meetings, run those meetings, then follow up with clients and internally.

1. Prepare for the end in mind

Based on our research Account Managers spend the most time during the preparation step, but the majority of the prepared content will never be reviewed by the client. That is why we are going to focus on preparing properly and efficiently for meetings.

1.1 Gather the right information

You need to gather two types of information.

The first type needs to be automated as they directly impact financial decisions (projects and assets). You can import those items into the system directly.

• Import Projects from PSA to the Client Roadmap
• Import Assets from PSA and RMM  🔥NEW FEATURE🔥

The second type requires interpretation (so automation is not efficient nor possible). These are other sources of data - general background information for the decisions required on projects. You can add these evidences to the system as links, screenshots or iFrame based images.

• Embed various sources of information into a report
• Add Brightgauge Gauges to your Report

The result is a focused preparation time based on data that should be synced and automated, and information needed to support decisions.

1.2 Prepare the Report

You will prepare the report by reviewing all your data from various systems, the current state of their roadmap and your goals with the client. You set the agenda and plan the discussion points to make decisions.

• How to Edit a Report Template
• Be creative with the widgets available

The result is a report, process and evidences that help your clients to make the decisions you would like them to make.

2. Meet for Results

Everything you have been building so far is designed to create an engaging meeting your clients see value in. Conducting interactive workshop type sessions will help you to get the interactive environment needed to engage executives. 

2.1 Run the QBR Meeting

The secret to running and facilitating successful meetings is interactivity. Have conversations with involvement rather than going through presentations.

• 5 steps to run effective client meetings remotely
• 5 Questions that will make your client meetings more strategic

The result is a quick and engaging meeting with clear alignment and easier decisions.

2.2 Create a clear Action Plan

By the end of the meeting you will have a list of decisions,  clear next steps and deliverables to work with. You can organize those so both clients and the internal team can understand.

• Create a Client Roadmap
• Create a Proposal 🔥NEW FEATURE🔥

The result is a Client Roadmap representing the major projects with clients and a proposal with which they can approve projects as the need arises. 

3. Follow up for execution

When you are finished with the QBR you need to make sure that the cycle is closed and the next cycle has opened. You communicate to the clients the next steps, expectations and their part of the deliverables and you set things in motion on your end generating tickets and projects for the team.

3.1. Close loops with clients

Strike while the iron is hot. First thing is to document the QBR process and send a snapshot to the client with the proposals. This gives them a very quick response after the session and they can distribute the information and work among their team. 

• Use Report Snapshots
• Report - Sharing Project Roadmaps

The result is a documented session informing the client so everyone is on the same page. Executives approve projects, technical contact personnel do the work and financial people pay the invoices.

3.2. Close loops internally

While things are fresh in your mind you can start generating tickets, opportunities or projects and distribute those to the team for further clarification or execution.

• Workflow Integrations
• Connectwise Opportunities and Project Workflows

The result is a well-oiled machine working on the deliverables, saving time and enhancing client experience.

How to Schedule QBRs for Engagement

Most MSPs have a hard time not only engaging executives in QBRs but even being able to sit down with clients, as they don’t see the value they add to their business. The goal of scheduling a QBR is more about selling them the process, benefits and the results so they see the value and look forward to these events.

We are going to discover the minimum requirements of scheduling an engaging session with the right people in the client’s organization. As a result you are going to get more executive level decision makers in your meetings with higher anticipation.

UPSELL YOUR CLIENTS WITH STRATEGIC QUARTERLY BUSINESS REVIEWS AND IT STRATEGY MEETINGS

Define the Value and Benefits for the client

Without defining the value and benefit of the upcoming QBR people will be less likely to engage. You want to make sure you aim for the highest possible level in the organization, even just for the main contact person.

Consider these ideas from the client’s perspective to craft your message accordingly. We have found these messages effective if crafted properly:

1. The ultimate goal of the QBR - “IT is an integral part of the corporate operations. Our goal is to make it as efficient as possible and support the company goals effectively. To deliver continuous value to your organization we need direction, priorities and to understand your goals to serve you better.”
2. Benefits for the client - “During the session we are going to discuss IT Infrastructure, IT Cybersecurity, Office Productivity and Technology Strategy related questions. That makes the board aware of the opportunities to improve their business and achieve their goals.
   During the session we can review certain performance indicators, make decisions and answer questions. Then we generate action items we can distribute among the teams.”
3. Pain relievers for the client - “We made sure that this process is very efficient so we do not waste anybody’s time. We discuss business topics, priorities and directions with executives in plain english, to help us engage your team for the execution part.
   That means you invest 2 hours every quarter and you do not have to worry about the technology any further. We get the approval to go to the right direction in helping your business to excel.”
4. Cliffhanger - so they do not want to miss out - “During our session we are going to walk you through a specific best practice with Office 365 that’s saved thousands of dollars in productivity for other clients. We are going to let you know the top 3 cybersecurity tricks that hackers are using recently.”
   If you have your own templates such as above for your style, then you can always customize these letters with the client and add more specifics.

Productivity Tips with Managed Services Platform:

• Create a template of this email and add it to their report as a content widget so that you always have the last message on file
• Track the client’s roles in your QBR template so you always know who is responsible for what on the client side to deliver the messages accordingly

Client Experience Tips with Managed Services Platform:

• Record a short video on your phone, embed that to your content widget and send for a personal touch alongside the letter.
• Create a snapshot and copy the content to your email and share the report with them so they can see the previous Quarter’s topic, results etc. 

Issues, Risks:

• Your QBRs should deliver the value you highlight here, and as you mature the value is going to increase
  Do not over-promise, if the experience doesn’t deliver you might lose the executives for a while

2. Schedule the meeting professionally

Although the best way is to create an annual predefined calendar with each client, the individual meetings have to be always scheduled.

This part is very critical as the client always can make an attempt to skip the session - “everything is great we do not need a session now” - or worse, defer the session to a lower level employee without real decision making power - “let Jannie do this for me, I’m busy with other things”. Therefore reiterating the value and having the value proposition on hand is very helpful.

Using a calendar invitation tool is always great as it helps the client to pick the time from your calendar. However, it requires their diligent action to schedule the session so you might give up the control of the process.

A good tactic is to actually send them a direct invite 2-3 weeks in advance AND ask them to choose a different time if it does not work. Now there is a meeting in their calendar and they have to take action to cancel it or reschedule, but you avoid an open loop.

Productivity Tips with Managed Services Platform:

• Set the client touchpoints (Annual, Quarterly, Monthly or no Touch) for a client so that you will always keep track of who needs a meeting for a given month
• Block Days in your week for QBRs, like every Tuesday AM / Wednesday / Thursday PM so you can stack multiple sessions
• If you have the Client Engagement Score (CES™) module you can generate the specific activities based on playbooks upfront

Client Experience Tips with Managed Services Platform:

• Embed your Calendar Tool to a content widget so they can choose a time easily
  
  

Issues, Risks:

• It’s best to have a certain date pre-scheduled with every client in your calendar.
• Getting into an open loop can be easy, so be diligent in getting something on the calendar

Conclusion

Your goal is not just to get to their calendar to make sure we have the session with client executives. We want them to want you to be there with anticipation, being engaged and looking forward to the session with you.

To accomplish that you should craft the value proposition of the session and schedule the meeting professionally.

Client Engagement in 2021 New Features

At Managed Services Platform our vision has always been to turn technically heavy client meetings into engaging value added business conversations. 

2020 has brought new challenges for Account Managers and vCIOs. Client meetings became remote, the duration of sessions shrank, the topics in QBRs steadily increased and clients got very apprehensive about investing in general.

We would like to go through the upcoming new features to make sure you can solve those challenge.

#1 - Communicate cyber security with executives

Despite all the trends favouring cyber security related services, the gap is still growing between the real value of cyber security services and their perceived business value. The cyber security assessments are technical, executives do not see the value of investing in cyber security and often expect it to be covered by the service providers already.

One of the major features is focusing on cyber security communication. We have not just created a new solution set for NIST Cyber Security Communication but the Essential 8 for Australia and Cyber Essentials (EU) is on the way. The report’s proposal section with the proposal feature supports a complete communication tool to make sure executives get to the point of making decisions and you can demonstrate the value over time.

These new functions not only enable a better conversation about cyber security but makes you more productive too.

#2 - COMMUNICATING HW/SW ASSET UPGRADES TO EXECUTIVES WITHOUT BEING SALESY

Hardware lifecycle management is critical. Careful though - explaining the investments needed as a result of out-of-warranty issues can feel salesy and lack the business sense of hardware replacements.

The new asset management features allow you to import both hardware and software assets from your various systems. You can associate the assets with project templates. This way you can use the project templates to explain the business cases for the hardware upgrades in an easier way. For example, amend the communication from a “servers out of warranty” technology narrative to a “server modernization” business narrative.

These new functions not only enable a better conversation about hardware asset and lifecycle management but make you more productive too.

#3 - GET PROJECTS APPROVED AFTER QBRS WITHOUT A LENGTHY QUOTE PROCESS

The more time passes between the client meeting and proposal/quote the less likely the project will be authorized. The quicker you can let them sign a proposal the greater the likelihood of winning projects will be.

The new proposal features allow you to generate a proposal in seconds based on your projects in the report. You can list the projects for which you need authorization, send a tokenized link and let the client sign off. These proposals can be considered as letters of intent and also means you can block the budget for projects quickly. This lets you get the ball rolling as soon as possible.

The new functions not only help to close more project and service revenues but saves time for both you and your clients.

#4 - SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME SETTING PRIORITIES TO MAKE SURE ALL CLIENT MEETINGS ARE DONE ON TIME?

Most of your clients need more touchpoints with you remotely. The more client meetings you need to handle the more likely clients will slip between the cracks.

The new Client Touchpoint features help you to seal those cracks. It allows you to set reminders for clients based on their annual, quarterly or even monthly touchpoint segments. We remind your team about the clients who need to be contacted in the given period and we list the clients who are at risk. We also let you send all client touchpoints to your Connectwise/Autotask as tickets.

These new functions not only deliver peace of mind but also increase the execution of client meetings.

#5 - STREAMLINE THE COMPLETE CLIENT MEETING PROCESS ACROSS PSAS

To streamline your client meetings you need to get information from your PSA before the session and usually have to pass info back for the team to execute. Now both PSAs have the complete workflow.

Before your meeting you can sync the projects, opportunities and assets from clients so that you can prepare for the meetings in minutes. Then after your session you are able to pass back tickets, projects, opportunities to your team closing the loop. We add more functions to Connectwise and revamp the complete Autotask integration.

These functions are not only speeding up the process but provide a complete repeatable process for client meetings.

We release the functions starting in December 2020 till early February 2021. Keep an eye on the blog for the upcoming functions.

How to bridge the gap between cyber security technologies and business value

The borders of the network have disappeared, and people have moved out of the office with minimal focus on securing their remote environment. Ransomware events are increasing in both frequency and amounts demanded. Compliance and certification is getting more focus as governments move to support cyber security initiatives. The news is full of talk about security concerns. 

Despite all the trends favouring cyber security related services, the gap is still growing between the real value of cyber security Services and their perceived business value. 

In this article we go after why MSPs still seem to be struggling to articulate the business value of higher cyber security standards, creating proper business development plans and capturing the market opportunity. That leads to all kinds of problems for clients, including not being protected. Bad executive decisions mean MSPs cannot monetize cyber security services and end up hurting their bottom lines.

We are going to go through the 4 main challenges creating the gap between the technology service providers and the clients. The interesting thing is that all the four major challenges are related to miscommunication. 

Just a step back before we jump in on the communication issues and the potential fixes. 

We all know that cyber security issues have increased because technology affects personal lives and businesses deeper and wider. 

Most of the cyber security related issues are invisible to users and business owners.

Most of these issues can not be solved by implementing another technology, but need to change user and executive behaviour.

That means solving the problem is not really a technology problem but a leadership one. Solving the issues won’t come by just implementing more solutions. They need to actually take leadership and guide the clients through this transformation.

Most service providers, though they’ve shown years of excellence providing best of class services, have no experience in stepping forward to lead people through behaviour changes.

Therefore the root of the problem to solve cyber security problems is NOT applying a technology solution but applying business leadership. The gap is getting wider between cyber security services and perceived business value as the service providers are applying more tech instead of more leadership.

Let’s see how MSPs are making this happen.

COMMUNICATION ISSUE 1 -  TECHNOLOGY CONTEXT

MSPs often see and communicate the issues from the technology perspective.

• firewall needs replacement
• MFA should be adopted
• stronger passwords need to be implemented

These are all technology related solutions and so they create a technology context for the conversation. Many of these are acute issues so the MSPs try everything to convince these executives to implement those solutions.

The problem is that clients get turned off, maybe seeing MSPs as pitching products and services taking advantage of their lack of knowledge. Of course this is the opposite of the original intent.

How to fix: Apply Business Context

If the communication generates a business context then MSPs can apply the solutions in the client’s frame of reference rather than their own. MSPs should ask questions to lead executives toward better decisions.

• How comfortable are you with your current ability to respond to a detected cyber incident?
• What does that mean to your reputation, client’s perception or the organization’s day if a ransomware attack could lock up your systems?
• What do you think your role as a business owner is in providing a secure and low risk environment to your employees, clients and stakeholders?

The result is a business conversation where the MSP can understand the executive’s thinking process and give their input about a potential false assumption or offer more help in understanding the potential impact of issues. The goal is not to convince them that cyber security is important but to furnish them with the perceptual framework so they understand the risks and their role.

Communication Issue 2 -  Technology Assessments

The market has been flooded with different kinds of cyber security assessments. The better ones follow a framework such as NIST CSF (US) / Essential Eight (AU)  / Cyber Essentials (UK). These assessment software solutions help MSPs to streamline and automate a conversation about cyber security, risk assessments and remediation plans. 

Although we believe this is the way to go, the major issue of these attempts is that it is driven by technology people in a technology context. These assessments check the security posture against various threats and try to convince executives to fix those with various technology tricks.

How to fix: Business Assessments

These assessments should be backed by cyber security frameworks such as NIST CSF (US) however the recommendations should be easy to understand business action plans for executives. These reports should be delivered by account managers and not technology people purposefully. If the results and recommendations are delivered from a business perspective there is always an option to go in depth with technology people. However the conversation stays on a business level in general.

The benefit is that the Account Managers are forced to look for the business use cases and can filter out the unnecessary tech talk from these assessments. Obviously the preparation of these assessments comes from the technology side but the presentation, and the leadership will be on the business level.

That gives relief to the executives of speaking the same language and forces the account managers to effectively communicate the business value instead of listing technology recommendations.

Communication Issue 3 -  Technology Solutions

Most cyber security assessments list an overwhelming amount of technology recommendations - systems to implement, hardware to purchase, upgrades, policy and compliance activities and other things an average client will not comprehend. This leads to confusion and confused people make default decisions. The default decision is obviously to do nothing. This is very easy to do as most of these technology recommendations yield benefits that are not tangible.

How to fix: Business Action Plan

Instead of listing recommendations such as: “Implement Multi Factor Authentication Solution” which is a “solution” to a business benefit narrative to “Prevent unauthorized access even with a password breach”. Or Instead of “Security Awareness Training” which is a solution to a benefit “Building a Cyber Vigilant Employee Culture”.

Now you are able to list those benefits as projects, and you can list the activities behind the projects such as implementing technologies, but the narrative is business friendly. That communication encourages better decisions and demonstrates the benefits of the initiatives instead of leaving clients confused by a plethora of technology solutions. 

Communication Issue 4 -  Development Projects

Many MSPs are longing for a “big bang” revolutionary cyber security project to be purchased by the client. The assessment remediation projects can be done from the technology perspective in weeks or months. They try to sell the project and probably try to move the client from a low maturity to a super high maturity level quickly. Yes, when companies had to face lockdowns they reacted and adopted change quickly. However if external forces are not that powerful the adoption of change is very slow.

How to fix: Development Process

Seeing cyber security as a “never-ending development process” instead of a “one-off project” gives many advantages. The MSP does not have to force all changes quickly, they can distribute the projects over months and prioritize the low hanging fruit. It also allows the MSP to bring up cyber security-related initiatives to sign off quarterly. That makes it a standard agenda based on the bigger roadmap. So account managers do not have to convince executives all the time, but help them take one step at a time to establish a less risky business over time.

As you can see, these 4 communication challenges and potential fixes are nothing but a change in your perspective.

• think about the client’s point of view
• have a business conversation instead of technology presentation
• enforce a benefit narrative rather than a solution narrative
• think about a slow burn culture change instead of a quick revolution

That turns you into a true advisor, sought after business partner and a communication expert. It will enable you to secure all your clients, reduce your business risk and make your business more profitable.

If you cannot break those old habits then the gap will widen between your technology services and the perceived business value your clients see. That leads to endless arguments with your clients about why they need to invest more in technology and a stagnating and less profitable business.

Business Relationships cannot be automated...

There are many tools and best practices out there to streamline, and automate technology conversations with RMM integration, ticket reports and asset management functions. The reason is that as most MSPs by starting their QBR processes they simply try to run faster to the wrong direction. The common mistake we see is they try to streamline a technology focused tactical conversation (important for them) rather than elevate themselves with strategic-business focused QBRs (important for clients). Let’s see the 3 reasons why it is the case, 3 impacts taxing these MSPs and the 3 steps to fix this quickly.

Do you engage the proper people from your client’s organization?

DowNload our Strategic QBR Client Mapping Tool 

If you are one of the fast developing MSPs this is totally normal to have tech conversations with clients first then move up to the executive level for business conversations. Staying on the “tech” level though raises many issues on the long run that leads to less profitability, lack of differentiation and competitive price pressure. Let’s check how to fix it with better QBRs.

3 Reasons

Wrong Process

Most of the Quarterly Business Reviews has not been developed from a strategic standpoint proactively. They started after losing a client or based on a negative client feedback. The team realized some sort of “regular meetings” needs to be taken place. That means the process usually ad-hoc, rushed and developed “by implementing a tool”. The main success criteriums of any account management process are missing and very immature. Implementing a tool gives a hope of structure.

As the MSP mature the development process shifts from ad-hoc to proactive.

Wrong Focus

As the QBR process starts shaping the most obvious conversation points are determined by the issues the team faced. Warranties were not discussed with a client, the client developed a technology debt or simply the client did not see the value and activities from the client. Therefore the to satisfy the audience reports are generated to so

lve those technology related issues with technology focused conversations.

As the MSP mature the focus is shifting from technology focus to business focus

Wrong Audience

Most MSPs are starting these conversations with the point of contacts to resolve the technology related issues. These point of contacts are usually office managers, power users or financial people. Their main focus is mainly tactical, not strategic. They are looking for solving day-to-day issues like replacing a computer of an employee. This is good for a start however elevating the conversation from tactical to business the audience needs to be different.

As the MSP mature the focus is shifting from tactical to strategic approach.

3 Negative Impacts that Taxing you

Stuck in a “tech box”

One major impact of not developing QBRs is to stuck in the “tech box”. That means simply that the client sees the MSP is a very good technical vendor rather than a business partner. Technical vendors are less strategic to a client therefore easier to negotiate or replace them in a long run. Becoming a high-value business partner is not a soft “feeling”, it does not mean that 5 star reviews and recommendations are putting an MSP to this spot. This means that the executives of the clients are constantly engaging the MSP with strategic business questions and consultation.

As the MSP mature it is perceived from client executives as high-value business partners

Perceived Salesy

The main issue we are seeing when we help an MSP to further develop their QBR is they feel the process is salesy. Showing the clients budget reports, bombs, warranty issues, subscriptions are teaching the client quickly is a QBR means spend more money. That connotation makes the MSP hard to actually solve those tech issues as they have no business context around those. Yes the MSP is a victim of the circumstances as without the client investing on technology they cannot really provide value. The MSP should generate a strategic layer on top of the QBRs to avoid the constant “sales” conversations.

As the MSP mature the QBRs are more touchpoints of the strategy execution

Perceived less engaging

After the first few QBRs the topics are settled and all around technology metrics and customer satisfaction and so on. Even if a client executive were involved on the QBRs they learn quickly that this is now on track and the second in command can handle these “boring” meetings. As the executives are detached from the opportunity to elevate the conversation has already gone. As the executives are not present most of the QBR stuck in the technology-tactical conversation which forces the MSP to “make it more streamlined”. This is where they implement more and more automation to actually get further from their goal is to actually engage executives.

As the MSP mature the QBRs have topics for engaging multiple audiences in the same time

3 Steps to fix

Identify the client roles

Use the MSPL’s 4 quadrant formula to determine the different roles to separate tactical / strategic and technology / business conversations. As you identify the CEO / Business vCIO roles you can map those roles to each clients and find who should be engaged with business conversations. You need to be able to sit down with the MOST senior executive at least once a year to get her perspective of their goals and to demonstrate your strategic value to them. Identifying those target individuals are the first step.

As the MSP mature the QBRs are engaging more senior people on the organizations

Map your talking points to roles

Use the QBR Kit #1 to identify all the talking points the different roles you have. Keep going with your tactical/technical conversations with the office managers and power users but make sure you create a new narrative with the executives. Use Kit #2 which has all the power questions you need to engage an executive and generate a strategic agenda outside of a QBR. This can be called a Strategy Meeting or Digital Transformation Annual Review. Anything related to a higher business level conversation. Create a scoring/audit mechanism to measure the different tactical elements of their business such as Security / Infrastructure / Office 365 / Applications and so on separately. These are separate audits you conduct in order to present all of this at once as a “Master Score” so they cannot see the details only the very high level.

As the MSP mature the high level strategic conversations are getting measurable

Run multiple layers

As you have a number / score for their strategy / digital transformation you are able to claim a spot for an Annual Strategy meeting in their agenda. As the context is their business and technology you have all the talking points making technology decisions in a business context. This high level conversation / report and deliverable is the single most important leverage you have to make all QBRs effective, decisions made and engage both the executives and the critical contact persons.

As the MSP mature the QBRs are becoming the execution of the Annual Strategies

Conclusion

Starting a QBR process is always ad-hoc tactical and technology focused. However you have a choice how to go to the next level. Once choice is to automate a wrong discussion and create a process which generates less engagement, price pressure and lack of differentiation. OR you develop a business conversation which elevates your discussion, connects to the key decision makers and helps you stand out from the crowd.

What to ask from executives on a QBR?

Most MSPs enjoy great personal relationships with office managers and technical contact people because of their regular work together. As executives are not part of the operation it is very important to know them better, understand them better and build strong relationships with them through the only touchpoint you have: Quarterly Business Reviews.

In this article, we check the 8 most important areas you can cover with your executives to get more engagement.

1. Personal related questions

Why ask:
Essentially every business decision executives make root back to personal priorities. If you understand them better as a person, you understand their business better. That gives you the opportunity to offer better guidance and become a trusted advisor for them personally.

• What they are worried about
• What are their personal challenges
• What personal goals they have

2. Competitive landscape related

Why ask:
Their competitive landscape is their playing field. Their competitors, their differentiation, their value proposition and how they compare to others are very important to know. This helps you to find solutions for them to become more competitive.


What to look for:

• What is their competitive advantage
• Why are they winning clients over the competition
• Why are they losing deals to the competition
• How their market is changing
• Any opportunity they see in the market right now

3. Clients related

Why ask:
Their clients are their source of revenue, so client requirements are very important. Understanding their challenges with their clients can help you come up with valuable ideas. How for example technology can enable them to communicate faster, better and easier with them.


What to look for:

• Who are their best clients and why
• What makes their clients happy
• How do they communicate and collaborate with them

4. Growth related

Why ask:
Knowing their past growth and future forecast is critical to see where their business is going. If they have healthy growth, expansion is on the horizon and they need to scale and have resources for developments. If they have growth issues then they might be cautious with budgets but investments in technology might unlock their growth potential.


What to look for:

• Past growth targets and actuals
• Future predictions, goals and forecasts
• Internal and external bottlenecks of growth

5. Marketing related

Why ask:
Their marketing channels have dramatically changed over recent years by the introduction of social media, eCommerce platforms and the changes in consumer behaviours. Understanding the adoption of these new marketing trends is important to see where technology can help them to build their brand, generate leads and promote their products better.

What to look for:

• How they are leveraging social media and eCommerce platforms
• How they are getting leads and how the channels have been changed over the years
• What are their online marketing strategies

6. Sales related

Why ask:
The ability to constantly sell services and products determine the top line of the organization. If the top line is healthy the bottom line can be healthy, as well. If sales are growing that encourages executives and they become more optimistic and open to IT-related developments. However, with a lack of sales, they are more conservative on general IT spending but always interested in how technology can boost their sales.

What to look for:

• Effectiveness of their sales process
• Visibility, transparency of sales with information, report and accountability
• Bottlenecks of sales

7. Operation Efficiency related

Why ask:
Every organization is full of internal challenges. Broken processes, client experience issues, productivity challenges or growth pains. The quest for operation excellence never stops. This is the easiest topic to engage executives: what is broken and how do we help fix it? It can be a report, an integration, a new application or just better communication.

What to look for:

What processes are broken and why
What is the single most painful bottleneck of the company
What part of the business process generates the most noise in the organization

8. Management related

Why ask:
Every executive leads other people. Managing expectations, meeting with others, communicating, leading projects, accessing information and making decisions are their everyday life. Most of their personal frustrations and excitements are about their management role. Anything that can help them be more productive and become better leaders are a priority.

What to look for:

• Management challenges
• Personal productivity issues
• Communication, collaboration and project management issues

Covering these topics regularly with your executives puts you in a position where you are able to solve their Business Problems. That leads you to become a trusted advisor for them.

Are you truly engaging your client executives and owners?

Download our Executive QBR Power QuestionS 

The reason why QBRs are not repeteable

If you’re an MSP doing Quarterly Business Reviews / Business Strategy Reviews / Technology Business Reviews or anything along those lines, you might have noticed a chronic hurdle: it’s impossible to wrap a process around them that has traction for more than a few quarters. Thus it’s hard to make those productive, engaging, and repeatable. The result is either an ever broken process or the owner of the MSP is stuck in these meetings and prevented from focusing on more strategic work.

What quarterly business review (QBR) means in the MSP market?

As many decision makers of your clients don't play an active role in the day-to-day IT operation, they're often oblivious to the MSP's performance, hard work and value they deliver. A Quarterly Business Review meeting is the single most important opportunity for MSPs to generate executive level client engagement, demonstrate value, discuss business priorities and expand their services.

Why SOME MSP's QBRs are broken

The problem is a too tactical viewpoint of your client engagement process. Typically people in an MSP see various issues with clients that should be solved. Examples:

1. clients are not adopting standards
2. clients don't update their devices
3. clients aren't using Office 365 to its potential
4. clients do not understand the services
5. clients are looking at the competition
6. clients are bargaining on price
7. executives are not engaged
8. agreements are old needs renewals
9. clients are not in the new stack and items need adoption

The list can go long, but the fact is that issues are constantly surfacing that need attention, and most need to be addressed together with the clients. They believe that the root cause of the problem is the lack of proper communication on a particular topic. The tactical approach is taken: wrap a QBR process around the issues. 

Now they have found the topics for the QBR, they automate the process. They start to look for tools and practices to streamline the conversation on those essential topics with some structure:

• standards and their score of adoption report (clients are not adopting standards)
• warranty report with recommendations (clients not updating their devices)
• Office 365 adoption report (clients are not using Office 365 for it 's potential)
• Service utilization report (clients do not understand the services)
• Service Satisfaction and Ticket Reports (clients are looking for the competitors, clients are bargaining on price)zoo
• Strategy Technology Reports (executives are not engaged)
• Service Agreement Renewals (agreements are old needs renewals)
• Solution Stack Adoption Report (clients are not in the new stack, items needs adoption)

Why is this a flawed approach?

The approach is not sustainable as it does not address the real problem. The real question is not that those topics need to be discussed with a client efficiently. The root problem is that ALL of those topics must be covered with ALL clients REGULARLY in a very compressed time frame.

If an MSP misses ANY of those conversations with a client, they start to build up an account management debt with the client. More account management debt means less engagement, more risk, and lower profitability with a client. 

What is Winning practice?

The more strategic approach for client engagement is solving the root problem. The MSP defines all the possible topics to cover with the various audiences of the client. The MSP sets the general priorities of introducing a process for the given communication need, and also specifies the system to be able to spread topics with clients over a yearly period in client-specific QBRs.

Step 1: Define the topics by audience:

Now the MSP defines what needs to be developed and priority.

7 example topics with executives for strategy/business engagement

• Business Strategy Analysis
• Technology Landscape Review
• SWOT Analysis
• Competitive Analysis
• Digital Transformation Strategy Planning
• IT Infrastructure Development Planning
• Business Application Planning

7 example topics for executives for strategy/technology engagement

• Technology Health Review
• Cybersecurity Health Review
• Information Management Review
• Policy and Compliance Analysis
• Technology Improvement Roadmap Planning
• Technology Initiative Planning
• Technology Budget Planning

7 example topics for Managers for Tactical/Business engagement

• Service Process Reviews
• Team Scorecard Review
• Customer Satisfaction Review
• Master Service Agreement Review
• Service Utilization Reports
• Project Reviews
• Budget Reviews

7 example topics for managers tactical/technology engagement

• Solution Stack Compliance Reviews
• Project Reviews
• Ticket Reviews
• Operation Scorecard Review
• Critical System Reviews
• DR / BC Planning
• Warranty Reports

The case might be that the MSP decides to start with the Tactical/Technology part to engage the main contact person AND start some strategic conversation with executives with a Business Strategy Review. Now both main stakeholders are going to be engaged until the remaining topics unfold in the quarters to come.

Step 2. Set Development Priorities

These 28 example topics cannot fit into a single QBR session nor be developed over a quarter. That means the next step is to set priorities and craft a mini development roadmap of the most important issues. That defines the solutions for the most critical issues kept in mind; the rest being dealt with over the next few quarters.

It also gives an opportunity to slowly build the systems around the solutions, test the processes, and help clients adopt topics quarter by quarter.

That allows the MSP owner to relax and see how the client engagement topics are going to be developed over time. Also, it gives confidence to the AM team that it won't be just a "quick fix" with "another tool."

Step 3. Plan the solution stack and automate

Now, the QBR process is not determined by any "QBR solution", but it is an open book of topics and ideas. The problem is QBR solutions offer specific QBR processes for the topics THEY see important. These topics could be "Best Practice Adoption" some for "Lifecycle Management", some for "Strategy Overview", some for "Asset Management". The adoption of those tools solves one problem only and it’s always a temporary one. It does not promote covering "all topics", does not promote a roadmap to develop further and does not even promote the MSP's special take on those critical meetings.

Instead, what is needed is an open hub for defining and discussing the topics and automation to gather inputs for the meetings and setting outputs after. 

If a topic example is Solution Stack Standardization, then the input is a score of their current Stack Adoption, and the output from the meeting is a set of recommended processes. This is a standard process; many tools can leverage.

However, if you have many topics distributed throughout the year and you would like to track which topic was covered with which client you need more horsepower to automate this.

Conclusion:

The philosophy of applying tactical solutions for a QBR with clients was a great process to start any QBR conversations with clients. However, as the operation matures, client expectations start varying. The technology service provider competition means more top MSPs need to see their QBRs as a real strategic differentiator. They need to be ahead of the curve, stay unique, and articulate their value for all client audiences.

All of your clients are 100% aligned and engaged?

Download OUR QBR Discussion Points Checklist

vCIO: The Ultimate Guide

The vCIO or Virtual CIO (virtual chief information officer) term was popularized in the managed services industry to initially differentiate one MSP from another by adding higher-level management practices to their services.

The term has been overused and without a lack of an accepted definition, certification or agreement across the industry the term has lost its original meaning. As any MSP could claim to provide vCIO services it is no longer the main differentiator. Meanwhile, the service provided by vCIOs has become more relevant than ever.

That is why most MSPs have their own terminology for the vCIO role such as digital advisor, digital consultant, business technology advisor, and so on. 

The 6 Steps of the IT Consultative Sales Process

The currently dominant sales processes aren’t able to generate enough leads nor provide proper differentiation for MSPs. This undermines any chance for predictable growth. When they aren’t able to win new business in a predictable way, managed services providers can’t grow, develop new services, hire the ‘A’ players, develop internal processes or scale. The root problem is that the current transactional (the client is looking for an IT provider) and solution (IT Infrastructure or NIST Cybersecurity Assessments) sales models are reactionary. These methods assume that the client understands the problem and has a pretty good idea of the solution they’re looking for. These models don’t enable the managed services provider to elevate the message, educate the client about what’s important, differentiate the MSP’s offering, set proper expectations, or start a conversation without a buying intent. The IT consultative sales process does all of that and thus provides far more predictability.

Why IT Consultative Sales important for MSPs?

The IT service market has been saturated, the offerings have matured and the typical IT infrastructure problems are easily solved. Generating demand among high-value, high-maturity clients with business potential is a challenge as they very likely already have an IT service provider they’re happy with. Potential clients are not out shopping.

Once the referral channels have dried out, selling MSP services became a very unpredictable and long process. If a prospect has no visible pain she won't change her provider if only for a better price. It’s difficult to differentiate from the competition as everybody can claim to be a world-class MSP.

The current transactional and solution sales processes have proven to be successful when prospects have immediate and obvious IT needs. That’s why referrals worked so well and why inbound calls get through the website. IT infrastructure or cybersecurity assessments have been a big help to manage the process by qualifying clients and offering an IT solution.

The IT consultative sales process is a proactive one, that does not require the prospect to start the buying process and it performs better on this new landscape.

What is the process of IT Consultative Sales?

The IT consultative sales process consists of six major steps. Each works toward differentiating your MSP business from the current competition by redefining the market and services. You are not claiming “to be better, faster, cheaper, or more” you are claiming to solve different problems and defining a unique context of your IT services. The process itself helps to set their expectations of their current provider higher and to evaluate them in your context.

1. Differentiate Your MSP’s Message - The IT consultative sales process starts by developing an elevated message. This message drives a wedge between you and your market competitors, reframes the problem the prospect has as well as the expectations. Typically this is a new “category” of services they have not used before.
2. Capture Leads with Education on Business Problems They Want to Solve - The sales process is supported by specific, unique, and very valuable content. This content helps to educate your potential clients on the business problems they want to solve, relates to your services and exhibits the value of the “category” of your services.
3. Qualify Leads Focusing on Quick Win Solutions - The lead generators are followed by a first interaction which is your introduction. This first meeting sets you apart from the current IT service provider “category” and quickly demonstrates many of their current problems you can actually solve.
4. Deliver Value Connecting Business Problems to Technology Solutions - The first meeting leads to a business workshop where you are able to lay down the map for success. You can articulate their business challenges, current reality and set proper IT goals for them. This workshop helps them translate the “vision” to actionable steps.
5. Gain Clarity with Proposals - Your proposal does not consist of a final and large commitment engagement (such as switching their managed service provider). Instead it’s a “springboard” engagement, which is easier to buy and solves a very specific problem.
6. Upsell Your Clients - This process expands the IT strategy where the client starts engaging you, leading to further engagement and value delivery.. 

HOW DO I LEARN MORE ABOUT IT CONSULTATIVE SALES?

The 3 best consultative sales books:

1. Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play: Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship
2. The SaaS Sales Method: Sales As a Science
3. The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation

The 3 best consultative sales videos:

1. The Power of Remote Sales
2. What is the Difference Between Consultative Selling and Normal Selling?
3. What's the difference between Consultative and Provocative Selling?

The 3 best consultative sales blogs:

1. The 6 Principles of a Consultative Sales Process
2. The Consultative Sales Process: A New Model of Selling
3. Digital Maturity Group

3 previously posted Managed Services Platform blogs about IT consultative sales:  

1. Two Ways to Differentiate Your MSP
2. What is the One Business Skill MSP Leaders Can Teach Their Clients?
3. Why MSPs are not Closing Business Enough

5 reasons MSPs do not have predictable IT sales

If you are reading this blog, it’s likely that you’re the best managed IT service provider in town, you have the most mature offering, hire and train the best people, and have the best internal processes an MSP can imagine. However, it’s also probable that your sales are just not at the level you want them to be. You are not alone. Even the best MSPs have issues with sales. But underperformance in sales is only one symptom of the problem. The root cause is that your sales are not predictable, and this leads to all sorts of issues. Let's dig into the cause, then see what you can do, then develop a plan to make this happen!

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In the good old days, referrals from your clients came in like clockwork. With your client's testimonials, you were able to close 80-90% of the leads you generated. The competition was weak, and it was pretty easy to communicate why your service offering is superior. IT problems were obvious to clients and business owners wanted to solve those visible issues to grow their business.

Over time your potential clients have been increasingly able to solve their visible IT issues. The market is saturated and it’s now very hard to differentiate. Compounding all this is dramatically decreasing opportunities coming from referrals.

This leads to several issues: 

Coming in second against "trunk slammers" who win your well-deserved deals by undercutting your prices. It’s frustrating because you know the service quality will be lacking, and the client will be unhappy.

The new website with expensive marketing materials even promoted by paid advertisements did not yield results. Leads are coming in from all over the place but your well-crafted marketing campaigns.

You hired an IT sales expert or inside sales lead generation company, but the calls were unqualified and you couldn’t convey your message, so most conversations didn’t lead to sales.

"Building an MSP is hard enough, and business owners should have a predictable sales process to fuel the company internal process and service developments."

What are the main reasons for IT sales being unpredictable?

I know you want to jump into the solutions, but the major part of solving a problem is understanding the causes. Let's go quickly through the main issues:

1. You want Control but your IT sales is too reactionary

You may have noticed a trend of business owners getting motivated to switching IT providers or replacing internal IT when "SOMETHING" happens. It can be anything. Their IT guy leaves them, their IT provider finally dropped the ball and they’re fed up, or they’ve realized that they have outgrown their provider. 

The key is that "SOMETHING" has happened, which leads to the need for a new provider. After this "SOMETHING" has happened, they google the local managed IT service providers, and the IT sales activity starts without delay. 

This "SOMETHING" is out of your control. It can’t be triggered by you, but without it none of your MSP marketing and IT sales activities can start effectively generating predictable demand.

That leads you to invest in MSP marketing and IT sales, but with no control over meager demand being generated for your services.

2. You want to solve real problems but prospects look only for "Better IT"

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses" - Henry Ford

Your prospects are no different. You have been solving root problems they do not even understand need to be addressed. They don’t know why the world needs security policies, an IT roadmap, or moving legacy things to the cloud. They want "better IT", whatever it means. Your sophisticated approach can be intimidating and let them feel "we are not there yet". But eliminating those issues would create "better IT" eventually.

Your "trunk slammer" competition can cater to their needs with deceptive communication. Not that they are bad guys, but they can address the client's needs very inexpensively. Yes, they’re soothing the symptoms, but not curing the disease, because their methods are very cheap. That never actually achieves "better IT" so they keep changing providers, and repeating the trial. That can engender a negative view overall - "IT guys are all the same... they just don’t get it".

That all means you lose deals even though you are the clear choice for the discerning business and were confident at the IT sales meeting that you got this.

3. You want to solve business problems but "they just don't get it"

Remember how IT sales used to be much easier when your value was more obvious and naturally presented? They had slow computers, and you gave them fast computers. They had slow internet, you gave them fast internet. They had devices, cables, and applications all over the place and you uncluttered it. Primarily your solutions were DIRECTLY addressing their obvious tangible pains.

Unfortunately, your other values such as proactive support, IT Roadmap, unified stack, employee education, and security policies don’t perform so DIRECTLY. They have to burn calories to understand why an IT roadmap and a lifecycle management plan lower the cost of their IT investments. They just don’t see any of this as clearly as they understood the faster computer benefits.

Now you’ve become disconnected from most of your prospects. You feel like there are no "ideal" customers out there anymore.

4. You want to Differentiate but the "other IT guys" are all around.

"To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail." - Anonymous

Your marketing and sales effort is geared toward the "problems" and "pains" you can solve. And no wonder all your competition promises to solve the same sets of problems. As more providers start up, more people are fishing in your pond. As fewer clients can perceive the less obvious IT problems, the smaller the pond is.

However, there is another pond. A pond which is getting bigger and is still mostly undiscovered. It takes courage to leave the pond everybody is fishing in for an empty pond nobody seems to be interested in.

This pond is full of mature, financially stable companies with leadership teams that have already invested in IT, and have no VISIBLE IT problems. They have their managed IT service provider already and they are happy with it. 

However, these companies are suffering different problems that seem unrelated to IT infrastructure, like weak employee productivity, lack of excellent internal communication, the management team lacking proper data in their weekly reports or the need to automate many cumbersome processes. These are NOT VISIBLE IT problems, but you can solve them, and communicate this to generate interest.

Without finding the right pond to fish in, you are lost in the noise and have no chance to differentiate.

5. You feel you got the deal this but the prospect goes dark on you.

The last issue is not something new for you. Engaging with you takes a bold move from your prospects. They need to trust they can give you the keys to their kingdom, they need to invest in their infrastructure, they need to talk to the MSP they’re leaving, exposing them to security risks, they need to face some internal challenges of adopting new processes and come to terms with why they are paying twice what they did before.

The barrier of entry and the switching of costs are enormous for your clients. I know you try to offset this with "free onboarding" or very generous project prices upfront. But this is a fact that the better your services are, and the better your solution stack is, and the higher your maturity is, their switching cost is going to be even higher. The switching cost can be the sole cause  that kills your deal.

Without the experience of being a client, they do not understand why they should be a client. It’s a Catch 22.

Without being able to engage them with low-risk, low-switching cost engagements, your competition might steal your deals as the perceived switching costs might be way lower.

What can you do to make your IT sales predictable?

This article is geared toward the realization of the problem rather than the presentation of the solution. But I do not want to leave you hanging without any hint of what can be done. So here it is in a nutshell.

1. Elevate the message

Your IT Infrastructure, Cloud, or even cyber security theme do not provide the necessary differentiation and the leading edge you need. 

Your theme has to address the pains and problems of executives, not the subject of your service offering. 

Your theme has to be exciting and forward-thinking enough to attract the business owners who have NO VISIBLE IT problems yet. 

Your theme has to make your competition puzzled and too scared to even try to copy. 

I am not going to spoil anything here, and you know why.... because we do not want to educate your competition, right? More later...

This elevated message helps you to build a marketing and sales funnel that actively attracts your ideal target clients. It makes lead generation more natural and has conversations with prospects without requiring the "SOMETHING" to happen to them to look for providers.

2. Implement a IT Consultative Sales Funnel

IT Consultative Sales Funnel is a very special funnel. It is a thorough, slow, and step-by-step process to educate your prospects and provide value along the way. It is not for the impatient ones. The IT sales process consists of a well-crafted landing page leading to a well-crafted lead generator leading to a well-crafted call to action, then to a well crafted first conversation to a well-crafted consultation meeting and then a well-crafted proposal leading to a well-crafted paid consultation engagement leading to well-crafted processes to expand to ongoing services. 

Wow... this is a process of eight different well-crafted things... you might feel overwhelmed. The exciting thing is that as the process is linear, pushing people to the top of the funnel and optimizing the steps to help them get through is pretty simple. Also, it gives you a unique process, and is invisible to your ever-catching-up competition.

3. Kickstart The IT Sales with Specific Campaigns

Your IT consultative sales process has enormous advantages: 

It can be applied to any part of the sales funnel. It can be at the top of the funnel for people who don’t yet realize they have problems down to prospects with whom you had some engagement recently and lost a deal.

It can be applied to existing clients as well. As the process has consultative elements, you can perform those events with them for client engagement or even expansion.

It can be a great source of referrals. Not to become a client directly but referrals to get more qualified leads into your IT consultative sales funnel. You can distribute this funnel quickly to your clients and ask referrals for the consulting engagements. (like your consulting sales process has an attractive lead generator, or you have a Workshop of any kind that can be referred to). This can be viral, meaning the leads can be generated automatically based on your IT consultative sales activities. Just like, you may remember, for dropbox.

With only parts of the IT sales funnel ready, you can kickstart campaigns for prospects and clients to start fueling your referral engine. 

Plan to make a predictable IT sales funnel

I know this is a lot to take in—many new concepts from the "SOMETHING" to different ponds to fish in and entry barriers. There are many new concepts from fueled referrals and IT consultative sales. I know... this is good news... the more overwhelming this is, the more difficult it’ll be for your cheap competition to emulate.

Also, you might feel this is a "ton of work" you cannot commit to.

But you have a choice to make. To step back now or to push this further. Ignore the opportunity or move and learn more. If you are the brave type, if you are like the cutting edge, if you are thinking forward, you know this is worth exploring further. We know you need a plan to put this together and have a process to implement the ideas.

A blog can’t cover it all, and we wanted to do more...

We created a 7 Day Video Series to go into the details. Why 7 days? Because you can leverage a 5 Step Framework and a 2 Step Implementation Process. We want to give you time to digest all steps separately and let the different action items sink in. It will provide you with a quick but comprehensive look at the actions that need to be taken for predictable sales.

Why did we do that? We believe that MSP owners have been working too much too hard on their business and deserve more predictability. One thing that seems out of control for you is sales. We want to help solve this problem so you can predictably grow your business. You can provide predictability for your employees and their families and get rid of the anxiety of being unable to control your business's primary source of fuel: new clients.