QBR Deck

A quarterly business review exists to answer one question for the customer's leadership: is this worth what we pay, and what should we do next? It is not a product update or a usage dump. You build a short deck in the customer's terms, test it with the champion first so nothing surprises them in the room, and turn the meeting into agreed goals. The standard: every slide headline states a conclusion, every number has a source, bad news is shown with its fix, and the deck ends with decisions and asks on both sides.

When to use

• "Build the Q3 QBR deck for Acme; the meeting is on the 20th."
• "Their new VP wants an executive review; prepare it."
• "Annual review before the renewal."
• Any account in the account plan due for a quarterly review.

What you need

• The goals agreed at the last QBR or at onboarding (account plan, previous deck, success plan). If none were ever set, the first purpose of this QBR is to set them; say so.
• Data for the quarter:
  • usage and adoption (connected analytics, the owner's admin dashboard in the browser, or a CSV);
  • support tickets and resolution times (connected helpdesk);
  • survey scores if any; billing (Stripe if connected).
• The customer's own outcome data if they shared it (time saved, revenue, error rates).
• The attendee list and what each person cares about.
• The roadmap items the owner allows to be shared, and the owner's deck template if they have one.

Method

1. Agree the purpose and audience. Who attends (executive sponsor, champion, users), how long (45 to 60 minutes is typical), and the one outcome you want, for example: agreed goals for next quarter; the executive sponsor reconfirms the priority; an introduction to the team at the next site.
2. Pull and check the data with execute_code: this quarter versus the previous quarter and versus the goal. Compute trends, not single numbers. Check for data gaps (a tracking change, a holiday) and note them on the slide rather than hiding them.
3. Translate usage into their outcomes. Usage is a means, not the point. Convert it to what the executive cares about: hours saved, errors avoided, revenue or cost, speed, risk reduced.
   • Show the working and use their figures (cost per hour, volumes).
   • Stay conservative and round down.
   • If a metric cannot be translated into an outcome, it probably belongs in the appendix.
4. Write the headlines first. Draft 8 to 12 slide headlines as full sentences that state the point, such as "Planning time fell 62 percent across both sites since June". Read them in order: they should tell the whole story without the slides. Then build each slide to prove its headline.
5. Slide structure (content and speaker notes in references/qbr-outline.md):
   1. Title, attendees, agenda and the outcome we want from the meeting.
   2. Your goals for this period, as agreed, with status.
   3. Results against goals: baseline, now, target, in a table or simple chart.
   4. Value delivered in their numbers, with the working.
   5. Adoption: who uses what, the trend, where adoption is thin.
   6. Support summary: volume, response and resolution times, notable issues and how they were fixed.
   7. What is not working, and the plan to fix it (owner and date).
   8. Relevant roadmap (owner-approved items only; no dates unless confirmed).
   9. Recommendations: 2 or 3 specific things that would get them more value.
   10. Proposed goals for next quarter (measurable).
   11. Asks and next steps, on both sides. Appendix: detailed data.
6. Charts that read in five seconds.
   • One message per chart; label the axes and units.
   • Highlight the series that matters and grey the rest.
   • Start bar charts at zero; no pie charts beyond two or three slices; no 3D.
   • Put the source and date range in small text under each chart.
7. Be honest about bad news. If a goal was missed, say so on the slide, explain why in one line, and show the fix. Executives trust a vendor who names problems before they do.
8. Pre-wire with the champion a few days before. Walk them through the draft (the message to them is a draft for the owner's approval) and ask:
   • What will land with the executive?
   • What should we avoid?
   • Are the goals for next quarter right? Change the deck. Nobody important should see a number for the first time in the meeting.
9. Build the file in the owner's format: Google Slides in the connected Google Drive or through the browser, or a .pptx built with execute_code (python-pptx) using the owner's template. Keep text large and sparse; if a slide needs a paragraph, the paragraph goes in the speaker notes.
10. Prepare the owner with a one-page brief on a show_card: the meeting outcome, the 3 messages to land, likely questions and the answers, the asks, and who in the room cares about what.
11. After the meeting, draft the recap (agreed goals, actions with owners and dates, open questions) for the owner's approval, update the account plan and the CRM, and schedule check-ins on the agreed actions with cronjob.

Worked example: from usage to value

• Usage fact: the ops team now builds schedules in the tool; average planning time logged fell from 5.0 to 1.9 hours per site per week (tool data, June to September).
• Their numbers (from the champion): 2 sites; loaded cost of a planner about 40 per hour in their currency.
• Working: (5.0 minus 1.9) x 2 sites x 40 = about 248 per week, or about 12,400 a year over 50 weeks.
• Headline: "Planning time down 62 percent: about 12,000 a year back for the ops team."
• On the slide: the before and after bars, the working in small text, and "figures from Acme's cost per hour; conservative".
• If the champion disputes an assumption, use their number, even if it lowers the result.

Output

• The deck: 8 to 12 main slides plus appendix, headlines as conclusions, sources under every chart.
• The owner's one-page meeting brief.
• The champion pre-wire message draft and, afterwards, the recap email draft.

Checks before you finish

• Every number traces to a source and a date range; totals recalculated in code.
• Read only the headlines: do they tell the story?
• At least one slide states something that is not working, with the fix.
• Goals for next quarter are measurable and dated.
• Roadmap content is owner-approved, with no unconfirmed dates.
• No data from other customers appears anywhere; outside benchmarks are cited or removed.

Pitfalls

• The usage dump. Logins and clicks bore executives. Show outcomes.
• Selling in the review. A QBR that turns into a pitch loses the executive's trust. Recommendations should serve their goals; expansion comes up naturally when value is proven.
• Surprising the champion. Pre-wire every time.
• Forty slides. If it does not fit in 12, it belongs in the appendix.
• No decisions. A QBR without agreed goals and asks is a presentation, not a review.

See also: account-plan, renewal-and-expansion.