|
|
How to Make the Most of Your Business Reviews
|
The invisible trap that keeps small businesses, well, small.
|
|
|
Photo: Getty Images
Customers and vendors both benefit from regular and formal check-ins, also known as business reviews. However, in my experience as a customer success leader, business reviews are not always well attended by the people who need to be there. When I probed a variety of customers as to why their key leaders did not attend, they cited issues such as:
· Lack of clarity on “what’s in it for us”
· Customers feeling they were being sold to
· Not enough time for “busy leaders” to attend
If your customers do not have time to attend a business review with you, your business review is not delivering the intended results. And your product or team may not be either. Redesigning your business review to meet the needs of your customer and your internal teams is key to successful collaboration and engagement.
I have designed the steps below to make these meetings high impact and high value for all.
Pre-meeting
1. Ask for the attendees you need to achieve your objectives. If it’s a year-end review with a renewal on the line, be sure you have whom you need. It is OK to also be direct about this, and use it as a criteria for your success.
2. Aim for an in-person business review when possible. In-person business reviews tend to provide a lot of intangible value, and help vendors understand more about their customers.
3. Ensure you have enough time. Two hours is the minimum needed for an enterprise-level customer business review.
4. Discuss the agenda with the customer and ensure they are aligned. If they want to present or add anything, build that into the plan as well. The best business reviews include both parties presenting.
5. Prepare a blank action plan document, to be used during and after the session, to track open items and next steps.
Meeting agenda
1. Reserve at least 15 minutes for buffer and thorough introductions of all members.
2. Hold five minutes or less to discuss what you hope to achieve in the meeting and how you will track it.
3. Spend approximately 15 to 20 minutes in which both vendor and customer share any relevant news or things to celebrate. I like to review customer news online prior to the meeting, and celebrate any milestones or awards in this section as well. It’s a great way to get people talking about the state of affairs in their business.
4. Take 30 to 45 minutes to discuss the customer’s progress versus the goals set out in the previous period. It is important also to discuss areas where your team may have noticed trends toward or away from the plan, which could be indicators of future progress or regress. An example of this is login trends by your key users changing over some period of time as compared with prior. If your product has data, it is showcased here.
5. Discuss with the customer how their goals and expected outcomes may change for the next period ahead. This can be a 10-minute or 30-minute discussion depending on the level of preparation and needs of the customer.
6. Share your past road map updates and plans to improve the product, offering, or service for 15 to 20 minutes. Based on the customer’s segment or priority, you may offer BETA testing, or other opportunities here as well. The goal is to get your customers excited about what is to come. This area may also lead to future expansion opportunities. But do not dive into those in the business review. Set a follow-up meeting or an action plan item to do so for any future sales discussions.
7. You are nearing the end, so it is beneficial to end with a review of action items and the plan to ensure they are taken care of. This step usually takes five to 10 minutes. It is important to ensure everyone is aligned on a path forward and there are no surprises. It also gives a clear picture of accountability by all parties, not only the vendor. Solidify your status updates on these items with key stakeholders. This could also be in the form of a biannual or quarterly review, which may be a bit lighter than a full annual meeting.
8. Close the meeting officially, thanking everyone who attended and participated. I often try to follow a meeting with a dinner or lunch with the customer if possible, to end on a more social and informal note.
Virtual post-meeting
1. Send a follow-up/thank-you email with meeting decks and materials. The data you share is the customer’s data, and they should have it to share further.
2. Remind everyone about the action plan and status checks. Set those meetings as soon as possible while you have momentum.
3. Set the next business review–it seems early, yes, but getting it on everyone’s radar now will help solidify its importance. Dates may shift slightly, but it will be a placeholder nonetheless.
Using this framework for business reviews will generate a meeting your customers want to attend and one that delivers high-impact results for customers and vendors alike.
The customer’s voice
Certainly quality feedback from your vendors is critical to business growth, but not as important as the feedback from your customers. Like it or not, your customers are always comparing you to the guy down the street and we all know customer’s opinions can change on a whim. Monitoring your customer’s experience on a consistent basis is vital to your success. Give us a call, we’d love to become a partner in growing your service culture.
Services
BY PARUL BHANDARI AND CARL PHILLIPS
|
|
|
|
