Using Documentation to Nail Your QBRs
BY IT GLUE | April 09, 2019
Documentation is a critical but often overlooked source of competitive advantage. When you have good documentation practices in place, that means you’ve documented the ins and outs of your clients’ organizations, and you have all the proof of your processes. So when it comes time to sit down with your clients for the quarterly business review (QBR), your documentation has everything you need in order to deliver productive, transparent, and insightful conversations that strengthen your customer relationships.
Service level agreements (SLAs)
Did you reach your service level agreements during the past quarter? Whether you hit all of your SLAs or fell short on a few, your documentation will have the evidence. This means that even if you’re addressing areas that need more work, and you should be addressing these areas, your documentation will help you identify how you can improve. Then you can show your clients what changes you’re going to make to your processes in order to serve them better.
Proof of process
If your clients have any questions regarding how you document their environments, or what processes you have in place, the QBR is a perfect time to address any of those questions or concerns. Don’t just talk about them, though. The whole point of your documentation is that you can show your processes.
This is an excellent time to leverage one of our partners’ top-favorite features, Runbooks. Using this feature you can generate professionally formatted documentation packages, in PDF format. This gives you offline access to the information stored in IT Glue, that you can then share with your clients.
Pain points
There’s always room for improvement, and there are always pain points that need massaging. Take the time during your QBR to address any pain points your clients might be experiencing, and how you can alleviate them.
We recently deepened our integrations with two of the most popular PSA platforms used by our partners, Connectwise and Autotask. Now that tickets are a core asset in IT Glue, if you’re using one of these PSA systems you can identify potential recurring issues. So if it seems that an individual’s computer just keeps breaking, or that your client just keeps running into the same problem over and over again, you have the data to show that. Then dive into what potential solutions there are.
Your documentation will also show you if there are any warranty expirations coming up that you should be addressing in this meeting. Bringing these to your clients’ attention demonstrates your commitment to them.
Moving forward
While a large portion of the QBR is discussing what worked and what didn’t during the past quarter, you’ll also be spending a decent chunk of time addressing future goals. At this point, you’ve already demonstrated your transparency and honesty, so your clients are going to be more trusting that you will follow through on any new goals you’re setting. Once again, your documentation will be able to show what’s realistic, and what isn’t.
At the end of the day, if you’re keeping up with your documentation, it will have all the information you need to deliver a QBR rich with value. And once you start mastering those, well, never underestimate the power a solid QBR has on deepening your customer relationships.
To learn more about how IT Glue can help you master your documentation, sign up for a demo today.
IT Glue™ is a proven, best practices-driven IT documentation platform packed with features designed to help you maximize the efficiency, transparency, and consistency of your team. With so much of your business productivity lost each day in search of vital information, let IT Glue secure this information and start Freeing Minds™.
