Sales and Onboarding

Quarterly Business Review (QBR) SOP

What

A Quarterly Business Review is a structured 90-minute meeting held at the end of every quarter with every active client. The QBR has three jobs: retain, expand, and get referrals. A well-run QBR accomplishes all three. A skipped QBR is one of the most common reasons good clients quietly start looking for alternatives.

Non-negotiable rules:

QBRs are always video or in-person. Never an email. Never a PDF attached to a Slack message.
Always open the expansion conversation, even if you don’t expect a yes. The ask plants the seed.
Schedule the next QBR at the end of the current one — never let it fall off the calendar.

Who Owns It

Account Manager + Owner/Strategist. The account manager runs the meeting day-to-day. The owner or a senior strategist should be present for every QBR, even as a supporting voice. Their presence signals that the client is important. If the owner can’t attend, they must record a 2-minute Loom video that gets played at the start of the call acknowledging the quarter and expressing appreciation.

Steps

Prep — 1 Week Before the QBR

Build the QBR deck. Use your agency slide template. The deck is shared with the client after the call, not before — you want the conversation to drive the narrative, not have them read ahead.

QBR deck structure (6 slides minimum):

Slide 1 — Quarter in Review: The Headline One number that tells the story of the quarter. Example: “47 qualified leads generated at $38 average cost per lead.” Make it specific, make it good if possible, and if it’s not good, own it on the next slide.

Slide 2 — Wins (with screenshots) 3–5 specific wins with visual proof:

Rankings moved — show a keyword table with before/after position
Leads generated — chart showing week-by-week volume
Cost per lead improvement — before Q1 vs. this quarter
GBP metrics — profile views, calls, direction requests vs. prior quarter
A specific review or piece of client feedback they shared

Never present wins without proof. Screenshots matter. Clients believe what they can see.

Slide 3 — Misses + What Changed This is the trust-building slide. List the things you didn’t hit, own the shortfall, and explain exactly what changed or what you’re doing differently. Do not blame the algorithm, the market, or the client. If external factors played a role, explain them — but lead with what you’re changing.

Example:

“Our goal was 60 leads per month by Month 3. We averaged 41. Here’s why: the campaign launched 3 weeks late due to access delays, and the first landing page variant we tested underperformed. We’ve already relaunched with a new page that’s converting at 2x the rate. We expect to hit the 60-lead target in Q2.”

Slide 4 — Next Quarter Plan What you’re changing, what you’re doubling down on, and why. Be specific:

“We’re pausing the display retargeting campaign — low conversion rate — and reallocating that $500/month to search.”
“We’re expanding the SEO campaign from 3 target cities to 6 based on Q1 ranking velocity.”
“We’re adding call recording so we can audit lead quality and optimize for calls that convert to booked jobs, not just calls.”

Include Q2 targets that are tied to their original 12-month goal.

Slide 5 — Expansion Options Prepare 1–2 expansion options that are relevant to their situation. You’ll present these conversationally in the meeting, not as a sales pitch. Have the slide ready to pull up if the conversation goes there.

Slide 6 — Looking Ahead: Q2 + Referral Ask One slide with the Q2 targets and a space to note the referral conversation outcome (internal tracking only — client doesn’t see this slide).

QBR Agenda (90 Minutes)

1. Celebrate Wins First — 20 Minutes

Open with the wins. Show the numbers. Show the screenshots. Do not rush through this section.

“Before we get into anything else, I want to walk through what this quarter actually produced — because there’s a lot to acknowledge here.”

Clients often don’t fully appreciate the scope of work until it’s laid out visually. Use this time to remind them of the value of the relationship.

Ask them: “Is there a win from this quarter that stands out to you that we didn’t include here?” This opens them up and sometimes surfaces testimonial material.

2. Honest Review of Misses — 15 Minutes

Transition cleanly:

“Now let me be equally direct about where we came up short and what we’re doing about it.”

Walk through Slide 3. Present each miss, explain it honestly, and immediately follow with the specific action you’ve already taken or are taking.

Tone: Confident and accountable. Not defensive, not apologetic to the point of panic. You are a professional who missed a target and has a plan. That is completely different from an agency that is making excuses.

If the client is visibly frustrated: Pause. Let them speak. Do not jump to defend. Acknowledge first: “You’re right to be frustrated — that’s not the result we targeted and it’s not good enough.” Then show the fix.

3. Next Quarter Plan — 20 Minutes

Walk through Slide 4. Present the Q2 plan with energy. Show that the misses from Q1 have already shaped the plan.

Invite questions: “Does this direction feel right based on where your business is heading? Is there anything you’ve seen in the market or with competitors that we should factor in?”

Confirm the Q2 targets together. Write them down. These become the benchmark for the Q3 QBR.

4. Expansion Conversation — 15 Minutes

This section always happens — even if you don’t expect a yes.

How to open it:

“I want to spend a few minutes talking about whether there’s anything we’re not doing that we should be. Sometimes as we get deeper into a client’s business, we see opportunities we didn’t see at the start.”

Present 1–2 relevant expansion options. These should be tied to something you observed during the quarter — a gap you noticed, a service they mentioned wanting, a competitor advantage you spotted.

Examples:

“We’ve been generating leads but we don’t have visibility into which ones actually turned into booked jobs. Adding call recording and a CRM integration would let us optimize for revenue, not just leads. That’s about [$X]/month added to the retainer.”
“You mentioned wanting to expand to [City B]. We can layer that into the SEO and ads campaign now that the foundation is solid. It’s [X] additional hours per month.”
“Your review count is good but your competitors are generating 3x more reviews per month. A more systematic review generation process could give you a significant edge — we can add that to the scope.”

If they say no: “Totally understood — I wanted to make sure it was on the table. We’ll revisit it next quarter.” Log the conversation and the outcome in [YOUR CRM]. A “not yet” often becomes a yes by Q3.

If they say yes: “Great — I’ll have a revised proposal in your inbox by [day].” Do not scope the expansion live on the QBR call.

5. Referral Ask — 5 Minutes

This is the most commonly skipped part of the QBR and the most valuable. Do not skip it.

After the expansion conversation, when the relationship energy is high:

“One more thing before we wrap up. A big part of how we grow is through referrals from clients we’re proud to work with — and you’re one of them. Is there anyone else you know in [niche] — a peer, someone in your trade association, a friend who owns a [niche] business — who might benefit from what we’re doing here?”

If they give a name: “Would you be comfortable making an intro? Even a text saying ‘you should talk to these guys’ goes a long way. I’ll send you a one-liner you can forward if that’s easier.”

If they hesitate: “No pressure at all — if someone comes to mind later, just send them our way. We appreciate the thought regardless.”

Log the outcome in [YOUR CRM]: Did they refer? Who? Has that referral been followed up?

6. Confirm Next QBR Date — 5 Minutes

Before ending the call, put the next QBR on the calendar. Do not let it float.

“Before we close out — let’s lock in the Q3 review now so it doesn’t get lost. I’m thinking [specific date/time range]. Does that work?”

Send the calendar invite before you hang up or within 30 minutes of the call.

Post-QBR Actions (within 24 hours)

Send the QBR deck to the client (PDF, not editable) with a brief thank-you note
Log QBR outcome in [YOUR CRM]: wins, misses, expansion conversation result, referral given or not
Create ClickUp tasks (or equivalent) for any Q2 plan items not already in the system
Send expansion proposal if client said yes to expansion
Follow up with referred contact if a name was given
Confirm next QBR calendar invite was accepted

Definition of Done

QBR held via video or in person (never email)
All 6 agenda sections completed
Expansion conversation happened (even if outcome was no)
Referral ask made
Next QBR scheduled before the call ended
QBR deck sent to client within 24 hours
All post-QBR tasks logged in [YOUR CRM]