(Note: Our blogs are not written by GenAI)
If you have taken up the role of a CMO, one of the first major presentation you will have to do is the Quarterly Business Review (QBR) to your C-suite colleagues. If you are not careful, the QBR can devolve into a glorified status report, which would be a major missed opportunity. With proper planning, QBR could be the stage where you can set strategic growth narrative for the company lead by Marketing. This blog will discuss how you to accomplish that.
With a successful QBR process, you will achieve the following: (1) get in alignment with company goals (2) get support from CEO/CFO for your budget, and (3) enhance credibility for you and your team. In this process, you will position Marketing from a cost center to an accountable growth partner to the CEO.
Useful Framework: Past-Present-Future-Ask
Your QBR preparation process will need two weeks to a month of preparation. You and your team will gather a lot of information during this process. The framework you can adopt should comprise of the following:
Past: What did we accomplish last quarter? Be brief and accountable.
Present: What did we learn? Use these insights in addition to data to show your strategic thinking.
Future: What are the top priorities (2-3) for the next quarter (should be aligned with company goals).
Ask: What are the resources you need to execute the plan. Provide few alternatives and their expected outcomes.
Speak the Language of C-suite
Impressions and click-throughs won’t win hearts. Rather you will need metrics like:
- Marketing sourced (and influenced) pipeline
- Customer acquisition cost, Cost per MQL
- ROI of marketing investment (e.g., Pipeline created per $ spent)
Show these metrics as trend graphs so audience can understand how efficiencies changed over time. Always tie your data to financial outcomes that the audience, especially the CEO and CFO, cares about.
Majority of Information Generated should be Supporting Material
As a rule of thumb, make 2/3rd of information generated as supporting material to the presentation. Most of the tactical marketing metrics such as email, social media, and paid media performance belong here. They do serve as the foundation as well as contribute to the storyline of the final presentation, but need not be part of it.
Try to limit your core presentation deck to 10-15 slides, like the outline provided below. At the same time, you should be able to retrieve and present information from the supporting material quickly as discussions warrant.
Model QBR Slide Deck Structure
- Slide 1: Title slide
- Slide 2: Executive summary. This is one of the most important slides and should be able to stand on its own. It will act as a summary of the rest of the presentation. It should feature three or so bullet points covering the biggest wins, challenges and learnings from the last quarter as well as the top priorities for the next quarter. It should basically answer CEO/CFO’s core questions.
- Slide 3: Past Quarter Performance vs Goals. A simple, high-level table showing 3-4 critical KPIs (e.g., Sourced Pipeline, MQLs, Cost per MQL, Brand SOV). Highlight the beats as well as the misses.
- Slide 4: Deep Dive into Pipeline/Revenue. Marketing sourced and influenced contribution to overall pipeline.
- Slide 5: Deep dive into efficiency. E.g., line charts showing cost per Pipeline $ and cost per MQL over time.
- Slide 6: Deep dive into Brand momentum. Charts showing key Brand metrics such as Awareness and SOV comparing to competitors. If you can legitimately connect brand metrics to financials (e.g., PPC cost going down), you can point out here.
- Slide 7: Key learnings and strategic implications. This slide shifts the narrative from “what” to “so what”. It will feature three or so points elaborating on the most critical lessons from the quarter.
- Slide 8: Strategic priorities for the next quarter. This will outline the top initiatives for the next quarter, incorporating learnings from the previous quarter(s). It answers the “now what” question.
- Slide 9: Next Quarter goals & forecast – it presents specific and measurable goals for the next quarter’s key KPI’s. Ideally CMO presents three or so alternatives based on the budget scenarios, ideally one being a stretch goal.
- Slide 10: The special “Asks” and Required Decisions: A clear, concise summary of the resources or decisions needed to execute key initiatives. E.g., “Approval of $X for new ABM program” or “Decision on International Expansion to Y.”
- Slide 11: Discussion and Q&A
- Slide 12: Appendix – refers to the Supporting data.
Suggested QBR Production Timeline (14-Day Countdown)
As with anything, preparation is the key to success. With QBR don’t want to cut corners. Below is a suggested timeline for your preparation.
- T-14 Days: Kick-off. The CMO convenes the Marketing Leadership Team (MLT) and key members of MOPS (for reporting). The core narrative of QBR is discussed and key metrics are identified. Placeholder deck is created. The key themes of deliverables should involve: “So what? / Why? / Now What” (rather than a data dump from the last quarter).
- T-10 Days: MOPS team provides the required reports and insights to the MLT and other key members.
- T-7 Days: Each MLT member presents their section of the QBR decks – both presentation slides and supporting material. The goal at this point is to synthesize data into actionable insights.
- T-5 Days: Internal Marketing Dry Run: CMO with the MLT conducts a full dry run of the presentation to a broader marketing team (beyond MLT). This is a great forum for peer critique, checking the narrative flow, and practicing timing.
- T-3 Days: Executive Dry Run – This is a great chance for the CMO to present to a voluntary subset of C-suite peers, ideally including CRO and CFO. This helps to further refine the narrative and help anticipate the tough questions (and make allies during the main event).
- T-2 Days: Pre-read material sent: This will include both presentation deck and the supporting material.
- T-0 Days: QBR Live: CMO anchors the live presentation, focusing on the high-level narrative and strategic discussion.
Conclusion
For a new CMO, a QBR is a high-leverage moment. The more attention paid to it, like outlined in the “production timeline” section, the more amplified in rewards in the form of increased credibility for you. Now you have the right structure, story, and tools, you can confidently walk into that room with clarity and command!
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