How to Set Goals & Projections for your Quarterly Business Review

It’s just about that time: your Quarterly Business Review (QBR) is coming up and you’re spending hours, maybe even days, preparing reports to show your CEO and other meeting attendees. (Check out the 19 things you could be doing with the time you spend building those complex sales reports, by the way.)

QBRs should be divided into 2 parts: reviewing last quarter and planning for the upcoming quarter. You can learn more about what to include in an analysis of your team’s performance last quarter here, but in this post, I’m going to focus on the second part of your QBR: projecting for next quarter.

Sales VPs are expected to outline their goals for the upcoming quarter and explain projections with leading indicators. Let’s break these down these steps:

Setting goals

You’ll need to consider how many goals to set, what these goals will be, how you’ll define them at the QBR, and who will be accountable for each goal.

How many goals to set – It is much better to pick 2-4 clearly defined goals that you outline in detail during the meeting than to pick 10 broad, ambiguous goals.

What these goals will be – Think carefully about the goals you set for the coming quarter because you will be held accountable for them at your next QBR. Base your goals off high-level questions like:

  • What are your top 5 priorities for this quarter?

  • What is your plan for achieving your quota?

  • What are the top opportunities in your pipeline this quarter?

How you’ll define them at the QBR – Define each goal clearly, explain its business value, talk about how it will be measured and the benchmark for success, and break down terms to make your goals more easily digestible for your audience.

For example, when you explain the top opportunities in your pipeline this quarter, break these opportunities into deal size categories, like >$10k, $10-25k, $25-50k, and $50k+. This will help the other executives at the meeting understand the likelihood of these deals closing based on historical win rate.

Who is accountable for each goal – If you don’t establish clear guidelines on who is accountable for each goal, how will you be able to measure its success?

Making projections

Now, it is time to give the meeting attendees a high-level glimpse at your projections for this coming quarter. Is your lead flow growing? What does your bookings trajectory look like? Will you be able to hit your number?

The three reports I recommend including to frame your objectives are a Lead Trajectory Report, a Bookings Trajectory report, and a Scheduled Revenue report. Here is what these reports might look like:

Lead Trajectory Report: helps your attendees determine whether you’ll have enough leads to support the pipeline you need to hit your number next quarter. Also shows which lead sources are the most productive and whether your are ahead of or behind your goals.

Bookings Forecast Report: shows how much revenue you are expected to generate this coming quarter based both on your current pipeline and historical data from previous quarters.

Scheduled Revenue Report: shows how revenue generation looks for the coming quarter without any new bookings. Gives the audience a clear idea of how much additional revenue your team needs to generate to reach your goals.

Learn more about how to prepare for and what to include in your QBR by downloading our free eBook, The Sales VP’s Success Guide to Quarterly Business Reviews.