RANT: Are Strategic Business Reviews New?

[00:00:08] Hey everyone, it's Brian Doyle again. Welcome to the latest installment of MSP Business School. And I'm going to kick things off today with a little bit of a rant, believe it or not. I know I'm not one for usually coming on here with any negative energy or having a gripe really, but there's something that I've been seeing a lot of and I'm not sure what to make of it quite frankly. I'm sure most of you listeners are on LinkedIn quite regularly as most of us in the industry are.

[00:00:37] A great resource obviously for learning about trends, but there's a specific trend that's kind of you know, kind of hitting me the wrong way right now. And that is all of a sudden I'm seeing these posts about business reviews and how they need to get strategic. Now I gotta be honest, this stopped me kind of in my tracks because I thought that's really what these things have been supposed to be about

[00:01:02] for years now. As a guy that runs a company that is obviously helping MSPs do business reviews, I'm a little taken aback that some of my competitors have even gone down the you need to get more strategic angle with their QBR conversations. When did this become a new topic? Like when did strategy become new? I've been struggling with this, but let's take a step back and see how we maybe got

[00:01:32] here where all of a sudden here in the MSP community, we're talking about something that was always looked as a strategic meeting, at least in the early days of business reviews, and then may have gotten off course a little bit. So you know, when you think about what is, you know, what's going on in the business review sector these days, one of the biggest challenges I think is ownership. Now you've heard me talk on this podcast before about the office of VCIO and how it should be a collective

[00:02:01] effort, but there's still one person that's supposed to be in charge of things up front. And these days you'll hear them sometimes referred to as account managers, as CSRs, customer success reps, as VCIOs, right? And I think this gray area of who really owns the role is part of the reason that these meetings got off track, became less strategic in this new, you know, in this concept of coming full

[00:02:26] circle is existing out in the marketplace. You know, when I think of an, and let's maybe take a step back and define the three roles. When I look at an account manager, an account manager historically, you know, throughout my career was somebody that was working on the inside. They were managing existing clients. They were predominantly there to ensure that renewals didn't get missed and to work

[00:02:50] on any orders that, you know, were incoming to support the client account. These could be things like new laptops, you know, you know, tracking refresh schedules, really just making sure that opportunity wasn't missed within the account structure and giving the account themselves, you know, whoever your point of contact was out there, a person to connect with on the regular who understood their accounts.

[00:03:16] Now that was great, but it really, you know, as you can see there, it's a lot of transactional business, right? So it doesn't necessarily lend itself to expanding out. Some AMs are going out and cultivating that relationship. But again, the classic AM, if you think back to even the bar days, that's kind of where they sat in the structure. Now you look at the new world that's coming up, and this has become a hot topic, is the customer success rep. This is the person making sure that

[00:03:44] they're having success with the customer, right? You'll hear a lot about net promoter score, customer satisfaction surveys, getting the pulse of the customer, staying engaged with the pulse of the customer, you know, getting feedback and understanding where you can continuously improve. And again, that's great, but you can already see that's not necessarily looking at the sales side of things or looking at, you know, what needs to transpire. It's more about the

[00:04:13] feeling of the customer, right? Now it's a critical step, I think, in the overall account or overall client management process. And that's the term I like to use. But really, it's, you know, basically just saying, hey, I'm going to stay in touch, make sure you're happy, make sure relationship risk isn't brewing. And if it is, I'm going to go to the appropriate people who will step in and try to work on that. Then we have the VCIO. And the VCIO has been an interesting, you know, role.

[00:04:41] It started off very technical. And I think that was a challenge for many of the end user customers, because most of them are not technical. And most of them really don't care about the bits, bytes, speeds and feeds of things. They want to know what's going to improve their business, right? So we started seeing that VCIO role start morphing to more of a business leader. And I would challenge

[00:05:06] that the VCIO needs to be part AM, part CSR, part advocate and liaison. And that's the role that needs to move forward. And by default, it will become much more strategic. So let's get into this, you know, again, this concept like strategy, something new. Strategy is not a new concept, but the problem I've seen out in the marketplace is these QBRs got very off course over the last four

[00:05:34] or five years. They went from being something that was meant to be very beneficial to the customer and help them understand how they could improve within the marketplace and what was in it for them and how they were going to see benefit into, wow, we can make sales here, right? And it became a thinly veiled sales effort. And it went from those technical resources into the hands of more traditional account managers who of course had sales on their mind, had numbers that they had to hit. And this changed the

[00:06:03] dynamic of those relationships. So once those things got off course, one of the things that suffered was strategy itself, really working with the customer to understand what was going to benefit them long-term and how they were going to have a better relationship together and how they were going to become more productive together. So I want to kick this off with talking about what isn't strategic and that's really simple. Coming in with the big book of thud, I call it, right?

[00:06:30] You know, and we've talked about this before. A lot of performance statistics, a lot of KPIs, everything about renewals, scorecards that really don't mean anything to the customer. Those things, you know, while there are aspects of that that are necessary in every QBR, they're not necessarily strategic. And when you drop that big thud, you know, report with all that there, A, it can be a little overwhelming for the customer, but B, they're looking at it this way.

[00:06:59] Oh, okay. So this is what we look at, look, look like today. Next meeting. Great. We're still holding firm meeting after that immediately. It's what's in it for me, right? So it's not very strategic. It's tactical. And if you really look at it, it, it really only has the MSP in mind. They want to prove what they've done to keep warning, getting paid. We all know the risk or the curse of the great MSP is the more we automate, the more we do remotely, the less we're on site and the less things tend to break.

[00:07:27] And when that happens, our billing often gets called into question, right? So our immediate thing is let's show them everything that we're doing behind the scenes. And as a result of that, you know, we're really going to now set the tone with the customer. And oh, by the way, we're going to get some huge sales off of this. It's going to be freaking fantastic, right? But then we get into other challenges, which we'll go into in a moment. What is strategic though?

[00:07:51] What really does lend to a strategic meeting? Well, you know, you've guys have all probably heard the saying, listen with two ears, or you've got two ears, one mouth, use them accordingly, right? You got to listen. What is the customer looking to accomplish? We're always really in tune with what they're trying to do from a technical perspective. But what we're often not in tune with is what they're trying to do overall with their business. If you don't know what success looks like

[00:08:19] for your business, how are you going to have success in that relationship with the customer, right? You really have to understand what are those key initiatives they're going after? What are those obstacles they're facing on the way to success? And you need to identify those and really bring them forward. And then figure out how am I going to drive outcomes that technology might support? And maybe some of these goals don't have a technology touch. And that's okay too,

[00:08:44] because you still need to understand your customer's perspective if you want to build a better strategic relationship with them. So what is in strategy? Understanding their key initiatives they're going after, as I said. Understanding the challenges that are going to prohibit them from getting there. You bringing to the table what technologies might support that in building your roadmap. A roadmap

[00:09:06] alone is not strategic. A roadmap that shows outcomes is strategic. And you really want to help them using input that they've provided to you show the why. Those of you that are listening to this know this has been a core tenant inside of VCIO toolbox for five years now. You know, we're very big on the North Star being the strategic plan. So again, when I get a little antsy about strategy, it's because this is

[00:09:33] really something that I've also seen some of our MSPs slow to adopt, a partner slow to adopt. But it's really the layer that's going to connect the dots between the technology and business for your customer. So, you know, when you set out to do this journey, the first thing you got to do is remember this. It's about the customer, not you. Assess the person across the table from you. Are they technical? Unless we're in a co-managed situation,

[00:10:00] we may be across the table from somebody with some technology savvy, but we're certainly not in front of the table with somebody that is a IT pro in most cases. So we've got to boil our conversation into that outcome discussion or they're not going to take any movement. If you've ever been in a situation where you've already identified that your customer has budget and you've got a project sitting in front of them and they're taking weeks on end to make a decision about go or no go on that project,

[00:10:28] there's only one reason for that. And the reason that sales friction exists is because you're not showing them return on investment and they're not feeling definitively that they're going to get value back equal or more to what they're going to spend. And another thing you got to think about guys is the market sector we deal with in the MSP space. Yes, we all have customers that are on the high end, but generally the majority of our customers sit under 50 seats. And a lot of times these decisions

[00:10:58] about go or no go on technology are literally the difference between the owner having a better Christmas with their children, or let's say we're taking another vacation that money is truly coming out of their pocket. So for them to part with that money, they've got to see a business benefit and we've got to be the ones to show them there. And this is why the traditional account management role doesn't necessarily work because it's a lot more order taker. It's a lot more just making sure

[00:11:24] that they're being heard. The CSRs I've met with a lot of CSRs and I love them, but the CSRs purely are more relationship people, but feedback people. They are not people that are built or instilled with that ability to close a deal necessarily. So that brings us full circle back to what the VCIO role really is. And that VCIO role really requires somebody to be able to bring a consultative approach

[00:11:51] to driving the roadmap, right? To driving the outcomes that you discover through the gap analysis, through the statistics and KPIs that you're bringing in, and then putting it together into a roadmap, backing it up with wise statements so the customer can get there. And when they're presented this, they're having an aha moment. Oh, that makes sense. Didn't know I had that risk. Didn't know I

[00:12:16] had that exposure. That makes sense. Let's move with it. Oh, didn't realize that this could streamline what I'm doing. And for the MSP, it's going to keep you in check. I can't tell you how many times my MSP partners and certainly myself when I was a managed service provider, we were, we saw that we were able to take existing technology when we understand what the customer was trying to achieve and bring more efficiency or productivity through those tools they've already made investments into.

[00:12:44] You know, all of you for the most part are Microsoft agents out there, right? Selling Microsoft licenses. Think of all the different tools that you can find in 365 and think of all the different applications that you could potentially extend to a customer at no additional cost if you spent a little time with them. So really the VCIO's job is to ask the questions, to understand what the company's trying to do,

[00:13:07] and then leverage those initiatives that they're doing throughout the process to get things done. And that's really the strategy. If you did, you know, just a two point line, we started and where we'll be when we end, right? Before and after. Think of it in those terms. But if we don't understand what the before state is and what's driving, you know, and what they're trying to get from an after perspective, we're never going to be able to do more than just filling out kind of app,

[00:13:37] you know, filling out a list of applications already using and, you know, and refreshing those things long term. And again, we're all trying to avoid being pushed into the commodity bucket, and there's no faster way than that. So we got to get much more consultative in this process. I let you know when and we got to get consultative in what we're sharing with the customer. Inside VCIO toolbox, we got all kinds of performance statistics numbers and all that.

[00:14:03] But the things that consistently resonate with the customers are here is your strategic plan. Here are the KPIs we care about the ones that are falling off right now, and that could be shared automated or through scorecards right through some of those reports you get from your other systems. And then how do we view risk? What is the prioritization of these challenges? If you can help a customer understand the likelihood and the impact to their business about a problem,

[00:14:31] and then how that relates back to their strategic goal, you're not even going to have to ask for the purchase order anymore. So you need to get risk into that conversation so they understand what is the risk they face. You guys have heard me say it before if you've listened to these episodes for quite a while. People only buy for three reasons. Make money, save money, or mitigate risk.

[00:14:54] And the beauty of our industry is we can help them with all three of those levers, but we got to be able to show the why behind it, because the numbers that we put in front of our customers often contain a lot of zeros, right? So we've got to get aligned in our conversation and say, hey, here's the project. This is the risk that you're facing that's driving this project. Here's your impact and likelihood of this project or of that risk actually occurring for your business.

[00:15:20] And this is the goal that it's supporting that you've shared with me in your business. And if you can make that connection, you're being strategic now. That is strategy. That's working with them to a joint beneficial outcome, and it's showing them along the way the steps so they can make a clearer decision. It's not magic. It's not, and let's get into what is not strategy alone. Just getting their strategic initiatives and going, I know them. That's not strategy.

[00:15:48] Building a roadmap and saying this is where you need to go. If you're not backing it up with facts, showing them the why they need to go there, it's not strategy. If you're just going out there with renewals and refresh cycles, the only person that's strategic for is you, because you're making sure you're getting the revenue that's low-hanging fruit. But you're certainly not bringing value to the customer or to yourself, because you're not asking the questions that's going to uncover net new revenue opportunities and help you do revenue expansion with your customers.

[00:16:16] And more importantly, if you do those things right, you're closing the door on retention challenges as well. Now you're really going to retain the clients. So when I look at the VCIO role or this strategic business review role, there are aspects in it of building a strategic plan, of delivering a roadmap, of getting feedback so the CSR considerations are being attended to. And certainly we're looking to drive some deals like an AM would.

[00:16:45] But really what we need to be doing there is doing it in sequence. And another thing that I've been talking about lately is really how do you keep this fresh for your customer as well? One of the other challenges that are facing and where we're not being strategic in addressing our customers is we come out there every meeting with the same type of data. And eventually that becomes stale, right? Imagine if you were watching the same movie over and over again. And the outcomes, there wasn't any new twists or plots.

[00:17:15] Things were pretty steady state. It would become something that you're no longer going to be excited about and you're probably going to cancel, right? And I think many of you have experienced that cancellation crisis with your business reviews. So one of the things that we're looking at is how do you keep your business reviews fresh? And we've come up with cadences where first meeting is kind of the year end or year kicker. We want to get aligned on strategy again.

[00:17:41] We want to make sure we understand what projects are upcoming and get a full understanding of the budget. The second quarter, assuming I'm doing quarterlies with the customer, is going to be focused more on security and risk. We're going to look at those security gaps. We're going to look at those risk gaps as the forefront conversation. And of course, we're going to support it with some of the standard data that we're sharing with our customers, i.e. your roadmap as an example. The third meeting is when we then do the refresh cycle.

[00:18:08] That's when we can look at warranties, refresh schedules, Microsoft licensing, all the things that you need to uncover in order to stay in tune with the low-hanging fruit. There's nothing wrong with going after it, guys. I hope that's not what's coming off here in my conversation. But on its own, it's not strategic. It needs to be part of a mix. And then the fourth meeting can be a year-end recap where you can highlight what was completed,

[00:18:33] what doors were closed in that period, help get feedback and see if they really felt the outcomes that you were expecting in this process. And then, of course, we're going to move into the next year. So, you know, think about how you can shake up your meetings a little bit, too, and get a little bit different cadence going so your customers come to it. And you may be surprised. You may start getting some of the executives that you're not getting because now they're being told it's a fresh new perspective,

[00:19:01] very focused on outcomes, much more strategically aligned with what they're trying to do, you know, as an organization and what goals they have and really drive this process. So, again, guys, maybe a little bit soapboxy today, maybe a little bit, you know, more of a rant than I usually have. Again, my rants probably aren't as high as some others out there. But it really is.

[00:19:27] It's throwing me right now that all of a sudden this concept of a strategic business review is only coming to be here in 2025 with some of the folks that, you know, I compete against, quite frankly. And, you know, it's something that has been instilled in my world for that time. But really, when you think about it, I think there's a number of factors that got it watered down. And as always, it was us trying to really automate a process that, unfortunately, will always have a manual component.

[00:19:56] Anything of value does, right? We have to stay engaged with our customers to keep them to understand when there's problems and to make them happy. We have to show value, but value is not just showing up saying what we did, thumping our chests. It's showing them the outcomes they're starting to receive from the things that we've done and letting them step back, evaluate, and confirm that.

[00:20:19] It's getting to understand our customer at a much deeper level how they're trying to proceed, how they're moving forward, how they're doing financially, right? Are they in a period of growth or downsizing? Each one of those is an opportunity for an MSP, but we've got to be very sensitive when it's a downsizing side. And we can be a little bit more aggressive when it's an upsizing conversation. So, guys, I hope you found some value in this rant that I put on today.

[00:20:48] If you do have any questions, please reach to me directly, bdoyle at BCIOtoolbox. I'm always happy to answer questions from anybody out in the audience. And I'll see you again next week.