Ending a review with agreed next actions

A customer review achieves little if both sides leave with a positive impression but different expectations of what happens next.

Reserve time to turn the discussion into a mutual plan.

If the discussion runs long, protect those closing minutes. A plan written afterwards by one side alone may not reflect what both parties agreed.

Convert findings into decisions

For each outcome discussed, decide whether to continue, change or stop the current approach.

Name one concrete action, its owner, due date and evidence of completion. “Improve adoption” is a goal; “customer operations will invite the remaining regional managers to a workflow session by 15 October” is an action.

Do not assign work to someone absent without confirming their agreement.

Include both parties. The vendor may need to fix a configuration or provide a report; the customer may need to supply data or nominate a process owner.

Keep the number of actions small. A few clear commitments that both sides can finish are more useful than a long list that nobody reads again. If an action is too large to finish before the next review, break it into a first step with its own date.

Gainsight's review guidance emphasises clear expectations, follow-through and progress tied to customer goals.

Record dependencies so one side is not blamed for an action blocked by the other.

Gainsight’s QBR Success Principles

Send a short record

Within an agreed interval, share the decisions, actions, owners, dates, risks and next review point.

Invite corrections to factual misunderstandings. Store the plan where the people doing the work can find it, not only in an executive slide deck.

Write the message as a shared record, not as a list of instructions or a complaint about what the customer failed to do. Plain wording makes it easier for the customer to correct a detail and to forward the note to colleagues.

Set a check-in before the next formal review for any urgent item.

At the following review, start with these commitments. Ask what was completed and what effect it had.

If a step did not happen, explain the reason and choose a new path rather than copying the same action into another deck.