← Field Ready by Jason Landers

Executive Business Review

EBR Builder

Structure your SE contribution for an Executive Business Review (EBR) or Quarterly Business Review (QBR). Technical health, value delivered, risks, expansion narrative, and the ask. Generates a downloadable slide deck ready to present. Takes about 5 minutes.

What the most effective SEs do differently in EBRs
Lead with what changed, not what was deployed.
"We onboarded three production clusters" means nothing to a VP. "Mean time to resolution on P1 incidents dropped 68%" does. Executives in an EBR want to understand what is different as a result of working with you. Every technical fact needs a business outcome attached before it earns its place in the room.
Name one real risk.
Executives have been in enough EBRs to know that nothing is perfect. An SE who shows up with a mitigation plan for a real problem signals something the highlight-reel contributors don't: that you're paying attention to the full picture. That credibility compounds.
The expansion story is yours to tell, not the AE's.
AEs frame expansion as contract value. You can frame it as technical readiness and customer outcomes. "You have 80% coverage in Payments but nothing in Infrastructure, and based on your Q3 reliability goals that's the gap worth closing" is something only the SE can say convincingly. Use that.
One specific ask, not a vague offer to continue.
"Let us know if you want to explore further" produces nothing. "A 45-minute technical roadmap session with your infrastructure lead before end of quarter" gives someone something to actually put on a calendar. Name the meeting, the attendees, and the timeframe. That's the ask.
Build it with the AE, not for them.
The EBR is a shared conversation, not a handoff. Get the AE involved early enough to actually shape the narrative together, not just review it the night before. The best EBRs happen when the SE and AE have agreed on the story in advance and are walking in as a unit. That takes more than 24 hours to arrange.
1
Meeting Basics

Who is in the room? This shapes how technical your framing should be.

2
Their Business Priorities

What are this customer's top stated business goals right now? These anchor your entire technical narrative.

Get an AI prompt for this
Paste into Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini
I am preparing a QBR/EBR contribution for [COMPANY NAME], a [INDUSTRY] company. Step 1 -- Check connected sources first: If you have access to any of the following, search them before going to public sources: - My email or calendar for recent conversations, meeting notes, or follow-ups related to [COMPANY NAME] - Any shared drives, folders, or CRM records I have access to that contain account notes, call recordings, or customer documents for this account - Any Slack or Teams channels related to this account Step 2 -- Fill gaps with public research: For anything not covered by internal sources, use publicly available information: recent earnings calls, press releases, LinkedIn posts from their leadership, news coverage, job postings (which often signal priorities), or their own website. Based on everything you find, identify their top 2-3 business priorities right now that a CTO, VP Engineering, or technical executive would care about: reliability, developer productivity, platform consolidation, compliance, cost reduction, AI adoption, or similar. For each priority, give me: - A one-sentence summary of the priority in the customer's own language where possible - The signal that indicates this is top of mind (internal note, earnings quote, job posting, news item) - How an observability or monitoring solution could connect to it Additional context I am providing: [PASTE ANY NOTES FROM DISCOVERY OR PREVIOUS MEETINGS]
Paste the output directly into the priority fields above. Edit to match what you have heard from the customer directly.
3
Technical Maturity

Where is this customer in their implementation journey?

Any nuance about where they are. Which teams are further along? Where are the gaps?

4
Value Delivered Since Last EBR

2 to 3 specific wins. Lead with the business outcome, not the technical action. Include a metric wherever possible.

Get an AI prompt for this
Paste into Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini
I need to write 2-3 value win statements for a QBR/EBR with [COMPANY NAME]. Step 1 -- Check connected sources first: Before using my notes below, search any sources you have access to: - My email or calendar for messages from [COMPANY NAME] contacts that mention outcomes, results, or feedback - Any CRM records, account notes, or shared folders for this account that might contain usage data, support tickets resolved, or success metrics - Any call recordings or transcripts where they described what improved If you find specific metrics or quotes from the customer themselves, prioritize those -- they are far more credible than our own claims. Step 2 -- Use my notes to fill any gaps: [PASTE YOUR NOTES -- rough bullet points, Salesforce activity log, call notes, anything] For each win, write: - Headline: one sentence, business outcome first, metric included where possible (e.g. "P1 incident MTTR reduced by 64% since Payments team deployment") - Supporting detail: 1-2 sentences explaining what changed, for which team, and why it matters to the business Write for a VP or CTO audience. Avoid product feature names and technical jargon. Every sentence should answer "so what?" from a business perspective.
Paste your rough notes into the prompt before running it. Use the output as a starting point and edit to match what you can actually stand behind.
5
Biggest Technical Risk

One honest risk you are aware of. Naming it proactively is a credibility move, not a liability.

6
Expansion Opportunity

The technical case for what they should do next, framed around their business priorities, not your quota.

Get an AI prompt for this
Paste into Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini
I am building an expansion narrative for a QBR/EBR with [COMPANY NAME]. Step 1 -- Check connected sources first: Search any sources you have access to before relying on what I provide below: - My email, calendar, or meeting notes for conversations where [COMPANY NAME] contacts mentioned gaps, frustrations, future plans, or things they wish were in place - Any CRM records or account documents that describe their environment, roadmap, or strategic initiatives - Any previous QBR or EBR notes or slide decks for this account that might show what was discussed before If you find specific quotes from the customer about where they want to go or what is missing, use those. A recommendation grounded in their own words lands very differently than one that comes only from our side. Step 2 -- Use the context I am providing: - Their current maturity level: [e.g. Core Deployed -- Payments team fully instrumented, Infrastructure not started] - What is working well: [PASTE VALUE WINS] - Their stated business priorities: [PASTE PRIORITIES] - Expansion opportunity I am considering: [DESCRIBE WHAT YOU WANT TO SUGGEST] Write: 1. One sentence describing the expansion from the customer's perspective -- what gap it closes, not what product we would sell 2. Two to three sentences explaining why this maps to the priorities they have stated, using their language where possible Write it as a technical recommendation from a trusted advisor. No upsell language.
Fill in the bracketed sections before running. The goal is an expansion story that feels like advice, not a pitch.
7
Relevant Product Update

One upcoming or recent capability that is directly relevant to this customer's stated priorities. Not a changelog bullet. A specific thing that matters to them.

8
The Ask

One specific next step. Name the meeting type, the participants, and the timeframe. Not "let us know if you want to explore further."

Your EBR Contribution
SE Contribution — Executive Business Review
Opening Framing
Technical Health
Getting StartedFully Mature
Value Delivered
Risk to Flag
⚠ Known Risk
✓ Our Recommendation
What's Next
Relevant Product Update
The Ask