QBRs Scenario Drill

CFO asks for ROI that was never baselined

The team wants to prove impact, but the original success plan never captured a baseline.

Value Narration Enterprise CSM 40 minutes Individual CSMCS LeaderTeam Drill

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Decision Prompt

How do you tell a credible value story without inventing ROI?

Situation Brief

A CFO joins the next business review and asks for ROI. The champion believes the product saved time, but onboarding never captured a baseline and the team only has usage growth, anecdotes, and a few before-after examples.

Available Evidence

The original success plan promised 'reduce manual reporting time' but did not define the baseline.
Admin users say weekly reporting is easier, but no one tracked hours saved.
Seat usage grew 22 percent, mostly in teams that already liked the product.
The champion wants the CSM to present a confident ROI estimate anyway.
The CFO asked for a one-page impact summary before approving expansion budget.
Support tickets about exports decreased, but ticket tagging changed mid-quarter.
The QBR is in nine business days.

Answer Rubric

What strong judgment sounds like.

Strong answer

Replace fake ROI with a proof ladder and baseline recovery plan.

State what can be proven, what can be inferred, and what cannot be claimed yet.
Use before-after workflow examples as directional evidence, not ROI math.
Ask for a lightweight baseline recovery step before the next review.
Frame the CFO summary around value signals, confidence level, and proof plan.
Coach the champion not to overstate impact for a short-term expansion ask.

Weak answer patterns

Estimating hours saved from usage growth without customer validation.
Avoiding the CFO's question because the baseline is missing.
Presenting anecdotes as quantified ROI.
Letting expansion pressure turn weak evidence into a confident claim.

Manager Coaching Notes

Ask the CSM to label every value claim by confidence level.
Look for a baseline recovery step that is small enough to run now.
Score the CFO summary on credibility over persuasion.

AI Practice Prompt

Practice with your AI tool of choice.

          Create a CFO-ready value summary when ROI was not baselined. Separate proven outcomes, directional signals, unsupported claims, and a baseline recovery plan. Do not invent savings or convert usage growth into ROI.

Team CTA