Staffing client QBR template: agenda, fill and submittal metrics, quality, market notes and the account plan
On this page
- How is a QBR different from the weekly update?
- Who should attend?
- The 60-minute QBR agenda
- The staffing QBR template
- Which metrics belong in a staffing QBR?
- How do you present misses and fall-offs?
- Market notes without invented data
- The next-quarter account plan
- A filled example
- Common mistakes
- Questions people ask
A staffing client QBR (quarterly business review) is a 45 to 60 minute meeting an agency holds with a client each quarter to compare what was delivered with what was ordered, explain the misses, share what the agency is seeing in the candidate market, and agree a plan for the next quarter with commitments on both sides. A standard pack covers delivery (job orders, submittals, interviews, starts, fill rate, time to fill), quality (submittal-to-interview, interview-to-offer, fall-offs and guarantee replacements), the client-side process (feedback time, interview availability), market notes from your own data, and the account plan. Every number below is an example; use your own.
The QBR is not the weekly status update, which is covered by our recruiter weekly report template, and the metric definitions are in recruiting agency metrics. If the first QBR comes soon after you won the account, start from the 30-day review in the agency client onboarding checklist.
How is a QBR different from the weekly update?
| Weekly update | Quarterly business review | |
|---|---|---|
| Question it answers | Where is each candidate on each open job? | Is this partnership working, and what changes next quarter? |
| Audience | Hiring managers, client recruiter | Hiring leaders, TA or HR lead, procurement where relevant |
| Content | Pipeline by role, next steps | Trends, quality, misses, market, plan |
| Owner | Recruiter | Account manager or agency owner |
| Outcome | Feedback and interview slots | Agreed priorities and commitments from both sides |
Who should attend?
- Agency: the account manager (owner), the lead recruiter on the account, and the agency owner for your largest clients.
- Client: the hiring leaders who place most orders, the TA or HR lead, and procurement or the program office if the work runs through a managed service provider or vendor management system. See MSP vs VMS in staffing and what is a VMS in staffing.
The 60-minute QBR agenda
QBR AGENDA [Client] x [Agency] [Quarter] [Date, time, location/link]
Pre-read sent: [date, two working days before]
0-5 Purpose and what we agreed last quarter (status of each action)
5-15 Results: orders, submittals, interviews, starts, fill rate, speed
15-30 Quality: conversion ratios, fall-offs, guarantee replacements,
assignment completion; misses and root causes
30-40 Market notes: pay, availability, competing offers, decline reasons
40-55 Next quarter: forecast of needs, priorities, commitments both ways
55-60 Actions, owners, dates; next QBR bookedThe staffing QBR template
Use this as the pre-read document or as the outline for a short deck, one section per slide.
QUARTERLY BUSINESS REVIEW
Client: [ ] Agency: [ ] Period: [start] to [end]
Prepared by: [account manager] Sent: [date]
1. LAST QUARTER'S COMMITMENTS
Commitment Owner Status Note
[e.g. first submittal in 3 days] [Agency] [met] [ ]
[e.g. feedback within 48 hours] [Client] [partly] [ ]
2. RESULTS
This qtr Last qtr Definition
Job orders received [ ] [ ] [new orders opened in period]
Submittals [ ] [ ]
Interviews [ ] [ ]
Offers [ ] [ ]
Starts [ ] [ ]
Fill rate [ ]% [ ]% [starts / positions ordered]
Time to first submittal [ ] days [ ] days [order to first submittal]
Time to fill (median) [ ] days [ ] days [order to accepted offer]
3. QUALITY
Submittal-to-interview [ ]% [ ]%
Interview-to-offer [ ]% [ ]%
Offer-to-start fall-off [ ]% [ ]%
Left within guarantee [ ] [ ] [replacements made: ]
Assignment completion [ ]% [ ]% [contract only]
4. MISSES AND ROOT CAUSES
Order What happened Cause Fix
[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
5. CLIENT-SIDE PROCESS
Median feedback time after submittal: [ ] days
Median feedback time after interview: [ ] days
Orders changed or cancelled after sourcing started: [ ]
6. MARKET NOTES (from our own records this quarter)
- Pay expectations of submitted candidates vs your ranges: [ ]
- Top reasons candidates declined or withdrew: [ ]
- Competing offers and counteroffers seen: [ ]
- Roles where the pool is thin: [ ]
7. NEXT QUARTER PLAN
Expected needs: [roles, volumes, dates]
Priorities: [1-3]
Agency commits to: [ ]
We ask the client to: [ ]
Next QBR: [date]Which metrics belong in a staffing QBR?
| Metric | Formula | What it tells the client |
|---|---|---|
| Fill rate | Positions filled / positions ordered | How much of the demand you covered; see fill rate for staffing agencies for order, headcount and shift versions |
| Time to first submittal | Days from order to first submittal | Responsiveness, and whether you have a ready pool |
| Time to fill | Days from order to accepted offer (median) | Speed end to end, including the client's own steps |
| Submittal-to-interview | Interviews / submittals | How well you understand the brief |
| Interview-to-offer | Offers / interviews | Candidate quality at the client's bar |
| Offer-to-start fall-off | Accepted offers that did not start / accepted offers | Candidate commitment and counteroffer risk |
| Departures within guarantee | Count, and replacements made | Fit after the start; see the placement guarantee period |
State the definition next to every number. A client comparing you with two other suppliers will notice if your fill rate counts orders and theirs counts heads.
How do you present misses and fall-offs?
Lead with them rather than letting the client raise them. For each miss: what happened, the cause, and the fix you have already made. Be specific about causes on both sides. "The order changed from three years' experience to five after we had submitted four candidates" is a cause; "the market is tough" is not. If the client's feedback times slowed delivery, show the numbers neutrally in section 5 and propose a change, such as a standing weekly feedback slot, rather than a complaint. For a placement lost after acceptance, our page on recovering a lost placement covers what to offer.
Market notes without invented data
Clients value the market section most and agencies get it wrong most often, by repeating headline figures with no source. Use what your own desk saw this quarter: the pay expectations of candidates you submitted against the client's ranges, why candidates declined, how many had competing offers, and which roles drew the fewest qualified applicants. If you use a public figure, name the publisher and date and link it. If you do not have a number, say what you saw in words.
The next-quarter account plan
ACCOUNT PLAN [Client] [Next quarter]
Expected demand: [roles x volume x month]
Top priorities (max 3):
1. [e.g. cover all warehouse shifts in the peak weeks]
2. [ ]
3. [ ]
Agency commitments (measurable):
- [e.g. first submittal within 3 business days for priority roles]
- [e.g. pre-screened bench of 15 for (role) by (date)]
Client commitments:
- [e.g. feedback within 2 business days of each submittal]
- [e.g. orders confirmed 3 weeks before start date]
Risks: [ ] Review points: [monthly check-in dates]A filled example
Example (invented figures). A light industrial account, Q3.
- Results: 42 positions ordered, 34 started, fill rate 81% (Q2: 74%). Median time to first submittal 2 days.
- Quality: 6 of 40 accepted offers did not start (15% fall-off), mostly second-shift roles where candidates took day-shift offers elsewhere.
- Client side: median feedback after interview went from 4 days to 2 after a standing Tuesday slot was agreed in Q2.
- Market note: 9 of 14 candidates who declined second shift cited the pay differential being lower than at nearby employers, from our own decline notes.
- Plan: agency builds a second-shift bench of 10 by mid-quarter; client reviews the shift differential before the peak season; next QBR booked for the second week of January.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | What happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| A pipeline review in disguise | The client sends a junior attendee next time | Trends and decisions; pipeline stays weekly |
| Only good news | The client raises the misses, and trust drops | Misses first, with causes and fixes |
| Numbers with no definitions | Arguments about the math instead of the plan | Definition beside every metric |
| Market claims with no source | Undermines everything else in the pack | Your own data, or a named and dated source |
| Commitments only from the agency | The same client-side delays next quarter | Commitments both ways, reviewed next time |
Questions people ask
What is a QBR in staffing?
A quarterly business review is a scheduled meeting, usually 45 to 60 minutes, in which a staffing agency and a client review the last quarter's delivery against what was ordered, explain misses, share what the agency is seeing in the candidate market, and agree a plan and commitments for the next quarter. It is a review and a planning meeting, not a pipeline update.
What metrics should a staffing agency show in a QBR?
Job orders received, submittals, interviews, offers and starts; fill rate; time to first submittal and time to fill; submittal-to-interview and interview-to-offer ratios; offer-to-start fall-offs and early departures within the guarantee period; and the client-side numbers that affect delivery, such as feedback time. Every number should come from your own records with its definition stated.
How long should a staffing client QBR be?
Sixty minutes is enough for most accounts: about ten minutes on results, fifteen on quality and misses, ten on market notes, twenty on the next-quarter plan, and five to confirm actions. Send the numbers two days ahead so the meeting is spent on decisions rather than reading slides.
How do you run a QBR for a client in an MSP or VMS program?
Agree the definitions with the program first, because the managed service provider's scorecard may count fill rate or time to submit differently from your own system. Reconcile your numbers with the VMS data before the meeting, explain any difference, and include the program office in the invitation if the client expects it.