For many years of running my agency, I did not do quarterly reviews. I did annual ones. Once a year, usually in January, I would look at the numbers, think about what went well and what did not, set some goals for the next year, and get back to work.

The problem with annual reviews is that by the time you spot a problem, you have wasted 10 months living with it. A client concentration issue that showed up in March was not addressed until December. A pricing problem that started in June compounded for six months before anyone looked at it. Recency bias sucks.

When I switched to quarterly reviews, everything changed. Problems were caught within weeks, not months. Opportunities were acted on before they disappeared. The business started feeling less reactive and more deliberate.

A quarterly review is not a strategy day. It is not a team-building exercise. It is a half-day of honest assessment and focused planning that keeps the business on track. Here is how to run one that actually works.

The Format: Four Hours, Four Sections

Block a half day. Do not try to do this in two hours. Do not extend it to a full day. Four hours is the sweet spot: long enough to be thorough, short enough that you do not lose focus.

I used to do mine on the first Monday of January, April, July, and October. Same day every quarter. Non-negotiable. If a client meeting clashed, the client meeting moved. The quarterly review was the most important meeting in the business.

Section 1: Score the Quarter (60 minutes)

Start by reviewing what you said you would do last quarter. Pull out the priorities you set three months ago and score each one honestly.

For each priority, mark it:

No excuses. No context. Just the score. If 2 out of 3 priorities were done, that is a decent quarter. If 0 out of 3 were done, something is fundamentally wrong with either the priorities or the execution.

Then review the numbers. Pull these six metrics and compare them to the start of the quarter:

  1. Total revenue
  2. Gross profit margin
  3. Monthly recurring revenue
  4. Client concentration (top 3 clients as % of revenue)
  5. Pipeline coverage ratio
  6. Utilisation rate

Put them side by side: start of quarter versus end of quarter. The trend matters more than the absolute number. Are things improving, holding, or declining?

Section 2: What Worked and What Did Not (45 minutes)

This is the honest conversation. Not the comfortable one.

What worked this quarter? Name the specific wins. A new client signed. A pricing increase that stuck. A team member who stepped up. A process that saved time. Be specific. “Marketing went well” is not useful. “The LinkedIn content generated 4 inbound enquiries that converted to £18,000 in new work” is useful.

What did not work? Name the specific failures. A project that lost money. A client relationship that deteriorated. A hire that did not work out. A priority that was abandoned.

This section is where most agency owners struggle because it requires admitting mistakes. But mistakes that are not acknowledged get repeated. I learned more from the “what did not work” section of my quarterly reviews than from any book or course.

One quarter, I had to write down: “I avoided having a difficult conversation with our biggest client about scope creep, and it cost us approximately £4,000 in unbilled work.” Writing that down forced me to have the conversation the following week. That discomfort was worth the £4,000.

Section 3: Set the Next Quarter’s Priorities (60 minutes)

Based on the review, set three priorities for the next quarter. Three. Not five. Not ten. Three.

The test for a good quarterly priority: if you completed it, would it meaningfully move the business toward its 12-month targets? If the answer is not a clear yes, it is not a priority. It is a task.

Good quarterly priorities:

Bad quarterly priorities:

For each priority, write down:

Section 4: Identify and Address Risks (45 minutes)

Every quarter, something is lurking. A client who has gone quiet. A team member who seems disengaged. A market shift that could affect demand. A cash flow crunch that is building.

List the top 3 risks facing the business in the next quarter. For each risk, write down:

This section prevents the “I knew that was going to happen” conversations that plague agencies. If you identified a risk and did nothing about it, that is on you. If you identified a risk and took action, you are managing the business, not just running it.

Who Should Be in the Room

For agencies under 10 people, the quarterly review is usually the founder plus 1 to 2 senior team members. The people who own delivery, client relationships, and sales.

For larger agencies, it is the leadership team: MD, creative director, head of accounts, head of operations. Keep it small. More than 5 people in the room and the conversation becomes performative rather than honest.

One rule I had: whatever is said in the quarterly review stays in the quarterly review. If someone raises a difficult issue about a team member, a client, or the business itself, that stays in the room. Creating a safe space for honesty is more important than transparent communication. You can share the outcomes without sharing the raw discussion.

The Board Pack

Before the quarterly review, prepare a simple document with the numbers. I call it a board pack, though you do not need a board to use one.

The board pack contains:

Prepare this the week before the review. Send it to attendees 2 days in advance so everyone arrives having read the numbers. The review itself should be discussion, not data presentation.

Common Mistakes

Skipping the review when things are going well. Good quarters are exactly when you should review. Understanding why things went well is as valuable as understanding why they went badly. What worked this quarter that you should repeat? What conditions created the success?

Turning it into a brainstorm. The quarterly review is not for generating ideas. It is for assessing performance and setting direction. If ideas come up, note them and schedule a separate session. Do not let “what if we also…” conversations derail the review.

Not following through. Setting three priorities and then never looking at them until the next review. Print the priorities. Put them on the wall. Review them in your weekly management meeting. If they are not front-of-mind every week, they will not get done.

Being too nice. The quarterly review is where you tell the truth about the business. If a project lost money, say it. If a priority was abandoned because it was too hard, say it. Polite reviews produce mediocre quarters.

What to Do This Week

  1. Book your next quarterly review. Put it in the diary now. First Monday of the next quarter. Four hours. Non-negotiable.

  2. Build your board pack template. A one-page Google Doc or spreadsheet with the six metrics, client revenue breakdown, and pipeline summary. You will use this template every quarter.

  3. Score this quarter. Even if you have not been doing formal reviews, take 30 minutes to assess the last 3 months. What were the wins? What were the failures? What would you prioritise for the next 90 days?

Further Reading

For the six metrics that should be in every quarterly review, read the agency KPIs article.

For the financial benchmarks to compare your quarterly numbers against, the agency profit benchmarks guide gives you the industry standards.

Take the free Agency Valuation to get a snapshot of where your business stands today. Use the results as a baseline in your next quarterly review. Book a discovery call if you want to talk through how to structure your quarterly rhythm.