| name | renewal-orchestration |
| description | Renewal orchestration playbook - risk identification, renewal motion design, multi-thread engagement, commercial negotiation, and expansion-at-renewal plays. Use when: renewal playbook, renewal forecast, renewal risk, multi-year renewal, NRR, GRR, churn save, contract negotiation, expansion at renewal, renewal handoff. |
Renewal Orchestration (RENEW Framework)
Design a renewal motion that produces forecastable Gross Revenue Retention, defends price, and uses the renewal moment as an expansion event - not a re-validation event. RENEW replaces "let's get the redline back" with a coordinated, signal-driven motion that starts 120+ days before contract end.
Core Principle
A renewal is won or lost 90 days before the contract end date, not in the redline cycle. RENEW front-loads risk identification and value evidence so the commercial conversation is short, defensible, and frequently expansion-oriented.
The RENEW Framework
| Letter | Stage | The Question |
|---|
| R | Risk Scoring | What is the renewal risk score 180 / 120 / 60 days out, and what signals drive it? |
| E | Engagement Re-establishment | Who is the buying group at renewal, and are they re-engaged? |
| N | Negotiation Posture | What is the price / terms posture, and what are the walk-away conditions? |
| E | Expansion Inclusion | What expansion play, if any, is bundled into the renewal conversation? |
| W | Win the Close | What artifact pack, decision criteria, and approval path are pre-aligned? |
Renewal Risk Scoring
Risk is a composite - not a single number. Score these at T-180:
| Dimension | Signal | Weight |
|---|
| Adoption | Engagement / workflow coverage vs. cohort | 25% |
| Outcome attainment | Customer's stated success metric progress | 25% |
| Stakeholder | Champion engaged in last 90 days, exec sponsor identified | 20% |
| Commercial signal | Procurement contact, late payment, MSA review | 15% |
| Competitive exposure | Inbound research on competitors, RFI signal | 10% |
| Support / quality | Critical-severity ticket trend | 5% |
Bucket into Green / Yellow / Red and route to the matching play.
Renewal Timeline
| Days Out | Activity | Owner |
|---|
| T-180 | Risk score baseline, success-plan refresh | CSM |
| T-150 | Stakeholder map refresh, exec sponsor re-engaged | CSM + AE |
| T-120 | Value-realization pack draft, expansion thesis identified | CSM + AE |
| T-90 | Renewal conversation initiated, EBR or value review | CSM + AE |
| T-60 | Commercial proposal, terms / pricing | AE + Deal Desk |
| T-30 | Negotiation + approvals | AE + Legal |
| T-0 | Signed renewal | All |
| T+30 | Renewal debrief, NRR / GRR booked, post-renewal plan | CSM |
Negotiation Posture
Pre-decide posture before the customer asks for a discount.
| Lever | Standard Posture | Red-Risk Posture |
|---|
| Price | Hold or uplift per index | Concede to price hold, never below |
| Term | 1-yr standard, 3-yr incentive | 1-yr only if needed to save |
| Payment terms | Annual upfront | Annual; consider semi-annual to save |
| Auto-renew | Standard | Convert to manual if relationship is tense |
| Volume / true-up | Annual true-up | Defer true-up one cycle |
Walk-away conditions must be written before the negotiation starts.
Expansion at Renewal
A renewal with no expansion thesis is a missed compounding opportunity.
| Expansion Trigger | Play |
|---|
| Adjacent team adoption signal | Multi-thread + cross-team workshop |
| New use case in workflow data | Solution scoping + scoped expansion proposal |
| Module attach signal | Bundle into renewal with multi-year discount |
| Seat utilization > 85% | Seat expansion conversation pre-renewal |
Output
Save to outputs/renewal-orchestration-[segment]-[YYYY-MM-DD].md
| Artifact | Description |
|---|
| Risk Scoring Spec | Signals, weights, thresholds, refresh cadence |
| Renewal Timeline Template | T-180 → T+30 with owners and SLAs |
| Posture Matrix | Pricing / terms posture by risk tier |
| Walk-Away Rubric | Pre-decided "won't go below" conditions per segment |
| Value Realization Pack Template | Outcome evidence + ROI presentation |
| Expansion Play Library | Triggers → plays → AE/CSM ownership |
| Renewal Dashboard | Risk distribution, renewal cohort GRR/NRR, save rate, expansion-at-renewal % |
Process
- Build the risk score with weighted signals; validate against historical churn
- Codify the T-180 → T+30 timeline with owners and SLAs
- Pre-decide posture at the segment level, not deal-by-deal
- Write walk-away conditions with finance and exec alignment
- Standardize the value pack so every CSM produces consistent evidence
- Build the expansion play library with explicit AE handoff rules
Tips
- Late risk identification is the #1 churn driver - instrument T-180 baseline
- The redline is not the negotiation - the negotiation is at the value pack
- Multi-year discounts must be earned, not given to close
- Auto-renew is a privilege, not a default; revoke when trust erodes
- Always debrief renewals - wins and losses both teach pricing posture
Pairs With
- customer-success - Health score feeds the risk score
- revenue-analytics - NRR / GRR diagnostics rolls renewal outcomes
- enablement-forge - Builds the value realization pack and EBR templates
- revenue-forecasting - Renewal-stage probability informs the forecast
