renewal-orchestration

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

1. Build the risk score with weighted signals; validate against historical churn
2. Codify the T-180 → T+30 timeline with owners and SLAs
3. Pre-decide posture at the segment level, not deal-by-deal
4. Write walk-away conditions with finance and exec alignment
5. Standardize the value pack so every CSM produces consistent evidence
6. Build the expansion play library with explicit AE handoff rules

Tips

1. Late risk identification is the #1 churn driver - instrument T-180 baseline
2. The redline is not the negotiation - the negotiation is at the value pack
3. Multi-year discounts must be earned, not given to close
4. Auto-renew is a privilege, not a default; revoke when trust erodes
5. 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