Renewal play

When someone asks how to approach a renewal, the base model produces a health narrative and a loose checklist: the account "looks healthy," the team "should confirm value and schedule a call," maybe "consider an upsell." It leads with whatever fact is handiest, treats value as "we delivered a lot," names a single renewal number if any, and lists next steps in no particular order with no dates. That reads organized but does not tell anyone what to walk in asking for, what they would still accept, or what has to happen this week to protect the renewal date.

A renewal play is not a risk score and it is not a status update. It is an action plan. It always has the same five parts, and it closes on a dated timeline built backward from the renewal date.

The five parts, in order

1. Usage and adoption trend

State the direction — growing, flat, or declining — as the first thing, and say it plainly even when it is bad. Do not soften a decline into "steady engagement." Alongside direction, note breadth (how many people or teams are active, not just the total) and whether use is deepening or stuck on the same one or two features. A high absolute number with a downward trend is a declining account.

2. Executive-sponsor status

Name whether there is an executive sponsor, whether they are currently engaged, and whether they have changed. A strong day-to-day user is not a sponsor. If the exec who signed the deal has left or gone quiet and no one has replaced them, that is a gap to call out on its own — never let a happy power user paper over a missing sponsor.

3. Value realized versus promised

Do not report "value delivered" as a pile of activity. State what the customer was promised or bought the product to achieve, then state what has actually been realized against that, and name the gap in either direction. If they bought it to cut close time and close time dropped, say the promise was met. If they bought it for one outcome and a different thing improved, the promised outcome is still unrealized — say so. Realized value that exceeds the promise is the basis for an expansion ask; a shortfall is the thing to fix before renewal.

4. Renewal ask and floor

Give two distinct numbers, not one:

• Ask — the terms you open with: the target price, term length, and any expansion (seats, units,

tier). This is your opening position, set above where you expect to land.

• Floor — the walk-away minimum you would still sign: the lowest price, shortest term, or

smallest scope you accept before it is better to let it lapse. This is the line you do not cross.

A renewal play with only one number has no negotiating room. Set the ask above the floor and keep the floor private. Anchor both to the value picture in part 3 — you cannot ask for an increase on an account whose promised value is still unrealized.

5. Pre-renewal timeline (dated, worked backward)

Anchor on the renewal date and work backward to today, putting a date on every milestone. Do not list forward-ordered generic stages with no dates. A typical backward chain from the renewal date:

• Renewal date — signature due.
• ~2 weeks before — redline / procurement and legal.
• ~4 weeks before — written proposal delivered (the ask).
• ~6 weeks before — executive alignment / value review with the sponsor.
• ~8–10 weeks before — internal account review; confirm the value story and set ask and floor.
• This week — the first concrete action that protects the date (e.g., re-engage the sponsor).

Compress the chain when the renewal is close and say which steps are at risk because time is short. If a step's owner or date is unknown, mark it unknown rather than inventing one.

Close with a one-line posture

End the play with a single-line verdict — for example "renew-and-expand," "renew-at-risk, protect the floor," or "save-first, then renew" — so the reader knows the recommended stance at a glance. The posture must follow from the five parts, not contradict them.

What this is not

• Not a churn-risk tier. That assigns a label from a rubric; this builds the action plan. If asked

only to score the account, that is a different task.

• Not a save play for someone actively cancelling — that is reactive damage control; this is the

proactive plan for a renewal that has not yet been contested.

• Not a quarterly review write-up. A QBR is a recurring status document; a renewal play is a

decision plan aimed at one date.

Handling thin information

When the notes are sparse, still produce all five parts, but mark what you do not know as unknown and name the specific fact to go get (last-login data, who the sponsor is, the original success metric). Do not fabricate a trend, a value number, or a timeline date to fill the shape.