Renewal Season Readiness Toolkit
The complete bundle CS teams deploy 90 days before a big renewal quarter — a countdown plan, risk scorecards, negotiation guardrails, escalation paths, and leadership reporting, all included.
What's inside
- A 90-60-30 day countdown plan with checklist items at each milestone
- An account risk scorecard to run across every renewing account
- A segmented negotiation playbook with discount authority by tier
- A four-tier escalation path with owners and response-time SLAs
- An executive sponsor assignment template for at-risk strategic accounts
- A weekly leadership rollup report template
- A post-renewal debrief template to capture systemic lessons
What's in this bundle
The full deployment kit a CS/AM leader uses starting 90 days before a big renewal quarter: a countdown plan, an account risk scorecard, a segmented negotiation playbook, a tiered escalation path, an executive sponsor program template, a leadership rollup, and a post-renewal debrief.
1. The 90-60-30 Day Countdown Plan
At 90 days out:
- Pull a full renewal forecast for the quarter (list every account, contract value, renewal date)
- Run the Account Risk Scorecard (below) on every account renewing this quarter
- Flag every At-Risk/Critical account for an exec sponsor assignment
- Brief the team on quarter targets and any pricing/packaging changes taking effect
At 60 days out:
- Every AM has started the renewal conversation (value recap, not logistics) on every account
- Every At-Risk account has a documented save plan with a named owner
- Pricing/negotiation guardrails (below) are distributed to the team
- First leadership rollup report goes out (template below)
At 30 days out:
- Every account has either a signed renewal, a clear verbal commit with paperwork in motion, or an active escalation
- Any account still "unresponsive" moves to the tiered escalation path automatically
- Weekly (not monthly) leadership rollup begins
- Legal/finance loop in for any non-standard terms in flight
At renewal date:
- Signed or escalated — no account should be "still waiting to hear back" with no owner and no next step
2. Account Risk Scorecard
(Run this per account — mirrors the Churn Signal Quiz, scaled for leadership rollup.)
| Dimension | Score 0–2 | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Usage trend (last 90 days) | ||
| Sentiment (last NPS/QBR signal) | ||
| Stakeholder stability (champion/buyer turnover) | ||
| Competitive/budget pressure known | ||
| Total (0–8) | 0–2 Healthy · 3–5 Watch · 6–8 At-Risk |
3. Renewal Negotiation Playbook by Segment
| Segment | Standard approach | Discount authority | Escalation trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategic / Top-tier | Exec-to-exec relationship required; multi-year term preferred | CS/AM leader approval only | Any request >10% off list |
| Core / Mid-market | AM-led with manager review of any non-standard term | AM up to X%, manager above | Any multi-year discount request |
| Long-tail / SMB | Standard terms, self-serve renewal where possible | Pre-approved discount bands only | Any request outside pre-approved bands |
(Replace X% with your actual approved discount authority — this table is the structure, your numbers go in the cells.)
4. Tiered Escalation Path
| Tier | Trigger | Owner | Response time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Account flagged Watch on risk scorecard | AM | Address within 5 business days |
| Tier 2 | Account flagged At-Risk, or unresponsive 2+ weeks | AM + Manager | Save plan documented within 3 business days |
| Tier 3 | Account flagged Critical, or strategic account At-Risk | CS/AM Leader + Exec Sponsor | Exec-to-exec call scheduled within 5 business days |
| Tier 4 | Signed churn notice, or contract value above [threshold] at risk | CEO/CRO involvement | Immediate — same-day war room |
5. Executive Sponsor Program Template
(Assign for every Tier 3/4 account.)
- Account: ___________
- Internal exec sponsor: ___________
- Customer-side exec counterpart: ___________
- Reason for assignment (what triggered it): ___________
- Cadence (recommended: monthly for at-risk, quarterly for strategic-healthy): ___________
- Talking points for next touchpoint: ___________
6. Leadership Renewal Rollup Template
(Send weekly starting 30 days out, monthly before that.)
| Metric | This period | Target | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total renewal $ this quarter | |||
| % Signed/committed | |||
| % At-Risk (scorecard 6–8) | |||
| # Tier 3/4 escalations open | |||
| Forecasted GRR this quarter |
7. Post-Renewal Debrief Template
(Complete for every At-Risk/Critical account, win or loss, within 1 week of resolution.)
- Outcome: Renewed / Renewed at reduced terms / Churned / Downgraded
- What actually drove the outcome? ___________
- Was the risk correctly flagged with enough lead time? Y/N — if not, why?
- What would we do differently with 90 days' notice next time? ___________
- Does this reveal a systemic issue (onboarding, product gap, pricing) beyond this one account? ___________
How to use it
Kick this off exactly 90 days before your renewal-heavy quarter starts — run the countdown plan in order, score every renewing account with the risk scorecard immediately, and route anything At-Risk or worse into the tiered escalation path rather than letting an individual AM carry it alone.