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Renewals drive 70-95% of SaaS revenue, yet most teams treat them as afterthoughts. BuildBetter transforms renewal management by analyzing every customer interaction, predicting renewal outcomes months in advance, and automating the entire process so you can focus on growing accounts, not just retaining them.

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The Renewal Challenge

Traditional renewal management is reactive and risky:
  • 📅 45% of renewals happen in the last 2 weeks before expiration
  • 💸 $68B in ARR is at risk due to poor renewal processes
  • ⏰ CSMs spend 30% of time on renewal administration
  • 📉 23% price erosion from rushed negotiations
  • 🎯 Only 34% of renewals include expansion
BuildBetter transforms renewals from fire drills into strategic growth opportunities.

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Core Renewal Intelligence Capabilities

Predictive Renewal Scoring

AI predicts renewal probability 120+ days out with 91% accuracy

Value Documentation

Automatically track and quantify customer value for renewal conversations

Risk Detection

Surface renewal risks before they impact negotiations

Process Automation

Automate 80% of renewal tasks from outreach to documentation

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Implementation Guide

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Phase 1: Foundation (Week 1)

1

Build Your Renewal Intelligence System

Goal: Create comprehensive view of renewal pipeline and risks
  1. Connect Core Systems:
  2. Import Historical Data: 
    Critical Renewal Data:
- Past 2 years of renewals (won/lost)
- Discount history and patterns
- Negotiation timelines
- Stakeholder involvement
- Value metrics achieved
- Churn reasons
  3. Configure Renewal Fields: 
    Essential Tracking:
- Contract end date
- Auto-renewal clause (Y/N)
- Current ARR
- Growth potential
- Decision makers
- Budget cycle
- Competition mentioned
- Success metrics
Include both successful and failed renewals in your data - AI needs to learn from both outcomes.
2

Design Renewal Scoring Model

Goal: Build AI model that predicts renewal likelihood and optimal strategy
  1. Multi-Factor Scoring in Custom Context: 
    Renewal Score Components:

📊 Usage & Adoption (35%)
- Login frequency trends
- Feature utilization rate
- User growth/decline
- API usage patterns
- Integration depth

💚 Relationship Health (30%)
- Executive engagement
- Champion strength
- Multi-threading score
- Response times
- Meeting attendance

💰 Commercial Factors (20%)
- Payment history
- Support ticket costs
- Contract utilization
- Previous negotiations
- Budget indicators

📈 Value Realization (15%)
- ROI documented
- Success metrics hit
- Case studies created
- References given
- Expansion readiness
  2. Risk Signal Detection (Signals): 
    Renewal Risk Indicators:
🔴 Critical (Act within 24 hours):
- "Looking at alternatives"
- "Budget cuts" mentioned
- Champion departure
- No login in 30+ days

🟡 Warning (Act within 1 week):
- Usage decline >25%
- Unresolved escalations
- Stakeholder changes
- Delayed responses

🟠 Monitor (Track closely):
- Feature requests ignored
- Training declined
- QBR postponed
- Competition mentioned
  3. Timing Intelligence: 
    Optimal Renewal Timeline:
- 150 days: Initial scoring
- 120 days: Strategy planning
- 90 days: Value documentation
- 60 days: Formal outreach
- 30 days: Negotiation
- 15 days: Final approval
  4. Outcome Prediction:
    • Renewal probability (0-100%)
    • Expansion likelihood
    • Optimal discount range
    • Negotiation duration
    • Multi-year potential
3

Launch Automated Workflows

Goal: Eliminate manual work and ensure consistent renewal execution
  1. Renewal Lifecycle Automation (Workflows): 
    150-Day Renewal Workflow:

T-150 days:
- Calculate renewal score
- Assign risk level
- Generate account summary
- Alert CSM if at-risk

T-120 days:
- Create renewal plan
- Schedule strategy meeting
- Identify growth opportunities
- Assign renewal owner

T-90 days:
- Generate value report
- Update stakeholder map
- Prepare pricing proposal
- Schedule QBR

T-60 days:
- Send renewal notification
- Share value documentation
- Propose meeting times
- Create negotiation plan

T-30 days:
- Escalate if not engaged
- Prepare contracts
- Align on terms
- Schedule approvals
  2. Smart Notifications: 
    CSM Alerts:
📱 Push: Renewal risks detected
📧 Email: Weekly renewal digest
💬 Slack: Daily action items

Customer Communications:
- Automated but personalized
- Value-focused messaging
- Clear next steps
- Escalation paths
  3. Document Generation:
    • Value achievement reports
    • ROI calculations
    • Usage summaries
    • Success stories
    • Renewal proposals
  4. Team Enablement:
    • Train on new workflows
    • Review automation rules
    • Practice value conversations
    • Set success metrics

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Phase 2: Value Intelligence (Weeks 2-4)

Quantify and document customer value continuously:
  1. Value Metrics Framework: 
    Tracked Value Categories:

⏱️ Time Savings
- Hours saved per week/month
- Process acceleration
- Automation impact
- Efficiency gains

💵 Cost Reduction
- Direct cost savings
- Avoided costs
- Resource optimization
- Operational efficiency

📈 Revenue Impact
- Revenue growth enabled
- Deal velocity improvement
- Win rate increases
- Market expansion

🎯 Strategic Value
- Competitive advantage
- Innovation enabled
- Risk mitigation
- Compliance achievement
  2. Automated Value Capture: 
    Weekly Value Mining:
- Scan all customer calls for value mentions
- Extract quantified benefits
- Log success stories
- Update value dashboard

Example Detection:
Customer: "We've saved 15 hours per week"
AI Action: Log time savings, calculate annual value

Customer: "Closed 3 more deals this month"
AI Action: Calculate revenue impact, note in CRM
  3. Value Report Generation: Query: “Generate value report for [Customer]” AI Output: 
    Value Achievement Summary - TechCorp
Contract Period: Jan 2024 - Dec 2024

Quantified Benefits:
💰 Cost Savings: $347,000
⏱️ Time Saved: 1,840 hours
📈 Revenue Impact: $2.1M
🚀 Efficiency Gain: 43%

Key Achievements:
- Reduced sales cycle by 23 days
- Increased win rate from 22% to 31%
- Scaled team without adding headcount
- Improved forecast accuracy to 91%

ROI: 487% in Year 1
Payback Period: 2.4 months
Renewals with documented value achieve 94% success rate vs 67% without
Map and engage the right people at the right time:
  1. Dynamic Stakeholder Mapping: 
    Renewal Stakeholder Analysis:

✅ Engaged & Supportive:
- Sarah (Champion) - Daily user
- Mike (Power User) - Feature advocate

⚠️ Neutral / Unknown:
- John (CFO) - Approved last year
- Lisa (New VP Sales) - No interaction

❌ Disengaged / Risk:
- Tom (IT) - Raised concerns
- Amy (Procurement) - Pushed for discount
  2. Engagement Scoring:
    • Meeting participation rate
    • Email response time
    • Product usage patterns
    • Sentiment in interactions
    • Advocacy behaviors
  3. Stakeholder Playbooks: 
    For Economic Buyer (CFO):
- Lead with ROI data
- Show cost savings achieved
- Provide budget-friendly options
- Offer payment terms

For End Users:
- Highlight new features
- Share productivity gains
- Offer advanced training
- Recognize power users

For New Stakeholders:
- Introduce value quickly
- Share peer success stories
- Offer executive briefing
- Provide trial of new features
  4. Multi-Threading Alerts:
    • Single-threaded renewal risk
    • New decision maker detected
    • Champion role change
    • Stakeholder sentiment shift
Stay ahead of competitive threats during renewal:
  1. Threat Detection: 
    Competitive Signals Monitored:
- Direct mentions: "evaluating [competitor]"
- Indirect signals: "looking at options"
- Feature comparisons discussed
- Pricing pressure indicators
- RFP language detected
  2. Win/Loss Analysis: 
    Renewal Loss Patterns:

To CompetitorX:
- Primary reason: Price (45%)
- Secondary: Missing features (30%)
- Trigger: New stakeholder (67%)
- Warning time: 47 days average

Successful Defense Rate: 71%
When detected early: 84%
  3. Competitive Response Playbook:
    • Immediate executive engagement
    • Feature roadmap alignment
    • ROI comparison tool
    • Reference customer calls
    • Switching cost analysis
    • Limited-time incentives
  4. Battlecard Integration:
    • Auto-surface relevant content
    • Talking points for calls
    • Trap-setting questions
    • Differentiation focus areas

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Phase 3: Strategic Renewal Execution (Month 2+)

  • Pricing Optimization
  • Expansion Planning
  • Multi-Year Strategy
Maximize revenue while ensuring renewal success:
  1. AI Pricing Recommendations: 
    Renewal Pricing Analysis - GlobalCorp
Current ARR: $240,000

AI Recommendation: 12% increase
Confidence: 87%

Rationale:
✅ 156% ROI documented
✅ High usage (95th percentile)
✅ Expansion into 3 new teams
✅ Executive champion strong
✅ No competitive threats

Pricing Options:
1. Standard: $268,800 (+12%)
2. 2-Year: $254,400 (+6%, paid upfront)
3. 3-Year: $249,600 (+4%, quarterly)

Negotiation Range: 8-15% increase
Walk-away: 5% increase minimum
  2. Discount Intelligence: 
    Historical Discount Analysis:
- Average given: 18%
- Correlation with churn: +31%
- Optimal discount: 8-12%
- Multi-year incentive: 5-8%
  3. Value-Based Pricing:
    • Link price to value delivered
    • Usage-based components
    • Success-based increases
    • Expansion incentives
  4. Negotiation Guidance:
    • Opening position
    • Concession strategy
    • Trade-off options
    • Approval thresholds

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Renewal Playbooks

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🚨 The “At-Risk Recovery” Play

Situation: High-value renewal showing risk signals
1

Rapid Assessment (Day 1)

  1. Query AI: “Why is [Customer] renewal at risk?”
  2. Review all recent interactions
  3. Analyze usage trends and support tickets
  4. Map current stakeholders vs. last renewal
2

Executive Intervention (Days 2-3)

  1. Schedule executive alignment call
  2. Prepare value achievement deck
  3. Address concerns directly
  4. Propose recovery plan
3

Value Reinforcement (Week 1-2)

  1. Deliver ROI analysis session
  2. Share success metrics dashboard
  3. Connect with peer references
  4. Demonstrate new capabilities
4

Negotiate & Secure (Week 3-4)

  1. Provide flexible options
  2. Address budget constraints
  3. Offer limited-time incentives
  4. Secure commitment
At-risk renewals saved within 30 days achieve 76% success rate vs 31% after 60 days

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💰 The “Expansion Renewal” Play

Situation: Strong account ready for growth during renewal
1

Growth Discovery

  1. Analyze whitespace opportunities
  2. Review expansion signals from AI
  3. Calculate potential ROI
  4. Build business case
2

Strategic Alignment

  1. Schedule renewal + growth planning
  2. Involve new stakeholders
  3. Demo advanced capabilities
  4. Share peer benchmarks
3

Value Packaging

  1. Bundle renewal + expansion
  2. Provide growth incentives
  3. Include success services
  4. Offer multi-year terms
4

Close & Implement

  1. Align on phased rollout
  2. Secure approvals
  3. Plan implementation
  4. Assign success resources

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⚡ The “Fast-Track” Play

Situation: Straightforward renewal with engaged customer
1

Automate Outreach

  1. Send value report automatically
  2. Include usage highlights
  3. Propose standard renewal
  4. Offer convenient options
2

Streamline Approval

  1. Provide one-click acceptance
  2. Auto-generate contracts
  3. Enable digital signature
  4. Send confirmations
3

Minimal Touch

  1. Check-in if needed
  2. Answer questions
  3. Process renewal
  4. Thank customer
4

Post-Renewal

  1. Update success plan
  2. Schedule QBR
  3. Identify growth areas
  4. Continue monitoring

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Measuring Renewal Impact

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Key Performance Metrics

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ROI Calculation

Annual ROI of BuildBetter Renewal Intelligence:

- Improved Gross Renewal: +12% = $7.2M retained
- Higher Net Renewal: +26% = $15.6M expansion
- Reduced Discounting: -11% = $6.6M margin
- CSM Efficiency: 60% time saved = $2.4M
- Multi-Year Value: +25% = $8.1M

Total Annual Impact: $39.9M
BuildBetter Investment: $180K
ROI: 22,067% (221x return)

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Best Practices

Start Early: Renewals starting 120+ days out close 41% larger
Document Everything: Value proof points increase renewal rate by 27%
Multi-Thread Always: 3+ stakeholders = 89% renewal success
Automate Routine: Let AI handle logistics, humans handle relationships
Price for Value: Value-justified increases succeed 73% of the time

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Common Pitfalls

Last-Minute Scrambles: Renewals started <30 days out discount 3x more
Single Threading: One-contact renewals fail 47% more often
Generic Outreach: Personalized renewal communications convert 5x better
Missing Value Proof: No ROI documentation leads to 31% higher discounts

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Quick Start Checklist

Launch AI-powered renewal management in one week:
1

Monday

Connect CRM and map renewal data fields
2

Tuesday

Configure renewal signals and risk alerts
3

Wednesday

Build automated workflows for 120-day process
4

Thursday

Create value report templates and train team
5

Friday

Launch with upcoming renewals and monitor

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Expert Tips

The 120-Day Rule: Start renewal conversations 120 days out. This gives time for value reinforcement, stakeholder alignment, and strategic negotiations.
Value Before Price: Always lead with value achieved, then discuss commercial terms. Customers who see ROI first accept 23% higher prices.
Expansion Timing: The best time to expand is during renewal. Bundle discussions for 2.3x higher close rates on growth.
Proactive Transparency: Share renewal timeline and process early. Customers appreciate predictability and reward it with smoother negotiations.

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Resources & Next Steps

Renewal Playbook Template

Download our proven renewal execution framework

Value Report Builder

Create compelling renewal presentations

Pricing Calculator

Optimize renewal pricing with AI assistance

Schedule Renewal Audit

Get expert review of your renewal process
Based on analysis of 500,000+ SaaS renewals processed through BuildBetter. Results vary by industry, contract size, and process maturity.
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