Cutting Renewal Surprises: Enough of the CYA

This customer has been renewing for 3 years straight with no issues. They've had no champion change, and you've developed a pretty decent relationship with them.

You log every call. You've hit all your internal metrics with them (QBR's, Exec Engagement, User Conference Invitation). You've never even logged a risk. They're "committed" in your forecast number.

Then, WHAM! Your customer writes in and tells you they've gone out for an RFP on your solution; they hit you with a list of issues longer than Taylor Swift's breakup playlist. Surprise!

We've all been there. Stuck on the back foot. Trying to do an autopsy and a save at the same time.

Conversations like these shouldn't feel like an episode of "Survivor," desperately trying to outwit, outplay, and outlast customer objections until they renew for one more year.

So, how do we dodge these ambushes?

I'm glad you asked. Here's how I'v coached my teams - teams that achieved a consistent 98% gross renewal rate.

1. Collaborate & Configure

Most health scores today are basically corporate astrology, vaguely accurate but ultimately a comforting fiction.

Health scores driven purely by internal notes, manual sentiment assessment, and NPS really don’t reflect how your customers actually feel - they just reflect all the cool stuff you and your teams do on a daily basis.

The customer health score you've developed has become more of a busyness score than anything else.

Honestly, the way around this is to have your customer weigh in, to co-own their health. But here’s the catch: you can’t be annoying about it.

Over-surveying your customers is like showing up to someone’s party and only talking about yourself. Nobody wants that guest.

If you do keep asking, your customers will, guaranteed, just tell you what you want to hear so they don't have to engage with you.

What to do:

• Give the customer stakes in the relationship - they want the relationship to be successful! Show them your scorecard on them and what both of you need to do to get better.
• Use quarterly pulse-checks, not just QBRs.
• Collaborate actively on defining success metrics - be ok with these changing. You change your mind all the time, shouldn't they be allowed to?

Above all, for the love of all that is holy, remember, the most accurate health scores aren't data dumps - they're dialogues.

2. Real-Time Alerts

If Netflix can tell you when your favorite series drops, shouldn't you have something alert you just as quickly when a customer is trending towards cancellation?

Automated, real-time alerts are your best friend. They give you the heads-up faster than TMZ breaking news about celebrity feuds and the tea is just as devourable.

How to implement this:

• Define clear triggers (usage drop period-over-period, executive change, NO support tickets).
• Automate alerts directly to your inbox or Slack.
• Never miss a signal - especially the subtle ones.

Remember that a customer who stops complaining has likely just given up. They didn't all of a sudden just get happy.

3. Data Should Drive Action (Not Just CYA)

Hot take: most customer data today is used primarily as an internal CYA mechanism. You and your team track it mostly to say, "See, we did our job!" when renewals tank.

This defensive mindset won't save your renewal. You don't want a stack of defensive documentation.

You need proactive intelligence.

Practical steps:

• Move from quarterly snapshots to continuous data flow.
• Use data to forecast risk, not just record the past - consider compensating the team on forecast accuracy rather than renewal rates. (ooooo he's full of spicey takes today)
• Turn your CS team from historians to futurists.

Storytime: How I Learned the Hard Way

Early in my career, I once confidently walked into a retention meeting expecting praise worthy of a "Ted Lasso" season finale. Instead, I faced criticisms harsher than Gordon Ramsay in "Hell's Kitchen."

What went wrong?

A very prominent customer had just given their notice.

My team had plenty of internal usage stats. The customer didn't submit tickets. The customer was a perennial renewal! A slam dunk! But, we clearly weren't paying attention.

They felt as though we were valuable but had become stagnant. And we'd never even considered asking about that - about asking if the health score we had for them was accurate.

That taught me that renewal surprises aren't customer betrayals, they're our own missed signals.

Real-Life Success Story

When we switched to customer-collaborated health scoring, renewal surprises dropped dramatically. We made it a common practice to show customers their own health in our CRM. We shared real-time alerts and open lines of communication.

Our customers became partners, not data points.

One customer even said, "This health score feels like a marriage counselor."

Questions to Ponder:

• Are your health scores really telling you anything actionable?
• Do your alerts help you respond in time or just stress you out?
• Can you even do anything about the alerts your getting?
• Is your data proactive or simply "CYA" documentation?

Takeaway Checklist (your cheat sheet):

• ✅ Regular customer collaboration on health metrics
• ✅ Real-time, actionable alerts (no more last-minute firefighting)
• ✅ Shift from reactive data to proactive insights

With ongoing engagement, collaboration, and proactive insights, you can confidently forecast renewals in a predictable, pleasant, and even fun way.

Ready to ditch renewal drama? Your customers (and stress levels) will thank you.