Driving New Revenue from Existing Accounts

Turning renewals into expansion opportunities

Challenge The company was treating renewals as administrative checkboxes rather than growth opportunities. CSMs were focused solely on preventing churn, not driving expansion. There was no systematic approach to identifying upsell opportunities, and account growth was accidental rather than strategic. Meanwhile, sales was spending heavily to acquire new logos while we ignored expansion potential.

Approach I transformed the renewal process from defense to offense. Created expansion playbooks that helped CSMs identify white space opportunities within each account. Built business case templates that demonstrated ROI for additional products or services. Trained the team on value-based selling techniques. Aligned compensation to reward expansion alongside retention. Established a "renewal plus" approach where every renewal conversation included growth discussion.

Outcome

• 40% of new company revenue came from existing accounts

• Average contract value increased by 28%

• Multi-year agreements increased from 10% to 45% of renewals

• Maintained base retention rate while driving expansion

• CSM variable compensation increased by 22% through expansion commissions