Stay in Your Lane - and Build the Right Coalition
David Pinto | Principal Consultant | RenewalsHub
September 2025
In the high-stakes world of recurring revenue, companies often fall into a dangerous trap: trying to be everything to everyone.
Vendors stretch their resources thin across too many disciplines, partners overextend into services they can’t execute well and even customer success teams attempt to cover every possible renewal motion. The result isn’t breadth - it’s mediocrity.
The truth is you don’t need to be world-class at everything. You need to be world-class at your lane - and then surround yourself with others who have done the same in theirs. That’s how you build a coalition of specialists who can deliver predictable renewals growth.
The Temptation to Be a Generalist
It’s easy to understand why organizations default to generalization. Leadership wants control, customers expect seamless experiences and there’s pressure to show coverage across the full spectrum of renewals activities - from forecasting and analytics to automation, channel engagement, playbooks and governance.
On the surface, building everything in-house looks like the safe path. But this “jack of all trades” approach almost always backfires. Companies sink millions into developing in-house automation tools that never match the speed and sophistication of dedicated vendor platforms. Channel partners bolt on analytics practices they don’t have the talent to support. Internal teams almost casually develop governance structures that look polished on paper but crumble in execution.
When teams spread themselves too thin, several risks develop:
Minimal execution effort. Doing “just enough” across too many areas leads to processes that are functional but fragile. They collapse under scale.
Confusion and overlap. Roles are not clearly defined. Teams step on each other’s toes, creating inefficiency and frustration.
Opportunity cost. Time and investment get wasted on reinventing the wheel in areas where better solutions already exist externally.
The irony is that in trying to be everything, companies often become nothing memorable. Customers, partners and even internal stakeholders can’t point to what makes the organization uniquely excellent.
The Case for Specialization
Specialization flips the script. By committing to perfecting a single lane, organizations build depth, mastery and repeatable results.
Examples in renewals:
Analytics-focused organizations that become best-in-class at uncovering attrition risks before they hit. One global SaaS vendor used an analytics-first coalition to identify churn-prone accounts six months in advance, giving their success team time to intervene. The result: a 12-point lift in renewal rates in just one fiscal year.
Automation-focused coalitions that eliminate manual friction from quoting and billing, enabling small renewals to close without human touch while freeing CSMs to focus on complex deals.
Coverage-strategy leaders who design segmentation models that ensure every renewal is touched at the right level, balancing high-touch engagement with scalable digital motions.
Each of these capabilities is powerful in isolation - but transformative when combined. That’s the key insight: specialization doesn’t mean going it alone. It means showing up as an expert who knows their lane inside and out, then connecting with other experts to fill in the gaps.
The Coalition Principle
When organizations bring together specialists across lanes, they form coalitions of expertise that outperform generalists. Why?
Depth over breadth. Each lane is operated by a team that lives and breathes it. No one is winging it.
Efficiency. Instead of wasting valuable resources trying to replicate external excellence, coalitions leverage it.
Alignment. Specialists understand and excel in their role and trust others to do the same in their lanes, leading to stronger handoffs and fewer bottlenecks.
Think of it like a top-class soccer (we say “football”… !) team. Every player has a clearly defined position – the defenders’ primary role is to prevent opponents scoring, midfielders connect play and control the game’s tempo and forwards attempt to convert scoring opportunities. Each role is distinct but interdependent. Success depends not on any one player doing everything, but on every player doing their part brilliantly and trusting the system of roles around them.
When teams lose structure and everyone chases the same ball, the field becomes chaos - effort without coordination. But when a team stays disciplined, communicating and playing with intent, it controls the game. Coalitions win the same way: each participant masters their position, collaborates across the field and delivers seamless transitions that turn coordination into momentum.
Risks: Why Companies Resist Coalitions
If coalitions are so effective, why do so many companies resist them? Three common reasons surface:
Fear of losing control. Leaders worry that relying on external specialists will reduce ownership of outcomes. They associate “doing it ourselves” with “being in charge.”
Misaligned incentives. Vendors and partners sometimes compete in the same space, making collaboration politically tricky. Instead of forming coalitions, they withdraw to silos.
Cultural bias toward self-sufficiency. Some companies see external collaboration as weakness. They rationalize resistance under the banner of “speed,” “cost-savings,” or “customer ownership,” when in reality it’s an unwillingness to share credit.
These risks are real, but they’re solvable with the right mindset and governance structure.
Strategic Fixes: Building Coalitions That Work
To make coalitions successful, renewals leaders need to address those risks head-on with deliberate design. Here’s how:
Redefine control. Control doesn’t mean doing everything yourself. It means owning outcomes while leveraging the best expertise available. Smart leaders know that control is about accountability, not activity.
Align incentives. Structure partnerships so that vendors, partners and specialists all win when the client wins. Shared KPIs, joint governance and transparent reporting create trust and clarity.
Elevate the culture. Reframe external collaboration not as a weakness but as a sign of maturity. Strong companies know when to lean on allies - and celebrate those alliances as part of their strength.
A coalition without alignment quickly becomes a patchwork. A coalition built on shared goals becomes an engine for growth.
Real-World Applications in Renewals
Coalition thinking applies across the renewals environment:
Companies: Stop trying to build every tool in-house. Partner with enablement providers, automation platforms, analytics providers and external renewals experts who can add speed and expertise. Customers care about results, not whether you “own” every step of the process.
Channel partners: Don’t dilute your value by trying to replicate vendor infrastructure. Instead, focus on customer relationships and execution discipline - and lean on vendor coalitions for the rest. The strongest partners aren’t the ones who do everything, but the ones who do their part brilliantly.
Internal renewals teams: Specialize by lane. Have one team obsessed with coverage models, another with process optimization, another with automation scale. Then coordinate through strong governance. Specialization reduces internal friction and allows teams to scale their impact faster.
The result is not fragmentation, but cohesion. Everyone knows their role and the system runs smoother because of it.
What Great Looks Like
Great renewals programs are not patchworks of generalists. They are ecosystems of specialists, connected by trust and shared purpose. These include:
Coverage Strategy designers ensure every customer segment is addressed and engaged appropriately, ensuring longtail renewals don’t fall through the cracks, while strategic accounts get the right high-touch attention.
Data & Insights leaders identify patterns in the data no one else sees - providing executives with forward-looking visibility instead of reactive, history-focused dashboards.
Enablement providers connect strategy to the field - aligning customer-facing teams and vendors through shared messaging, repeatable motions and continuous readiness.
Automation experts remove friction so deals flow without delay, ensuring renewals don’t stall on manual bottlenecks.
Governance leaders orchestrate alignment across roles, vendors and partners, creating clarity and confidence from the C-suite down.
Each lane is stronger because it is singularly focused. And the coalition is stronger because those lanes are connected, not competing.
Closing Thought
In renewals, as in most aspects of the company’s business, success rarely comes from trying to do it all yourself. It comes from knowing your lane, mastering it and building coalitions with others who have done the same.
The next wave of predictable growth won’t come from generalists. It will come from specialists who stay in their lane - and coalitions that run the full race together.
Ready to Build Your Renewals Coalition?
At RenewalsHub, we help companies define their lane, strengthen their core and connect with the right partners to scale renewals performance. If you’re ready to turn specialization into predictable growth, let’s talk - or start by checking out our free 2-minute RenewalsHub Renewals Maturity Self-Assessment to see how aligned your renewals ecosystem really is.