Why B2B and B2C Companies Struggle to Scale Renewals
- and What to Do About It
David Pinto | Principal Consultant | RenewalsHub
April 2, 2025
Executive Summary
In today’s subscription-driven economy, renewals represent the lion’s share of revenue - yet they remain one of the most underdeveloped parts of the go-to-market engine. While new logo acquisition has evolved with sophisticated processes, dedicated systems and clear ownership, renewals in many companies are still managed manually, inconsistently and reactively.
This discussion explores why so many B2B and B2C organizations struggle to scale renewals predictably, despite their critical revenue impact. It identifies the hidden operational friction that slows growth - like siloed teams, fragmented data and overreliance on headcount - and outlines what scalable renewal models actually require: clear accountability, repeatable workflows, connected systems and automation that enables teams.
More importantly, it introduces a proven solution: the RenewalsHub Renewals Transformation Framework™. Built for execution, this framework helps companies benchmark their maturity, design an actionable strategy and operationalize renewals at scale. It’s not just a theory - it’s a blueprint to move from chaos to clarity.
Whether your current motion is ad hoc or semi-structured, the following provides the roadmap to transform renewals into a reliable, insight-led revenue engine - and shows you how to begin that journey, one focused step at a time.
The Renewals Problem No One Talks About
In most B2B and B2C companies, renewals are both critically important and surprisingly underdeveloped. Despite representing 60-80% of annual revenue in many subscription and recurring revenue businesses, the renewals motion is often an afterthought - fragmented across teams, managed through spreadsheets and calendar reminders and executed reactively at the end of the customer lifecycle.
While sales motions for net-new business have evolved with clearly defined processes, CRM infrastructure, playbooks and rigor, the approach to renewals has lagged. It’s still common to see companies with no single point of ownership, no consistent workflows, and no dedicated systems to track or drive renewals. And yet, these same organizations rely on renewals to hit their most important revenue and retention goals.
So why has renewals execution been neglected?
In part, it’s historical: renewals were long seen as a simple administrative function, handled quietly by finance or operations. In many companies, the assumption was that if the customer hadn’t complained, they would renew. But that assumption no longer holds. Customers today expect proactive engagement, measurable value delivery and a seamless renewal experience - and if they don’t get it, they churn.
There’s also a perception issue. Renewals haven’t been treated with the same strategic importance as sales or marketing. They're often viewed as the responsibility of Customer Success or left to individual account managers without centralized enablement. The result is a lack of structure, absence of oversight and no means of revenue predictability.
This disconnect between renewals’ importance and its execution is no longer sustainable. As customer acquisition becomes more expensive and net-new growth slows, retaining and expanding existing customers is the most efficient way to drive revenue. But doing that at scale across thousands of accounts, geographies and segments requires more than good intentions.
It requires a rethink.
The hard truth is this: most B2B and B2C companies are trying to scale renewals using a model that was never built to scale. And until that approach changes, they’ll continue to experience churn surprises, forecasting gaps and missed expansion opportunities, not because of product or pricing, but because of how renewals are being managed.
Most companies are trying to scale renewals
with a model that was never built to scale.
The Hidden Friction Slowing Growth
Ask most revenue leaders if renewals are a priority, and the answer is yes. But dig a little deeper and you’ll find that while the intent is there, the execution is often stuck in a challenged-filled environment. While these various challenges rarely show up on dashboards, they show up in missed renewals, last-minute fire drills and misaligned internal coordination.
Let’s look at the hidden factors that prevent renewals from scaling effectively.
1. Siloed Ownership Across Sales, Customer Success, Renewals and Operations
Renewals don’t live cleanly in one organization and, in many companies, that ambiguity becomes a liability. Some accounts are renewed by a dedicated Renewals team, others by Sales or Customer Success and some by channel partners or customer support. Without a single thread of ownership, customers fall through the cracks. Handoffs get missed. Timelines slip. And nobody feels fully accountable for the result.
In contrast, new logo sales have clear roles, stages and accountability. Renewals often don’t.
2. Inconsistent Processes by Segment or Region
Many companies lack a standardized renewal motion across their business. One team might have a structured playbook, while another relies on tribal knowledge. Renewal processes vary wildly depending on region, account size or customer type. This inconsistency creates confusion internally and a disjointed experience for customers.
Even worse, it makes it nearly impossible to benchmark performance or forecast accurately across segments.
3. No Central Source of Truth for Renewal Data
Renewals data is often scattered across CRM fields, spreadsheets, billing systems, contract repositories and email threads. Without a centralized, trusted system, teams struggle to answer simple questions:
Who owns this renewal?
When is it due?
What’s the churn risk level?
Has the customer been contacted?
Are there expansion (cross-sell/upsell) opportunities
This siloed data doesn’t just slow execution - it erodes confidence in forecasts and makes reporting a manual chore.
4. Overreliance on Headcount Instead of Systems
As renewal volumes grow, many companies try to keep up by throwing more people at the problem. But without scalable systems and automation, this quickly becomes inefficient and unsustainable. Skilled team members spend their time chasing paperwork, managing inboxes and producing manual reports, instead of focusing on customer value and strategic engagement.
The cost? Higher churn rates, lower morale and operational complexity that scales linearly with revenue - a clear signal that the model is broken.
These challenges aren’t theoretical. They’re the lived experience of renewal and customer success teams across industries. And they won’t be solved with more headcount or more reminders. To scale renewals predictably, companies need a different kind of model - one that’s built to remove friction, increase visibility and enable teams to focus on what matters most.
The Cost of Doing Nothing: Why Legacy Renewals Motions No Longer Hold Up
Manual processes, fragmented ownership and overreliance on headcount create compounding risk as companies scale. What looks manageable early on becomes a drag on revenue, visibility and growth.
Figure 1. Challenges occur when renewals support systems no longer work
What Scalable Renewal Models Actually Require
Scaling renewals isn’t about working harder - it’s about working differently.
When we look at companies that have successfully evolved their renewals business, they haven’t done it by hiring armies of CSMs or throwing more spreadsheets at the problem. They’ve done it by rethinking the operating model entirely: clarifying ownership, standardizing processes and enabling teams with systems designed for scale.
So what does a scalable renewal model actually look like?
Clear Accountability - Without Ambiguity
At the core of any effective renewals motion is clear ownership. That doesn’t mean every team does the same thing - it means every renewal has a defined path, clear accountability and shared metrics. Sales, Customer Success and Renewals teams can all play a role, but someone must own the outcome. Without that clarity, execution breaks down.
Scalable organizations align on who owns what, when and why - and they clearly define those handoffs to eliminate finger-pointing and guesswork.
Repeatable, Flexible Processes
One of the biggest traps companies fall into is over-customizing the renewal approach for every segment or region. While nuance is necessary, scalability requires standardization and repeatability. Mature organizations use standardized playbooks, workflows and communications that can adjust by segment - but are built from a common foundation.
This enables consistency in customer experience, internal coordination and reporting - even across large, complex products, solutions and customer portfolios.
Connected Systems That Talk to Each Other
A scalable renewal engine requires more than a CRM. It needs a connected tech stack that integrates contract data, usage signals, support insights and Customer Success engagement. When systems are fragmented, teams lose time trying to fill-in knowledge gaps of the customer’s lifecycle journey and duplicating work - and risk making decisions based on incomplete data.
Leading companies unify their data into a shared system of record, so every team has visibility into what’s happening, what’s at risk and what’s next.
Scaling renewals isn’t about working harder
- it’s about working differently.
Automation That Supports, Not Replaces, Teams
Automation is not about eliminating people - it’s about freeing them to focus on the work that matters. In a scalable model, automation handles the repetitive, transactional pieces of renewals: notifications, quote generation, contract tracking, low-touch customer journeys.
This creates space for human-led conversations in the right accounts - the ones that need strategy, nuance and value reinforcement.
Embedded Forecasting and Expansion Triggers
Scalable renewal models don’t just manage renewals - they forecast them. They track key indicators, flag risk early and surface expansion opportunities through embedded analytics and workflow triggers.
This enables proactive engagement, stronger NRR performance and greater confidence in revenue planning.
Introducing the RenewalsHub Renewals Transformation Framework™: A New Model for Renewals Execution
Fixing renewals isn’t about adopting the latest tool or hiring another CSM - it requires a cohesive model that brings strategy, structure and execution into alignment.
The RenewalsHub Renewals Transformation Framework™ has been purposely-built to solve the very real challenges outlined: siloed ownership, reactive execution and the lack of a scalable operating model.
It’s not just theory - it’s a practical blueprint to modernize how you manage, measure and grow recurring revenue.
The framework is built on three integrated layers:
The Renewals Maturity Model - to diagnose your starting point
The Renewals Strategy Lifecycle - to design a scalable path forward
The Renewals Engine - to operationalize repeatable, predictable execution
Together, these layers offer a structured approach to turning renewals from an afterthought into a revenue-driving engine.
The RenewalsHub Renewals Transformation Framework™
doesn’t just describe the problem - it solves it, step by step.
What Scalable Really Looks Like
Moving from reactive chaos to structured clarity requires the right strategy and systems. Here’s how a high-functioning renewals motion performs when built for scale.
Figure 2. Result of a well-planned and executed renewals support environment
What Good Looks Like - From Chaos to Clarity
So, what happens when a company puts the right renewals foundation in place? What does “good” actually look like?
It doesn’t mean perfection. It means predictability. Focus. A renewals motion that operates with the same rigor, clarity and performance expectations as new logo sales - but tailored to the dynamics of recurring revenue.
Here’s what a high-functioning renewals environment looks like in practice:
Clear Ownership and Defined Roles
No more handoffs dropped in the cracks or confusion over who owns what. Roles and responsibilities across Sales, Customer Success, Renewals and Operations are clearly defined. Each team knows where they plug in, and where they don’t.
Ownership is mapped not just by title, but by segment, customer lifecycle stage and deal complexity. And everyone operates from a shared playbook.
Standardized, Repeatable Workflows
Instead of one-off renewals managed in inboxes and spreadsheets, processes are standardized by customer tier and risk profile. Every renewal follows a defined cadence - whether it’s automated, assisted or fully managed.
Connected Data and Embedded Forecasting
Executives can view renewals performance in real-time - not just after the quarter closes. Forecasts are based on centralized, trusted data, not anecdotal reports or guesswork.
This clarity helps leaders make faster decisions, allocate resources and improve confidence with boards and investors.
Proactive, Value-Driven Customer Engagement
Renewals teams aren’t chasing paperwork. They’re driving impact. They spend more time talking about business outcomes than expiration dates - and customers feel the difference.
By renewal time, customers are reminded of the value they’ve received, aware of what’s next and open to expansion conversations.
From Growth Bottleneck to Growth Engine
When all of the moving parts click into place, renewals become one of the most efficient levers for growth. Net revenue retention improves. Forecast accuracy increases. Teams are aligned, systems are humming and growth accelerates without the need for linear headcount growth.
In short: chaos becomes clarity. Renewals become revenue. And the business starts to scale with confidence.
When renewals stop being treated like admin work
and start being managed like revenue, everything changes.
Getting Started - How to Begin the Transformation
Renewals transformation can feel overwhelming - especially if your current state is fragmented, manual or unclear. But the good news is that you don’t have to fix everything at once. The path to scalable, predictable renewals begins with a few focused steps.
Here’s how to get started:
Start with a Maturity Assessment
Before you build a strategy, you need to know where you’re starting from. Most companies underestimate how much hidden friction exists in their renewals motion, and overestimate how mature their processes really are.
Use a structured maturity model to benchmark your current state across dimensions like ownership, process, systems, automation and reporting. This helps prioritize what needs fixing first — and gives you a language to align your teams.
Not sure where to begin? Take the free RenewalsHub Renewals Maturity Self-Assessment for a fast pulse check.
Focus on 1-2 Core Workflows or Systems
You don’t need a full tech overhaul on day one. Instead, identify the most painful or inconsistent part of your current renewals motion - maybe it’s forecasting, workflow triggers or low-touch customer segments - and start there.
Fix one thing well before scaling to others. Early wins build momentum.
Align Leadership on Ownership and Accountability
No matter how good your strategy or systems are, they won’t stick unless someone owns them. Renewals often fail because leadership never formally defines who’s accountable.
Align Sales, Customer Success, Renewals and Operations leadership on a shared vision: what success looks like, who owns which pieces and how progress will be measured.
A well-run renewals motion is cross-functional - but it’s not a free-for-all.
Reinforce That Renewals is a Growth Lever - Not Just a Customer Success Problem
Renewals should not live in a silo. They aren’t just about retention - they’re about expansion, efficiency and predictability. The companies that win are those that elevate renewals to a strategic priority across the entire go-to-market motion.
When leadership treats renewals as a revenue engine, not a back-office task, transformation takes root.
Getting Started - How to Begin the Transformation
Renewals transformation can feel overwhelming - especially if your current state is fragmented, manual or unclear. But the good news is that you don’t have to fix everything at once. The path to scalable, predictable renewals begins with a few focused steps.
Here’s how to get started:
Start with a Maturity Assessment
Before you build a strategy, you need to know where you’re starting from. Most companies underestimate how much hidden friction exists in their renewals motion, and overestimate how mature their processes really are.
Use a structured maturity model to benchmark your current state across dimensions like ownership, process, systems, automation and reporting. This helps prioritize what needs fixing first — and gives you a language to align your teams.
Not sure where to begin? Take the free RenewalsHub Renewals Maturity Self-Assessment for a fast pulse check.
Focus on 1-2 Core Workflows or Systems
You don’t need a full tech overhaul on day one. Instead, identify the most painful or inconsistent part of your current renewals motion - maybe it’s forecasting, workflow triggers or low-touch customer segments - and start there.
Fix one thing well before scaling to others. Early wins build momentum.
Align Leadership on Ownership and Accountability
No matter how good your strategy or systems are, they won’t stick unless someone owns them. Renewals often fail because leadership never formally defines who’s accountable.
Align Sales, Customer Success, Renewals and Operations leadership on a shared vision: what success looks like, who owns which pieces and how progress will be measured.
A well-run renewals motion is cross-functional - but it’s not a free-for-all.
Reinforce That Renewals is a Growth Lever - Not Just a Customer Success Problem
Renewals should not live in a silo. They aren’t just about retention - they’re about expansion, efficiency and predictability. The companies that win are those that elevate renewals to a strategic priority across the entire go-to-market motion.
When leadership treats renewals as a revenue engine, not a back-office task, transformation takes root.
What Scalable Success Actually Looks Like: Real-world results of a modern renewals motion
Imagine a world where renewals don’t feel like a fire drill every quarter. Where your team isn’t chasing spreadsheets, tracking down contracts or scrambling to pull forecasts for the executive review presentation. Where renewals don’t just “happen” - they’re planned, predictable and built to grow.
That’s the shift the RenewalsHub Renewals Transformation Framework™ enables. It turns a chaotic, manual renewals motion into a repeatable, insight-driven revenue engine. Here’s what that transformation looks like in action:
Before: Disjointed and Manual
No clear owner of the renewals motion
Teams relying on spreadsheets and calendar reminders
Renewal forecasting based on gut feel
Missed expansion opportunities due to reactive outreach
Churn surprises at the last minute
High-performing talent buried in admin work
After: Structured and Scalable
Renewals ownership clearly defined across Sales, Customer Success, Renewals, Operations
Centralized, real-time visibility into renewal pipeline
Forecasting accuracy increases by 20–40%
Proactive renewal playbooks triggered 90–180 days before expiration
Expansion plays embedded into the renewals workflow
Automation eliminates 70–85% of manual work
Customer conversations shift from contract reminders to value and growth
This is what maturity looks like - not perfection, but repeatability. Not more headcount, but smarter systems and clearer accountability.
When renewals stop being treated as a back-office task and start being managed like a strategic revenue motion, everything changes. Customers feel the difference. Forecasts become more reliable. Leadership gains confidence. And teams finally have time to focus on driving outcomes instead of chasing signatures.
And it’s not just theory - these outcomes are being achieved by companies that implement the RenewalsHub Renewals Transformation Framework™ and commit to building the structure their renewals function needs to thrive.
Renewals don’t have to be messy. They can be a source of strength.
From Chaos to Clarity: The Renewals Transformation Journey
Figure 3. The RenewalsHub Renewals Transformation Framework™
The journey to scalable renewals starts with clarity - clear roles, clean data and coordinated systems. When those pieces align, renewals stop being a fire drill and start becoming a growth engine.
Getting Started - How to Begin the Transformation
If your renewals motion feels more reactive than repeatable, you’re not alone. The good news? You don’t need to fix everything at once to start seeing meaningful results.
The path to renewals maturity isn’t a giant leap - it’s a series of focused steps, beginning with clarity and alignment. Here’s how to get started:
1. Benchmark Your Current State
Before you can scale, you need to diagnose. Use the free Renewals Maturity Self-Assessment to assess where your organization stands today - across people, process, systems and execution. Our free 2-minute self-assessment provides a fast, directional snapshot, while a full diagnostic consultation can uncover deeper structural gaps.
Why it matters: You can’t build the right roadmap without knowing your starting point.
2. Align on Ownership and Accountability
One of the fastest ways to reduce friction is clarifying who owns what. Start by defining:
Who is accountable for renewals by segment?
How are handoffs managed between Sales, Customer Success and Renewals roles?
What does “done well” look like - and how is it measured?
Why it matters: Accountability without clarity is chaos. Alignment creates momentum.
3. Prioritize 1–2 Core Workflows to Improve
Don’t try to boil the ocean. Focus on key workflows where inefficiencies are causing pain - like long-tail renewals, expansion during renewal or quote generation. Apply automation or process fixes to prove the model and build buy-in.
Why it matters: Small wins show what’s possible and pave the way for bigger change.
4. Treat Renewals as a Revenue Strategy
Renewals aren’t just a Customer Success or dedicated Renewals team activity. They’re a revenue lever. As such, they deserve the same strategic attention, operational rigor and executive focus as new logo acquisition.
Why it matters: Renewals are too important to leave on the sidelines. When the full revenue organization treats them as a priority, results follow.
The first step is committing to stop relying on guesswork or operating in the dark - and start building the structure. Because scalable renewals don’t happen by accident. They happen by design.
Scalable renewals don’t happen
by accident - they happen by design.
Scaling renewals isn’t just a process challenge - it’s a business essential. The longer you delay, the more revenue you leave on the table, the more pressure you place on net-new growth, and the harder it becomes to forecast with confidence.
The companies that win in today’s subscription economy aren’t the ones with the most headcount. They’re the ones with clarity, alignment and systems that work together to drive predictable outcomes.
That’s what the RenewalsHub Renewals Transformation Framework™ is designed to deliver.
Whether you’re just realizing the need for change or actively looking to overhaul your approach, the next step is the same:
· Take our free 2-minute RenewalsHub Renewals Maturity Self-Assessment to identify the friction points in your current model
· Start mapping your path forward using a structured, proven framework
Don’t let renewals be your blind spot. Let them be your advantage.
Because when your renewals motion is designed to scale - your business can, too.
The Opportunity is Clear - and So is the Risk of Inaction.
Every quarter you delay investing in your renewals motion is a quarter where deals slip, customers churn and predictable revenue stays out of reach. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
With the right structure in place, renewals become more than a task - they become a competitive advantage.
Start today.
Take the free 2-minute RenewalsHub Renewals Maturity Self-Assessment to benchmark your current state
Explore how the RenewalsHub Renewals Transformation Framework™ can power scalable, insight-driven growth
Equip your team with the clarity and confidence to turn renewals into a revenue engine
Because scalable renewals don’t just improve operations - they change outcomes.
Let’s build the foundation for predictable growth. Together.
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