TL;DR
Renewals have quietly become one of the largest revenue engines in partner ecosystems, yet most programs still treat them like an afterthought. The result is predictable. Revenue that should be automatic becomes operational chaos.
The data makes the gap obvious. 67% of companies that actively track renewals report improved renewal rates and ROI, yet nearly a third of organizations still do not know their renewal rate at all.
That is the real risk. As subscription revenue grows, renewals stop being a back-office task and become a core revenue motion. Without visibility, partner alignment, and structured processes, companies are leaving predictable revenue to chance.
Bottom line: In a recurring revenue world, the companies that operationalize partner-led renewals will compound revenue. The ones that manage them manually will quietly leak it.
Background to this eBook
The focus of this eBook is on Channel Renewal Sales — the process of selling subscription renewals, service contract extensions, or license renewals through indirect sales partners instead of directly to customers. Partner-driven renewals are becoming an essential part of partner management and revenue generation.
Channelscaler hosted a virtual panel discussion in Q4 2024, where an expert panel shared best practices for effectively managing channel renewal sales to maximize revenue and minimize churn.
The panel featured senior partnering executives:
- Rob Rosa, SVP of Global Service Sales & Customer Success at Extreme Networks
- Mike Miller, VP of Global Services Portfolio Management at Ribbon Communications
- Sinéad McGrath, Renewals Executive, Channelscaler
- Kenneth Fox, Chief Executive Officer, Channelscaler
We’ve gathered live poll responses from webinar attendees and paired them with expert insights from the panel in this free eBook, providing you with actionable guidance to elevate your channel renewals program.
Meet The Panel
The Importance of Renewals
It is widely understood that retaining an existing customer is cheaper than acquiring a new one, but what does that mean in real terms?
Reports show that:
- The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while for a new prospect, it’s only 5-20%.
- It costs up to 7x more to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one.
- A 5% increase in customer retention can boost profits by 25-95%.
- Loyal customers spend 67% more than new ones.
Renewal sales now represent a large and vital proportion of overall revenue for many companies. This is especially true in mature product/service categories where renewals can account for more than 50% of the value of all sales.
Of those polled who were measuring renewals rates, 67% had seen improved renewals rates / ROI, and the majority believed their renewal rate to be over 75%.
However, close to a quarter reported a renewal rate below 50%, indicating they’re losing half of their customers at renewal. More concerningly, nearly a third did not know their renewal rate.
So why do organizations find this so difficult?
Challenges to Effective Renewals
The top challenge reported by our poll respondents, is directly related to partners, with nearly half of respondents citing difficulties in ‘Getting partners to engage and complete renewals on time’.
In addition to renewals being ‘Time consuming and resource intensive’, respondents also flagged issues with the quality and visibility of renewals data.
During the webinar, our expert panel shared experiences and advice on how to address the number one challenge: driving effective partner-led renewals, which we summarize in the following pages.
Maximizing ROI and Renewal Rates
Despite these challenges, companies that have incorporated renewals into their partner programs are seeing significant benefits.
According to the poll data, 67% of these companies have experienced improvements in both their renewal rates and return on investment (ROI), highlighting the real opportunity that well managed renewals can bring.
“It always starts with the data. Having that data, pushing it out through your portal or dashboard, really does drive partner engagement. For example, you show your partner, look you’re at 60% right now, we’ll incentivize you to reach 70 or even 80%!
The alternative is, you send them an e-mail or you send them a spreadsheet and they don’t even open it. Whereas if you can put them on to a click through for live, real-time visibility, you’re straight on to a winner!”
Kenneth Fox
CEO
Channelscaler
The 4 Most Important Factors for Partner-Led Renewal Success
To drive successful renewals through your partner ecosystem, our experts agreed that there are 4 key areas to focus on.
1. Information
Sharing robust and reliable renewals data with your partners, is critical to a smooth and efficient renewals process.
2. Communication
Keeping all stakeholders engaged leads to a streamlined process and no missed opportunities.
3. Cultivation
Encourage and incentivize your partners to use renewals as an opportunity to grow and expand the account through upsell and cross-sell.
4. Automation
Automation improves visibility into renewals data and pipeline, while a programmatic approach frees up vital resources to focus on at-risk renewals and account growth.
Visibility through Automation
A well-designed renewals dashboard plays a crucial role in this process by providing partners with essential information and insights. The dashboard provides partners with a clear view of their renewal pipeline, upcoming renewals, and overall performance. This transparency helps partners prioritize their efforts and allocate resources effectively.
Partners can schedule and prioritize resources based on factors like industry, size, and renewal likelihood. This allows for targeted support to those at risk of churning.
Real-time data monitoring enables proactive outreach. Automated reminders can be scheduled, ensuring partners are well-equipped to engage clients effectively and no renewal opportunities are missed.
A well-implemented renewals dashboard is a powerful tool for managing renewals through partners. It provides the necessary visibility, insights, and tools to drive proactive renewal management, ultimately leading to higher retention rates, increased revenue, and stronger partnerships.
60% of poll respondents said that they did not offer a partner facing renewals dashboard. So why are so few vendors providing this to their partners?
Is it any wonder that ‘Getting partners to engage and complete renewals on time’ is the number one challenge?
“With the correct data, you can give insight and use that to build the relationships with your partners to drive to the targets. It’s allowed us to set those cadences with our partners, provide them with better visibility to what’s coming and what’s past due, and to work with them on status and strategies to get things over the line when they were a bit stuck.”
Mike Miller
VP Global Services Portfolio Management, Ribbon
Communication Matters
Effective teamwork begins and ends with communication, and it is vital to collaborate with your partners to drive effective renewals.
It is important to communicate early and communicate often. Schedule routine renewal reviews with each partner to ensure everyone has clear visibility and expectations.
Having a renewals dashboard embedded into your partner portal can significantly help to improve transparency and communications.
Automated notifications to prompt your partners can be triggered at specific dates (e.g. 120 days before renewal or 6+ months for large, enterprise opportunities). You can help partners make the renewals process part of initial contract discussions with customers to avoid any roadblocks further down the line.
Account Managers, Customer Success and other internal teams are often in regular contact with customers and can provide warning of any issues and key strategic insight into the best timing and approach. It is critical to ensure communication channels are as clear internally as they are externally and to share that knowledge with your partners!
Top Tip
Replicate Best Practice: In the spirit of open communication, perhaps the most important question to ask your partners is:
“What do you need from us to be more successful?”
Most partners work with multiple vendors so take the opportunity to learn from them about what works and what doesn’t!
“You’ve got to follow a certain recipe and a certain playbook, you know, talk to your distributors, talk to your partners, communicate to your end customers, make sure all that’s synced up and work through all the questions and issues.”
Mike Miller
VP Global Services Portfolio Management, Ribbo
Cultivating for Upsell and Cross-Sell
Cross-selling and upselling during the renewal process can enhance revenue, deepen customer relationships and reduce churn.
This creates an ideal opportunity for partners to build a pipeline of new opportunities by offering additional products or upgrades.
However, many companies are not fully leveraging this potential. According to the poll data:
- 30% of companies with renewals programs have not integrated cross-sell and upsell strategies into their partner-led renewals efforts, leaving significant revenue potential untapped.
- Additionally, 40% of companies with renewal programs have not offered partner incentives to drive improved renewal rates, potentially missing out on motivating partners to actively pursue these high-value opportunities.
As customers approach contract renewal, they’re more open to reassessing their needs and the value they receive, making it a prime time for partners to introduce complementary solutions.
To ensure success, enable your partners with the right tools, training, and data insights while offering performance-based incentives to motivate them. This not only helps secure renewals but also drives new sales opportunities, ultimately leading to stronger customer retention, increased revenue growth and more motivated and engaged partners.
“When it comes to renewals, it’s a captive customer base: if they’ve renewed before, you expect them to renew again, and you should be capitalizing on that. It’s not hunting; it’s farming, and if you can grow off farming, that’s just as good as hunting.”
Rob Rosa
SVP Global Service Sales & Customer Success
Extreme Networks
Final Words of Advice
“I would say start with the data. Figure out what you have, what you need, what you want to track, and what your goals are. Start there, as this data will be used to build your tools, processes, and anything you want to automate. But it really is all going to start from the data, so it’s important.”
Mike Miller
VP Global Services Portfolio Mgmt
Ribbon
“I think the number one pitfall is people thinking that a renewal program starts from 120 or 90 days out from the renewal date. It starts from the day after the sale, and everybody within the partner and vendor has a role to play. Knowing your customer, how they use your product, what they’re doing with it, what problems it’s solving, is key to getting that renewal.”
Sinéad McGrath
Renewals Executive
Channelscaler
“Getting to that self-service model is really important because otherwise you can’t scale, you’re never going to have enough people to serve 5,000 or 50,000 renewals. Having that data, pushing it out through your portal or dashboard to show partners and distributors is critical. You know what renewals are coming up but measuring them is also key.”
Rob Rosa
SVP Global Service Sales & Customer Success
Extreme Networks
