Renewals and retention consulting for software companies
Most software businesses we meet report net revenue retention above 100% and assume renewals are fine. Take the price rise out and the picture often changes. In the latest private SaaS benchmark data, median gross retention fell to 84%, down four points in a year. In plenty of boardrooms the uplift is the only thing holding the headline number up, and nobody is looking underneath it.
We design renewal processes that protect the base first. Then they earn the uplift with evidence your customers find hard to argue with.
Our GTM advisory approach treats renewals and retention as a commercial discipline, not an administrative handoff.
Sound familiar?
- Renewal conversations start 60 days out, after the customer's own notice window has already closed.
- Price rises go out as a line on an invoice, and procurement treats them as an opening offer.
- Customers cut seats at renewal and your team accepts it with nothing in return.
- Nobody can tell you how much of last year's NRR was price.
- Your contracts allow an annual uplift you've never applied. Or they cap it so tightly it barely covers inflation.
Why it matters more now
Your customers are better prepared than they used to be. Spend-management platforms now benchmark renewal quotes against thousands of others, and some negotiate for your customer using AI agents. An uplift that arrives late, with no reason attached and no option to lock in, is a discount waiting to happen.
What we do
We work through your renewal book, your contracts and your numbers. Then we design the process your team will run.
- A retention diagnosis. We measure your GRR and NRR, show how much of the NRR is price, and benchmark both against businesses of your size and contract value.
- A contract audit. It compares the uplift your paper allows with what you've actually taken, and finds the notice windows nobody is tracking.
- A renewal motion for each customer segment. Each segment gets a named owner and a fixed point, months out, when the conversation starts.
- A commercial policy for price rises and concessions, plus the contract terms you'll sell on from now on.
- A playbook for every outcome, including the two nobody plans for: cancellation and downsell.
- A risk register and renewal calendar your team runs every week.
We've run this, not just designed it.
The retention and adoption programme Paul Price built in his last role delivered 120% NRR and 90% GRR. Those numbers came from customers who stayed and grew, not from price alone.
Planning a price rise?
Your customers now expect four things. They want at least 90 days' notice and a reason specific to them. They also want a cap on what comes next and a way to lock today's price. Get those right and most rises land. Skip them and you're negotiating against a benchmark you've never seen. We'll design the rise with you: who it applies to, who's protected, what customers see and when, and how to handle the pushback before it arrives.
How it works
Design takes thirty days, and then we stay alongside your team while they run it. By day 30, every renewal due in the next six months has an owner, a risk rating and a date by which the conversation must start. We build the capability inside your team rather than running renewals for you, so it keeps working after we've gone.
Who it's for
Software businesses between £5m and £500m ARR, and the private equity firms that back them. It's most useful when a price rise is coming, or when your board has started asking for GRR rather than NRR.
Related insights
Your customers decide whether to renew months before the date on the contract. Make sure you're in the room when they do.
See where your revenue engine needs attention.