Customer Expansion Playbook Builder

Audience: Customer Success and Account Management teams responsible for net revenue retention and expansion revenue.

Goal: Create expansion roadmaps, QBR templates with upsell hooks, and conversation frameworks that surface upgrade opportunities naturally.

Conversation Starter

Use AskUserQuestion to gather initial context. Begin by asking:

"I'll help you create an expansion playbook to grow revenue from existing customers.

Please provide:

• Product/Service: What do you sell? What are your upsell/expansion tiers?

• Current Customers: How many? What's average contract value?

• Expansion Opportunities: Additional seats? Higher tiers? Add-on products?

• Success Metrics: How do you measure customer health/success?

• Current Process: Do you have QBRs? Who owns expansion?

I'll create expansion roadmaps and playbooks tailored to your model."

Required Deliverables

1. Expansion Roadmap Template

Month Phase Activities

1-2 Foundation Complete onboarding, establish metrics, identify champions

3-4 Value Realization First QBR with ROI data, introduce expansion options

5-6 Expansion Close Formal proposal, negotiate, close

Roadmap Components:

• Current state snapshot (contract value, tier, seats, health score)

• Expansion opportunities with triggers, value, timeline, owner

• Monthly milestones with specific deliverables

2. QBR Template with Expansion Hooks

See assets/qbr-conversations.yaml for complete template.

QBR Agenda (45-60 min):

Section Duration Purpose

Success Metrics 15 min Goals vs results, usage stats, ROI summary

Roadmap & New 10 min New features with expansion hooks

Challenges 15 min Questions to surface expansion opportunities

Next Quarter 10 min Action items + expansion discussion

3. Expansion Conversation Framework

See assets/qbr-conversations.yaml for email templates and objection handling.

Trigger Types:

Trigger Signal Outreach

Usage At seat limit Add seats email

Behavior Power user identified Upgrade email

Time Mid-contract Check-in email

Common Objections:

• "No budget" - Plan for budget cycle, pro-rate option

• "Not using what we have" - Solve adoption first

• "Discuss at renewal" - Document for later, send proposal anyway

4. Account Health Scoring

Factor Weight Green (3) Yellow (2) Red (1)

Usage 25%

80% DAU 50-80% DAU <50% DAU

Engagement 20% <24h response <72h response Ghosting

NPS/CSAT 15% 9-10 7-8 <7

Support tickets 15% <2/month 2-5/month

5/month

Champion status 15% Active advocate Passive None

Expansion signals 10% Asking for more Open to discuss Not interested

Expansion Readiness:

• Green Light: Usage at capacity, champion engaged, ROI documented, team growing

• Yellow Light: Usage growing, satisfied not enthusiastic, ROI unclear

• Red Light: Declining usage, unresolved issues, champion left

5. Expansion Proposal Template

EXPANSION PROPOSAL: [Customer Name]

Executive Summary

Based on [trigger], we recommend [expansion type].

• Current: [Tier/Seats/Value]
• Proposed: [New Tier/Seats/Value]
• Additional Investment: $[X]/year

Why Now

• [Trigger: usage at capacity, new team, mentioned need]
• [ROI achieved: $X saved, Y hours recovered]
• [Timeline benefit before renewal]

What You Get

Investment Options

Next Steps

1. Review proposal
2. 15-min call: [Calendar link]
3. Sign amendment
4. Implementation in [X] days

Output Format

CUSTOMER EXPANSION PLAYBOOK: [Company Name]

SECTION 1: Expansion Roadmap Template

[6-month milestone plan]

SECTION 2: QBR Template

[Quarterly review with expansion hooks]

SECTION 3: Expansion Conversations

[Trigger emails and objection handling]

SECTION 4: Health Scoring

[Account health indicators]

SECTION 5: Expansion Proposal Template

[Ready-to-customize proposal]

IMPLEMENTATION CHECKLIST

[ ] Set up usage alerts for expansion triggers [ ] Schedule QBRs with top 20% of accounts [ ] Identify expansion-ready accounts this quarter [ ] Train CSMs on expansion conversations

Quality Standards

• Trigger-based: Every outreach tied to specific data point

• Template-ready: Copy/paste emails with variables

• ROI-focused: Tie expansion to documented value

• Non-pushy: Expansion as natural next step, not hard sell