Five renewals for one product
A customer bought forty seats of a collaboration tool in March. They added ten in June, five in September and another fifteen in January. Each order went through as a new twelve month term, because that was the default on the quote template. Now the customer has four renewal dates for one product, four invoices a year and four chances for something to lapse.
Their finance manager asks, reasonably, if they can have one date. Working out how to get there means looking up each subscription, checking what the vendor allows and calculating pro-rata costs by hand.
Why add-ons end up on their own terms
Co-terming is simple to describe and fiddly to do. You need the existing term's end date, which may only be in the vendor portal. You need to know whether that vendor and that product support co-terming, and on what basis, which varies. You need the pro-rata calculation, done the way the vendor does it, which may be by day or by month. And you need current pricing for the add-on.
When an account manager is quoting ten extra seats on a busy afternoon, the easy option is a fresh twelve month term. The consequences show up a year later.
| Information needed | Where it lives | Why it gets skipped |
|---|---|---|
| Existing term end date | Vendor portal | Takes a login and a search |
| Co-term rules for the product | Programme guide | Varies by vendor and product |
| Pro-rata method | Vendor terms | Day or month basis differs |
| Current add-on price | Distributor pricing | Needs looking up separately |
What scattered renewal dates cost
Every extra renewal date is another quote, another PO to chase, another invoice for the customer to process and another chance of a lapse. Customers with messy renewal patterns are more likely to consolidate with another supplier, or with the vendor directly, simply to make admin easier.
Pro-rata amounts calculated by hand also lead to invoice disputes, because the customer cannot see how the number was reached.
The add-on quoting step we build
- Subscription lookup: when an account manager starts an add-on quote, the customer's existing subscriptions for that product are pulled from the renewal register or vendor data, with their term end dates.
- Rule check: the co-term options your channel team has recorded for that vendor and product are shown, including where co-terming is not available.
- Pro-rata calculation: the co-termed add-on is priced from current distributor pricing using the pro-rata method your team records for that vendor, and the working is shown line by line.
- Side by side: the quote can show the co-termed option next to a full new term, so the customer chooses knowingly.
- Consolidation plan: for customers who already have scattered dates, a plan is drafted to bring them onto one date over the next renewals, for the account manager to discuss.
- Order carry-through: the chosen term and end date are carried onto the distributor order, so the order matches the quote.
The vendor's own calculation is what counts in the end, so the order confirmation is checked against the quote and any difference flagged.
How add-on orders go afterwards
Account managers quote add-ons in the same time as before, but the default is now a co-termed quote with the maths already done. Customers see why the amount is what it is. Over a renewal cycle or two, customers with many dates move towards one, and renewal season gets simpler for everyone.
Are your customers on too many dates?
- Some customers have several renewal dates for the same product.
- Add-on seats default to a new full term on your quotes.
- Pro-rata amounts are calculated by hand, differently by different people.
- Customers have queried how a pro-rata invoice was worked out.
- Nobody has a plan to consolidate scattered renewals.