Skill: Account Expansion Playbook

What This Skill Does

Turns your existing customer base into a systematic upsell and cross-sell pipeline. Identifies which accounts are ready to expand, what to offer them, when to have the conversation, and exactly what to say. Outputs an expansion-ready account list with scores, expansion offers mapped to each account's situation, conversation scripts, and a 90-day expansion calendar. Expansion revenue closes 3x faster than net new, at a fraction of the acquisition cost — this skill makes it systematic rather than accidental.

When to Use

• You have paying customers but no structured process for growing revenue from them
• Your net new pipeline is thin and you need faster revenue without more top-of-funnel spend
• A customer just hit a milestone or success moment — the perfect trigger for an expansion conversation
• You're approaching a renewal and want to use it as an expansion opportunity rather than just a retention event
• You want to build a formal expansion program into your customer success or account management process
• You're leaving money on the table — you know some customers could benefit from more, but you haven't asked

Inputs Required

Before running this skill, ask the user for:

1. Customer list — names, companies, current product/tier/spend, and relationship status (healthy, neutral, at-risk)
2. Expansion options available — what can customers buy more of? (additional seats, higher tier, add-on modules, adjacent services, professional services, training, new product lines)
3. Current usage data — if available: usage levels, feature adoption, seats used vs. purchased, departments using the product, frequency of use
4. Recent customer interactions — notes from last call, support tickets, NPS responses, QBR outcomes, stated goals or frustrations
5. Contract details — renewal dates, current contract value, any unused capacity or overage patterns
6. ICP for expansion — which types of customers typically expand? What does an expansion-ready customer look like?

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1 — Score Every Account for Expansion Readiness

Apply the Expansion Readiness Score to each customer:

Score 35+ = Expansion Priority — have the conversation this week Score 20–34 = Expansion Ready — conversation in next 30 days Score 10–19 = Expansion Candidate — plant seeds now, ask in 60–90 days Below 10 = Not yet — focus on health and adoption first

Step 2 — Identify the Right Expansion Offer per Account

Match each account to the expansion offer most aligned to their current situation. Do not pitch the full catalog — pick one thing per account.

Expansion type mapping:

Capacity Expansion (more of the same): Best for: customers at or near usage limits, teams that have grown since purchase Signal: usage at 80%+, new hires, new departments using the product without licenses Offer: "You've grown significantly since we started — are you finding that the current capacity is keeping up with where the team is now?"

Tier Upgrade (access to more advanced features): Best for: customers who are asking about features they don't have, hitting a ceiling in their current plan Signal: support tickets asking about unavailable features, work-arounds being used, stated frustrations with current limits Offer: "Based on how you're using the product, you're actually bumping up against some limits that the next tier removes — I think it's worth a 20-minute look at whether the upgrade makes financial sense."

Cross-Sell (different product or service): Best for: customers with a clear adjacent pain that your other offering solves Signal: they mentioned a problem in a recent call that another product addresses, they're using a competitor for something adjacent Offer: "You mentioned [adjacent pain] on our last call — we actually have a solution for exactly that. I didn't want to bring it up before you were getting value from the core product, but now that you are, it might be worth a look."

Professional Services / Implementation: Best for: customers who are under-adopting, have a big initiative coming up, or want to go faster Signal: low feature adoption despite high intent, upcoming project or launch, expressed frustration with how long things are taking internally Offer: "You have a big push coming up — I know your team is stretched. We have a team that specializes in getting customers from where you are to where you want to be in 6 weeks. Want me to put together what that would look like?"

Multi-Year Renewal + Expansion: Best for: customers approaching renewal who are healthy and happy Signal: upcoming renewal date, high satisfaction, stated goals that require continuity Offer: "I want to get ahead of your renewal before it's on top of us. I also think there's a conversation worth having about the roadmap — there are some capabilities coming that I think you'll want access to. Can we block 30 minutes to look at a proposal that makes sense for the next couple of years?"

Step 3 — Find the Expansion Moment

Like referrals, expansion conversations have a right moment and a wrong moment. The right moment is always tied to a success event or a signal of need — not to a quarterly check-in or a convenient slot in the calendar.

The best expansion triggers:

• Customer just reported a milestone, result, or win ("we've seen X% improvement")
• Customer hit a usage ceiling for the first time (usage report shows 85%+ capacity)
• Customer's team grew — new hire announcement, LinkedIn update, company news
• Customer mentioned a new project or initiative that connects to your other offerings
• Renewal is 90 days out (proactive, not reactive)
• Customer just completed onboarding with a positive outcome

The worst times to expand:

• Customer is currently experiencing a problem or support issue (fix it first)
• Customer has gone quiet and you're not sure why
• End of your quarter — it reads as pressure, not partnership
• You haven't spoken in more than 60 days — re-establish the relationship first

For each expansion-ready account, identify which trigger has occurred most recently. That's the opening.

Step 4 — Write the Expansion Conversation Scripts

Write a specific opening for each type of expansion trigger. These should feel like natural check-in conversations — not sales calls.

After a success moment: "[Name] — really glad to hear about [specific result or milestone]. That's exactly the kind of outcome we were hoping for when we started. It made me want to reach out, actually — now that [core use case] is working well, there are one or two things I've seen other teams at your stage unlock next that tend to compound those results. Is it worth 20 minutes for me to walk you through what that might look like for you specifically?"

After usage hits a ceiling: "[Name] — I was looking at your account and noticed you've hit about [X]% of your capacity. I wanted to flag it before it becomes a bottleneck rather than after. Want to look at options together? There's a pretty straightforward path that most teams in your position take."

After a team growth signal: "[Name] — congratulations on the new [hire / team expansion / office]. Growing teams usually mean more pressure on [t