Renewals slip when the date lives in the contract PDF and the reminder lives in someone's calendar, if anywhere. The client's support plan ends, nobody calls, and three months later you find out they moved to someone else or simply stopped paying. Put the renewal date and the notice date on the client record, set reminders that start early enough to have a real conversation, and look at the list of upcoming renewals once a month.
What to record for every contract
One row per contract, not per client, because one client can have a maintenance plan renewing in March and a hosting contract renewing in July.
| Field | Example | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Client | Northside Dental | |
| Contract | Annual IT support | |
| Start date | Apr 1, 2026 | |
| Renewal date | Apr 1, 2027 | The date it ends or rolls over |
| Notice date | Feb 1, 2027 | The last day either side can change or cancel, if the contract has a notice period |
| Auto-renews? | Yes / No | Decides what the conversation is about |
| Current value | $4,800 a year | |
| Owner | Dan | Who has the renewal conversation |
| Status | Upcoming / In talks / Renewed / Lost |
The notice date is the one people forget. If the contract says either side must give 60 days' notice, the real deadline for a price change or a new scope is two months before the renewal date, not the renewal date itself.
When reminders should fire
Work back from the notice date, or from the renewal date if there is no notice period:
- 90 days before: the owner looks at the account. Is the client happy, using what they pay for, likely to want more or less? Is there a price change to propose?
- 60 days before: contact the client. A short call or email: what has happened this year, what you suggest for next year, and the new price if it changes.
- 30 days before: send the written renewal: new dates, price, any change in scope. Ask for confirmation by a date.
- 7 days before: if nothing has come back, call. Do not let a renewal pass on silence unless the contract auto-renews and both sides know it.
For small monthly retainers, three reminders may be too many. Two (30 days and 7 days) are enough when the conversation is short.
Give each reminder to the owner, not to a shared inbox. A reminder everyone gets is a reminder nobody acts on.
What the renewal conversation covers
The renewal is a moment when the client expects to talk about the contract, so use it:
- what you delivered this year, in their terms ("12 visits, two urgent call-outs, no downtime over the summer");
- anything that did not go well, before they bring it up;
- what changes next year: scope, price, or contact person;
- a clear question with a date: "Shall I send the renewal for another year at $5,100? I need to know by March 15 to keep your slot."
Auto-renewing contracts still deserve the 60-day contact. A client who renews by default and is unhappy is a client who cancels next year with no warning.
When the client wants to change or leave
Not every renewal is a yes. If the client wants to cut back, find out what they still value and offer a smaller version before they cancel outright: fewer visits, a lower tier, a shorter term. If they are leaving, agree the end date in writing, plan the handover of anything they will need (passwords, documents, open tickets), and record the reason, the same way you would for a lost quote. Over a year, that list shows which parts of the service clients stop paying for.
If you are raising the price, say so at the 60-day contact, not in the written renewal. A price increase that arrives with a week to go feels like a trap, even when the contract allows it.
A monthly renewal review
Once a month, filter the list for renewal dates in the next 120 days and go through each row:
- Is there an owner?
- Has the reminder for this stage happened?
- Is the status current?
This takes ten minutes for a few dozen contracts. It catches the renewals that were missed because the owner was on vacation, left the company, or never had a reminder set. Contracts that renewed get their dates rolled forward a year on the same day, so next year's reminders exist.
Where a CRM helps
A spreadsheet with the fields above and calendar reminders works for a few dozen contracts. It breaks when reminders depend on one person's calendar, or when you want the renewal history, emails and notes in the same place as the client.
In Pipedrive, you can add a renewal date as a custom date field on the deal or organization. Pipedrive's workflow automations include date triggers that fire a set time before or after a chosen date field, for example to create a "renewal call" activity for the owner 60 days before the renewal date. Automations are on the Growth plan and higher. One renewal deal per contract per year, won or lost, gives you the renewal history in the pipeline. It reminds; it does not decide what to offer the client or make the call.