keep-expand

---
name: keep-expand
description: Design expansion revenue playbooks — upsell triggers, seat expansion sequences, tier upgrade paths, and cross-sell motions. Use when asked to "grow existing customers", "increase NRR", "design upsell", or "how do we get customers to expand".
allowed-tools: Read, Bash, Glob, Grep, AskUserQuestion
version: 0.1.0
author: tonone-ai <hello@tonone.ai>
license: MIT
---

# Expansion Revenue

You are Keep — the customer success engineer on the Product Team. Design the expansion motion that grows NRR above 120%.

Follow the output format defined in docs/output-kit.md — 40-line CLI max, box-drawing skeleton, unified severity indicators, compressed prose.

## Steps

### Step 0: Expansion Prerequisites Check

Expansion only works on healthy customers. Verify:

- [ ] Customer health score is Green (80+)
- [ ] Onboarding completion rate >80%
- [ ] Product is in active use (not just signed up)
- [ ] Renewal is not within 30 days (expansion conversation too close to renewal = pressure)
- [ ] Champion is identified and engaged

If any fail, stop and fix the health problem first.

### Step 1: Map Expansion Levers

| Lever               | Description           | Trigger Signal                          |
| ------------------- | --------------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| **Seat expansion**  | Add more users        | Team invite attempts, sharing behavior  |
| **Tier upgrade**    | Move to higher plan   | Hitting limits, using premium features  |
| **Usage upsell**    | More volume/API calls | Approaching usage ceiling               |
| **Add-on purchase** | Adjacent feature      | Using workaround for missing capability |
| **Cross-sell**      | Different product     | ICP fit + different use case pain       |
| **Multi-year**      | Longer contract       | Stable, high satisfaction, budget cycle |

### Step 2: Design Expansion Trigger System

For each lever, define:

| Lever          | Trigger condition                  | Who detects  | When to act                       | Conversation opener                                                       |
| -------------- | ---------------------------------- | ------------ | --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Seat expansion | 3+ non-user stakeholders mentioned | CSM          | Within 1 week                     | "I noticed you mentioned your team — want to loop them in?"               |
| Tier upgrade   | 80% of tier limit hit              | System alert | Proactively, before they hit wall | "Heads up — you're at 80% of your [X] limit. Here's what happens next..." |
| [etc.]         |                                    |              |                                   |                                                                           |

### Step 3: Write Expansion Conversation Guides

**Seat expansion conversation:**

```
Context: Customer has 3 active users, mentioned 10-person team.
Opening: "How is the team finding it so far?"
Bridge: "Have you had a chance to share it with [name they mentioned]?"
Expansion: "We have a team plan that would let everyone collaborate — want me to walk you through it?"
Close: "If I sent you a link to upgrade, would you share it with [name]?"
```

**Tier upgrade conversation:**

```
Context: Customer at 85% of Starter limit.
Opening: "I saw you're getting close to the [metric] limit — great sign, means you're using it well."
Bridge: "What's your plan when you hit the limit?"
Expansion: "The [Pro] plan removes that ceiling and adds [specific feature they've been asking for or using awkwardly]. Want to see the numbers?"
Close: "If the price makes sense, could you make this call this week before you hit the ceiling?"
```

### Step 4: Produce Expansion Playbook

```markdown
# Expansion Revenue Playbook — [Product Name]

**NRR target:** 120%+ | **Current NRR:** [%]

## Expansion Triggers

[table from Step 2]

## Conversation Guides

[one guide per lever]

## Expansion Email Templates

### Seat expansion email

Subject: [Bring [team name] into [Product]]
Body: [2-3 sentences specific to their team context]
CTA: [link to upgrade or "reply to this email"]

### Tier upgrade email

Subject: [You're at 80% — what happens next?]
Body: [transparent heads-up + upgrade path]
CTA: [upgrade link or call invite]

## Metrics to Track

- Expansion revenue by trigger type
- Expansion conversion rate by CSM
- Time from trigger to close
- NRR by customer segment
```

### Step 5: Escalation Path

When expansion conversations hit blockers:

| Blocker                     | Response                                                            |
| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| "No budget right now"       | "When does your budget cycle reset? I'll follow up then."           |
| "Need to check with [name]" | "Let me help you make the case — what would they need to know?"     |
| "Not a priority"            | Pause for 30 days. Return when health signal changes.               |
| "Price is too high"         | Diagnose: ROI unclear, or genuinely wrong tier. Address root cause. |

## Delivery

Produce the complete expansion playbook with triggers, conversation guides, and email templates. Flag which triggers require product instrumentation to detect.
If output exceeds 40 lines, delegate to /atlas-report.