The Leave-It-Alone Playbook 2026
When the weekly check finds a gap worth a conversation, this play looks for a reason to wait first – a fresh purchase or renewal, a budget or org change, an open blocker, a departed champion. If the records show one, the reason goes on the CRM record with a date to look again, so the conversation happens when it can land.
A "we noticed" conversation only works when the timing's right. Use it a month after the renewal, the reorg or the new champion, and it reads like someone who's paying attention. Use it the same week, and it reads like nobody checked.
This is the leave-alone lane of the weekly check, written out in full. When an account shows a gap worth a conversation, look for a reason to wait. If the records show one, write it on the account with a date to look again. If they don't, the move goes ahead. No move is still a move – as long as it's written down.
Measure it on how many holds carry a reason and a review date, how many the quarterly review says were right, and the revenue from accounts that moved once the hold cleared.
How it works8 steps
01SignalStart from a gap worth a conversation
The weekly check compares every account in a segment with a benchmark built from your successful customers: same plan tier and size band, 12+ months as customers, renewed at the same or higher revenue. Aim for 20; with fewer, label it low confidence. Take the median of two or three usage measures your team trusts, and median ARR. Your CS lead approves it.
The check hands this play three fields: the gap, what it's worth (ARR against peers) and the move it drafted. Say an account runs 40 active seats where comparable customers run 70, and its renewal was signed three weeks ago. The gap is real, and worth a conversation – just not this week. (The numbers are illustrative.)
Under about a hundred accounts, run the whole play by hand in a spreadsheet.
02ScoreLook for the reason not to
Four checks, each against a record you already keep, each with a default review date. Defaults; tune them.
- Just bought or renewed: signed, renewed or expanded in the last 60 days, or a renewal in procurement now. Review 60 days after the signature.
- Budget or org change: a freeze, layoff, reorg or new executive in the last 90 days. Review 60 days after the change.
- Open support blocker: a high-priority ticket, or one open 14+ days, on the part of the product the move is about. Review in 30 days.
- Champion just left: gone by the champion play's rule – quiet 28 days (default), a bounced email or a new job. Review in 45 days, or sooner if a new champion is named.
A feeling isn't a reason. "They seemed busy on the last call" goes in the move's notes, not here.
03DecisionApply the rule the same way every time
Any of the four is true: wait. None is true: go. If more than one is true, record the one with the latest review date and mention the others in the evidence line.
04ActionNo reason found: hand it to this week's moves
Stamp the record (template below) and the drafted move joins the week's list. The owner starts the conversation knowing the obvious objection has been ruled out.
05ActionReason found: write it on the record
Set Recommended move to No move, pick the No-move reason, write the evidence in Move reason, and set Review date. The note stops the next person – the new AM, whoever covers a vacation, you in three months – rediscovering the same dead end.
06Human stepThe account owner confirms or overrules the hold
The owner gets a task to confirm or overrule within three working days. They know things the records don't: a renewal that closed early, an executive who wants to talk now. If they overrule, the move goes ahead and their reason goes on the record. Unanswered, the hold stands (default) and shows in the team lead's view. While it stands, nobody raises this gap with the account.
A hold doesn't cover renewal notices. If the account auto-renews, someone on your team still owns any notice your contract or local law requires: record the cancellation deadline, the notice window, what the notice must say and how it's delivered, then log the send.
07ActionOn the review date, clear the hold or extend it once
If the reason has cleared, the account goes back into the weekly check as normal; the owner can clear it early too. If it hasn't, extend once with a new date. A second extension needs the team lead's sign-off, so a hold can't become a place to park an account nobody wants to call.
08OutcomeEach quarter, review the calls both ways
The team lead lists every hold whose review date fell in the quarter: was the reason real, did the move go ahead once it cleared, and how did it land? Then ask each owner which moves ran into a reason the records already showed ("we just renewed", "our champion left"). Mark each Right to wait, Should have gone or Missed a reason.
If more than a quarter of holds should have gone (default), tighten the reasons. If moves keep missing a reason, add that record to the check.
Setup and templates
Data sources: deal and renewal dates from the CRM or billing; notes and tickets from the CRM and your help desk; each user's most recent active day from a saved query in PostHog, Amplitude or Mixpanel; bounces from your email tool. Account-level numbers need your analytics tool's account add-on (group analytics in PostHog, Accounts in Amplitude, Group Analytics in Mixpanel) and a group call in your app. Save the query, then subscribe to it (in Amplitude, add it to a dashboard and subscribe to that) so the result lands in your inbox or Slack on the schedule you set. By hand: four date columns beside each account row, one per reason, and the rule reads them.
Company properties in HubSpot (Starter or above; free HubSpot allows 10 custom properties in total), or your CRM's account object. Recommended move, Move reason and Review date are the same fields every play uses:
| Property | Type | Filled by |
|---|---|---|
| Recommended move | Dropdown select: your plays' moves · No move | Weekly check |
| No-move reason | Dropdown select: Just bought or renewed · Budget or org change · Open support blocker · Champion left | Weekly check |
| Move reason | Single-line text | Weekly check, then account owner |
| Review date | Date picker | Weekly check, then account owner |
| Hold confirmed by | HubSpot user | Account owner |
| Hold extensions | Number | Account owner; a second needs the team lead |
| Wait review | Dropdown select: Right to wait · Should have gone · Missed a reason | Team lead, quarterly |
The automation here uses HubSpot workflows (any Professional hub). On Free or Starter, run the same saved view and create the tasks by hand. Two saved views: Recommended move is No move and Hold confirmed by is unknown (holds to confirm), and Recommended move is No move and Review date is this week or overdue (holds to review). In HubSpot that's two filter groups: Review date is This week, or Review date is before Today. Each hold creates a task for the owner, "Confirm hold: [account] – [reason]", due in three working days.
No-move note (Wait):
No move – [reason]: [evidence, with source and date]. Gap: [gap] ([worth]). Review [date]. Confirmed by [owner].
Checked stamp (Go):
Checked for reasons to wait: none, [date]. Drafted move: [move].
Review-date note:
Review [date]: [reason] has [cleared / not cleared]. [Back to the weekly check / Extended to (date) because (evidence)].
Quarterly review record (kept with your playbook): holds reviewed · right to wait · should have gone · moves that missed a reason · the rule you'll change.
How Accoil fits
Accoil is a customer-success consultancy with our own tooling, and this is a play we run with you, not for you. We build the benchmark with your team, and you approve it. Every week we check every account in the agreed segment, look for reasons to wait, and put the recommended move or the hold, with its evidence, on the account record in your CRM – we recommend HubSpot – at a pace your team can run. Your team makes every call. Nobody from Accoil contacts your customers. After the agreed window we review the calls together, and you keep the playbook, the benchmark and the analysis.
Running it yourself? Swap HubSpot for Salesforce or Pipedrive. The play stays the same. On Salesforce, the field writes need API access (Enterprise and up, or an add-on on Professional). On Pipedrive, automations and date triggers need the Growth plan.
Thirty minutes with Kate, Simon or Peter on one example segment: what a successful customer looks like, where the gaps are, and whether there's work worth doing this quarter.
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