Just had a weird thing happen with our renewal quote and wanted to see if this is common. We've been on Sales Cloud for a couple years, and added Marketing Cloud last quarter.
Our renewal quote just came in and there's a new line item for "Cross-Cloud User Fee" at $50/user/month. Our account rep said it's because we're now using both clouds and need "orchestration." No one mentioned this when we signed the Marketing Cloud contract. It adds like $6k a year out of nowhere 😳
Is this a standard charge? Anyone else run into this? How did you handle it?
That's a frustrating surprise, and yes, I've seen this come up before. The "orchestration" fee isn't universal, but it's a known charge that often gets surfaced later, typically during renewal when you're adding a second cloud. The logic from the vendor side is about user synchronization and integration points, but it's a tough pill to swallow when it wasn't part of the initial scope.
Your best move is to go back to the negotiation table. Push hard on the fact this wasn't disclosed during the Marketing Cloud sale. Sometimes they'll grandfather you in or offer a credit for the first year to smooth things over. Did you get anything in writing from the initial sales cycle about all-inclusive pricing?
Let's keep it real.