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The handoff between sales and Customer Success is one of the most critical, yet often overlooked, stages in the customer journey. You’ve just closed a deal, but how do you ensure that the customer receives the same level of care and attention moving forward?
Without a clear process in place, important details can slip through the cracks, leading to confusion, miscommunication, and ultimately, a poor customer experience.
For many Customer Success Managers (CSMs), this lack of a formal handoff process can feel like working with one hand tied behind their back. Sales teams are focused on closing deals, while CSMs need to think long-term about maintaining customer relationships and ensuring success.
Both teams have different responsibilities, and without a structured handoff, the transition can be anything but smooth. Sales might be all about securing the contract, but Customer Success is about building that lasting partnership.
To ensure customers experience a seamless transition from sales to success, it’s crucial to create a handoff process that aligns the two teams and captures all the necessary information for CSMs to hit the ground running.
In this blog, we’ll explore what it takes to get the handoff process right. Before we start, let’s get into why formalizing this process is important in the first place.
Why a formal handoff process matters
When a customer transitions from sales to Customer Success, it’s a pivotal moment that sets the tone for the rest of their experience.
Without a structured handoff, the customer can feel disconnected, and the Customer Success team may be left guessing about key details. A formal handoff process is crucial to ensure that both teams work in sync and the customer feels supported from day one. Here’s a closer look at how the quality of your handoff can affect your customers:
Customer experience
A consistent customer experience is critical for building trust and confidence. When the handoff process is informal or inconsistent, customers might receive mixed messages or encounter gaps in communication.
A formal handoff process eliminates guesswork, ensuring that no important details are missed. Clear communication between teams leads to a seamless transition for the customer, fostering a consistent and positive experience from the moment they sign the contract.
Knowledge gaps
The sales team gathers crucial information about the customer throughout the sales process – things like their pain points, goals, expectations, and what led them to sign on in the first place.
If this information isn’t shared clearly, the Customer Success team may not have the context they need to deliver value right away. Knowledge gaps between sales and Customer Success can lead to misunderstandings and prevent the Customer Success team from addressing the customer’s real needs.
Standardizing the transfer of customer information ensures that the Customer Success team has everything they need to continue the relationship effectively. When the right details are communicated, the Customer Success team can hit the ground running, focusing on delivering value from day one.
Establishing a formal handoff process not only strengthens communication between teams but also sets the stage for long-term Customer Success. Now that we’ve established why it matters, let’s take a closer look at the key steps that make up an effective sales to Customer Success handoff.
Key steps for a successful sales to Customer Success handoff
If you don’t have a formal handoff process in place yet, following these general steps can be a great starting point.
Tools like Velaris can help by documenting this process through playbooks, giving everyone access to a clear, step-by-step guide and automatic checklists. Even if you don’t have a tool like Velaris, documenting this process yourself can still bring value.
With that, here are the steps to take for a smooth sales to Customer Success handoff:
1. Gather detailed customer information
Before the handoff, the sales team should gather and compile all relevant customer information. This includes the customer’s goals, pain points, contract details, and any promises made during the sales process.
Without this, the Customer Success team may not fully understand the customer’s needs and expectations.
Set up a structured handover process where sales is responsible for submitting detailed customer information to the Customer Success team.
Velaris can integrate data from all of your teams, allowing you to access everything you need on one platform. This ensures no information is lost during the transition.
2. Assign clear roles and responsibilities
Miscommunication can happen when roles aren’t clearly defined. Both sales and Customer Success teams should know exactly who is responsible for each part of the handoff process to avoid overlaps or gaps.
Clearly define roles for both teams, outlining specific tasks and responsibilities during the transition. This ensures accountability and reduces confusion for the customer.
You can do this directly through Velaris’ playbooks, allowing you to ensure each team member knows their responsibilities during the handoff process.
3. Host a formal introduction with the customer
The handoff doesn’t just happen behind the scenes. A formal introduction between the customer and the Customer Success team is critical to setting expectations and reassuring the customer that they’re in capable hands.
This introduction can help bridge the gap between the two teams and ensure the customer feels supported.
Schedule a call with the customer, and where applicable, have the sales team’s point of contact present to help with the transition. This sets a positive tone for the Customer Success team’s involvement moving forward.
4. Track onboarding progress and customer health
Once the Customer Success team takes over, tracking progress through the onboarding process is essential. Monitoring key milestones and customer health helps you stay proactive and address any issues that may arise.
Use tracking tools that allow you to monitor onboarding progress and the customer’s overall health score. This ensures the customer is moving forward smoothly and that any red flags are caught early.
Velaris’ tracking features, along with its customer health score tools, allow you to monitor each stage of the onboarding journey and step in when necessary.
5. Maintain communication between teams
Even after the handoff, communication between sales and Customer Success shouldn’t stop. Regular check-ins help clarify any lingering questions, resolve issues, and improve collaboration.
Both teams can provide valuable feedback to each other – Customer Success can share insights with sales to help them close more deals, and sales can give Customer Success a better understanding of the customers they’re bringing in.
Establish periodic check-ins between sales and Customer Success teams to review customer progress and ensure both teams are aligned. This helps maintain a strong relationship between the teams and improves long-term results.
By following these steps, you can create a more structured, efficient sales to Customer Success handoff process that benefits both your team and your customers.
In the next section, we’ll explore how automating parts of this handoff process can further streamline your workflow, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
Best practices for the sales to Customer Success handoff
Here are some tried and proven best practices for a successful sales to Customer Success handoff:
1. Start the handoff early
Don’t wait until after the deal is closed to begin preparing for the transition. Get Customer Success involved during the final stages of the sales process so they can start learning about the customer’s goals and expectations early.
This reduces the gap between the end of the sales cycle and the start of the Customer Success journey, ensuring a smoother, more informed handoff.
2. Use a structured handoff template
Implement a standardized handoff document or template that captures all essential customer information, such as their goals, timelines, pain points, and specific product features they’re interested in.
A template ensures that no important details are overlooked, making the transition process consistent across different customers and sales reps.
3. Align on key milestones and goals
Both sales and Customer Success teams should agree on key customer milestones, such as onboarding completion, initial value delivery, and long-term goals. These milestones should be communicated clearly to the customer as well.
Alignment on key goals ensures both teams are working toward the same outcomes, reducing confusion and misalignment.
4. Maintain ongoing collaboration
The handoff process shouldn’t end after the customer is transferred. Sales and Customer Success should continue to communicate periodically, providing feedback and discussing customer progress to ensure a seamless experience.
Ongoing collaboration helps close any remaining knowledge gaps and ensures both teams are aligned on the customer’s journey.
5. Leverage automation for efficiency
Automate parts of the handoff process, such as assigning tasks, tracking customer progress, or sending introductory emails, to ensure that no step is missed.
Automation ensures consistency and frees up time for both teams to focus on building relationships and delivering value.
6. Document everything
Ensure that all customer interactions, key details, and progress are properly documented. This includes logging customer pain points, expectations, and any commitments made by the sales team.
Documentation helps avoid confusion and ensures that the Customer Success team has everything they need to deliver value without needing to track down information after the handoff.
These best practices focus on creating a structured, transparent, and collaborative process that benefits both the customer and your internal teams. They ensure that the handoff is seamless, reducing the risk of miscommunication and missed expectations.
Conclusion
A formal, structured handoff process between sales and Customer Success is key to delivering a consistent experience and preventing knowledge gaps from disrupting the customer journey.
By clearly defining roles, transferring important customer information, and leveraging automation to handle repetitive tasks, you can ensure a smoother transition for your customers and set them up for long-term success.
Tools like Velaris are designed to streamline this process, helping you automate workflows, standardize how information is shared, and keep both teams aligned throughout the customer handoff.
If creating a more efficient handoff process is a priority for your team, Velaris can offer the solutions you need to make it simpler and more organized.
Book a demo today to see how Velaris can support your team in delivering seamless transitions from sales to Customer Success.
