Sales to Customer Success Handoff Template [Download]

How effective is your sales to customer success handoff?

This transition period between sales and customer success is a delicate process that shapes the customer’s journey going forward.

As their main point of contact shifts to the customer success manager, ensuring a seamless handoff is crucial for a strong partnership and positive long-term relationship.

This blog explores best practices and pitfalls in this phase, emphasizing the need for smooth communication, clear expectations, and consistent customer knowledge sharing.

We’ll outline a comprehensive template to help you streamline this transition, aligning customer success strategies with customer goals. You’ll discover how this vital process can reduce churn, maintain satisfaction, and identify new opportunities.

What Is The Sales To Customer Success Handoff?

The sales to customer success handoff is a crucial transition period for your customer. It’s when you and your customer move from the sales process into the implementation phase of your journey.

For the customer, it’s an exciting time because they finally get to implement your solution.

During this handoff, the main point of contact shifts from a sales rep to a customer success manager. It’s a delicate process since it transitions the relationship the sales rep built.

Properly managing this handoff process creates a seamless customer experience and prevents issues.

• Gap Identification: You want to avoid gaps between contract signing and implementation start.
• Contact Changeover: The change of the main contact from sales to customer success personnel should be smooth.
• Experience Streamlining: Streamline the information flow to ensure continuity and foster trust.
• Churn Reduction: A well-executed handoff can reduce the chances of customer churn.
• Customer Satisfaction: Ultimately, this process aims at maintaining, if not enhancing, customer satisfaction.

A well-thought sales to customer success handoff gives your customers a strong vote of confidence. It also starts your long-term relationship on a positive note.

Sales to Customer Success Handoff Template

Here’s a sales to customer success handoff template that you can use. It includes all the information you need to ensure that no details are lost in the transition.

Why Do You Need A Sales To Customer Success Handoff?

A seamless sales to customer success handoff maintains momentum and value perception when you pass the baton from one person to another.

A change of contact can create friction. Customers might feel apprehensive if handed over without care. Reinforcing the relationship and the product’s value ensures no details are lost during the handoff.

To create a smooth sales to customer success handoff, have a solid process. One that’s not only jotted down but also connected in every interaction. 

A well-designed sales to customer success handoff template contains all the important details to tailor the experience to each customer, addressing their unique needs and goals.

Consistency is crucial. Both teams should operate in sync, sharing the same information and strategy to give customers a sense of continuity. With an understanding of the customer’s needs, your customer success team can focus on onboarding and adoption, which often leads to better retention.

A smooth handoff can lead to potential growth opportunities that customer success can identify. This can come naturally as an upsell or cross-sell opportunity during their interactions.

What Should Be Included In Sales To Customer Success Handoff?

A smooth transition from sales to customer success is crucial for maintaining the momentum of the customer relationship. Ensure these elements are included in your sales to customer success handoff template.

Summary Of The Customer Journey

Document a timeline of interactions, including dates, modes of communication, and a synopsis of each meeting or call. This provides quick insight into the relationship’s history.

Customer Background Information

Include key facts about the customer’s company, such as industry, size, and years in operation, alongside any noteworthy company operations or characteristics relevant to your product or service.

Contact Details

A table of contact details with names, titles, phone numbers, and email addresses of all key stakeholders involved in the purchase process is essential for seamless communication.

Name	Title	Email	Role
John Doe	Project Manager	john.doe@example.com	Decision-Maker
Jane Smith	IT Lead	jane.smith@example.com	Main Admin

Situation And Pain Points

Present a clear list of the customer’s challenges and pain points, leading them to seek your solution.

• Challenge 1: Limited tracking capabilities of the current system.
• Challenge 2: Inefficient cross-departmental communication.

Goals

Itemize the short-term and long-term goals the sales team identified during their conversations with the client. Be specific about each goal and the desired outcomes.

1. Short-term Goal: Improve tracking capabilities within 3 months.
2. Long-term Goal: Enhance cross-departmental workflows.

Customer Expectations

Articulate the customer’s expectations from your product or service, including any milestones and metrics for success they’ve shared. Expectation: Increase operation efficiency by 20% within the first year.

Implementation Details

Detail the agreed-upon implementation plan and timeline, including any customizations or integrations that are necessary. Integrate with ABC software by Q3.

Work And Communication Plan

Outline the proposed schedule for regular check-ins, reports, and updates. Include the preferred channels for these communications.

• Weekly Check-ins: Every Tuesday via Zoom
• Monthly Reports: Emailed on the 1st of the month

Additional Information

Give any other important information, such as preferences on communication style or notes on company culture, that can help improve the sales to customer success handoff. For example, your customer may prefer concise email updates and appreciate the recognition of work anniversaries or milestones.

How To Prepare For Handoff

Before the handoff from sales to customer success, it’s important to understand the customer’s journey fully. Map out all prior interactions to ensure a seamless transition. This includes documented expectations and any promises or commitments made during the sales process.

Next, identify key stakeholders on both sides. You should be aware of who will oversee the continuation of the relationship and any pertinent contacts who can influence the customer’s experience.

Define the relationships and roles clearly; your customer success team must know who they will communicate with and the decision-makers. Formulate a handoff package that comprises:

• A summary of the customer’s history with your company
• Outstanding customer queries or needs
• Defined future engagement points and milestones

Creating a structured document or table helps avoid misunderstandings and sets the tone for a successful ongoing partnership.

Sales to Customer Success Handoff Email Template

Once a deal is closed, ensure that your sales rep and customer success manager have coordinated a handoff email. Having your sales rep follow up with the customer, your customer success manager should also send an email.

Here’s an example you can use:

What Happens During The Introduction Meeting?

In your introduction meeting, transition sales to customer success by making a warm handoff. Start the introduction immediately after the deal closes to maintain momentum and reassure your customer of the continued support.

Express gratitude and excitement for this new partnership. Your enthusiasm sets a positive tone and reflects the value placed on the client relationship. Use this opportunity to:

• Thank the customer for their business.
• Convey genuine enthusiasm for the journey ahead.

During this meeting, you’ll review the onboarding process. Outline clear steps and timelines to demystify the upcoming actions, ensuring you understand what to expect and when.

According to Wyzowl, 63% of customers consider the company’s onboarding program when making a purchasing decision.

Together, you will reconfirm expectations and goals to align the partnership with the customer’s desired outcomes. It helps to:

• Reiterate what success looks like for your customer.
• Clarify any immediate goals and longer-term objectives.

Lastly, set a communication plan. Agree on the preferred communication channels, frequency, and types of updates. Most importantly, define the main point of contact for each query. For example, customer success will send anything related to using your solution, while the sales rep will send anything related to contract details and renewal.

Best Practices For A Good Sales To Customer Success Handoff

By implementing best practices for a sales to customer success handoff, execute a seamless transition that maintains customer trust and momentum from the sales process.

Capture Relevant Information

Collect key customer data during the sales cycle, covering their goals, pain points, and expectations. Document this in a handoff template to provide the customer success team with insights.

Have An Internal Meeting For Handoff

Before transitioning a client, have an internal meeting with both sales and customer success teams. Use this time to clarify any nuances, guaranteeing that nothing is lost in translation.

Sales Should Be Proactive In Answering Questions From CS

Keep open lines of communication between sales and customer success. As a sales representative, you answer customer success queries promptly to ensure they have all the necessary information.

Define Communication

Set clear guidelines on how and when both teams communicate, safeguarding that customer success has the latest updates and can reiterate what sales promised.

Define Responsibilities

Clearly outline who is responsible for what actions both teams take. This prevents any task from being overlooked or duplicated, assuring a smoother handoff.

Create Mandatory CRM Fields

Implement mandatory fields in your CRM to capture essential customer information. This will prevent critical data from being missed and promote higher data quality.

Identify Early Wins

Work together to determine potential quick wins for new customers, fostering customer satisfaction and demonstrating immediate value from your service or product.

Continuous Improvement Of Handoff Process

Encourage feedback and make regular adjustments to the handoff process. This iterative approach keeps the process relevant and efficient, fostering better customer experiences.

Sales to Customer Success Handoff Pitfalls To Avoid

Being aware of common pitfalls can mitigate many of the challenges in the sales-to-customer success transition. Recognizing these can help ensure a smoother handoff and set the stage for ongoing customer satisfaction.

Poor Knowledge Handoff

Ensure that the customer success team is accurately and thoroughly informed about the customer’s needs, expectations, and history with your product. Utilize a detailed checklist or CRM database for this exchange of information to avoid gaps in knowledge that can hinder the team’s effectiveness.

Misalignment Of Expectations

Clarify what the sales team promised to the customer to prevent any discrepancies. Document and communicate the scope of the product or service sold, including timelines and outcomes, to align both teams and manage customer expectations accurately.

Unclear Roles And Responsibilities

Define and document specific roles and responsibilities of the sales and customer success teams. Use a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RACI) to delineate who is responsible, accountable, Consultable, and informed for each aspect of the handoff and ongoing management.

Lack Of Adoption

To support customer adoption, share clear use cases and provide structured training and educational resources. Keeping track of adoption metrics and following up with customers can help identify and address any roadblocks early.

Renewal Risk

Proactively manage renewal risks by scheduling regular check-ins and tracking customer health scores. Implement early warning systems to flag accounts that may not renew and take preemptive action to rectify any issues.

Missed Expansion Opportunities

Stay on top of additional customer needs that could lead to upsell or cross-sell opportunities. Through consistent engagement and by demonstrating ongoing value, you can naturally uncover areas for growth within your customer’s business.

Improve Your Customer Retention with Revenue Reveal

If you’re seeing a drop in sales experience or noticed gaps in customer retention, Revenue Reveal can help. We work with B2B companies to help them build and streamline their revenue processes. This includes building a successful sales to customer success handoff, which includes mandatory fields in your CRM, training, and playbook documentation.

You can reach out to us here for an initial strategy session!

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