The Sales to Customer Success handoff should be the most satisfying part of acquiring a new customer: It marks the point where a deal has closed and you can refocus your efforts on retention and loyalty. Unfortunately, customers often churn in this transition window — perhaps because CS representatives aren’t meeting expectations set by Sales or because their messaging lacks a personalized touch.
Whatever the reason, this dynamic can make Customer Success handoffs a risky stage for your organization. So what can be done to ensure a smooth and painless transition?
Standardize Onboarding Practices and Inter-Team Workflows
First and foremost, your organization should make every effort to develop a strong working relationship between the Sales and Customer Success teams. Don’t treat each department as an isolated unit — a better connection ensures a smoother handoff. Depending on your organizational structure, it may even be possible to assign intra-department partnerships to manage individual customers. Such a process lets CS professionals maintain expectations set by sales partners and gives them a direct contact when they have additional questions.
It’s essential to adopt standardized handoff workflows that clarify responsibilities whichever way you structure your departments. The last thing you want is for a CS team member to assume a sales professional handled details that the customer expected CS to manage! That’s why you should always delegate each aspect of the handoff process and keep all parties apprised of their roles. While there’s nothing wrong with having some flexibility in your workflow, keeping everyone on the same page makes it easier to spot blockers and replicate successful processes.
Collect Useful Customers and All Notes From Sales
One crucial consideration is to record every relevant detail about the customer and their unique needs. Ideally, this process should start with sales professionals who take detailed notes that cover everything from customer profiles to personalized requests. While not all team members appreciate taking notes during a sales pitch, the benefits are twofold:
- It allows the CS team to know exactly what this customer expects or was promised
- It lets the CS team create personalized experiences that reflect your established brand relationship
Find Ways to Make Information Broadly Accessible Between Teams
Taking notes is great, but you also need a standardized policy for delivering them to everyone in the organization. Any CS professional should be able to look up customer information recorded by sales — and vice-versa — to ensure a consistent experience.
Depending on the number of customers you have and the size of your teams, there are various communication methods available here. One is to track notes and customer details using spreadsheets or shared file directories that everyone can access over a network connection. Once your brand reaches a certain size, however, the more scalable solution is to invest in CRM or CDP software that tracks customer relationships and communications. These platforms usually have the additional benefit of updating customer information in real-time, so you’re always confident of a customer’s current status.
A Sales to Customer Success handoff is a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. If your organization can coordinate efforts between departments, standardize its workflows, and establish processes for collecting and sharing data, you’ll be well on your way to retaining a loyal customer.