Sales To Operations Handoff Playbook

Introduction

The moment a deal closes, the clock starts ticking. Delays in handoff cost you delivery speed, customer trust, and margin. This playbook closes the gap between "deal won" and "work started".

01Where Handoffs Break Down

• Sales closes without capturing delivery requirements in a standard format.
• Operations learns about new clients through informal channels (Slack, email).
• Customer expectations set in sales differ from what ops can deliver.
• No single owner for the transition period.

02Designing the Handoff Process

• Step 1: Create a deal close checklist — scope, timeline, key contacts, commercials.
• Step 2: Require a 30-minute handoff call between sales and the delivery lead.
• Step 3: Use a project kickoff template that ops owns from day one.
• Step 4: Send a welcome email from ops to the client within 24 hours of close.

03Tooling & Automation

• Trigger a project creation in your PM tool when a deal reaches "Closed Won".
• Auto-assign an ops lead based on project type or region.
• Sync CRM deal data (value, contact, scope) to project fields automatically.
• Send internal Slack/Teams notification to ops when deal closes.