Sales Handoff
Lead and Customer Handoff Process
A sales handoff is the formal transfer of a prospect or customer between teams — marketing to sales, SDR to AE, or sales to customer success. Poor handoffs are the #1 source of revenue leakage: deals stall, context is lost, and customers feel like they're starting over.
If we had to pick one thing that destroys revenue in B2B companies, it's bad handoffs. Marketing generates an MQL, throws it over the wall, and wonders why sales doesn't follow up. Sales closes a deal, dumps it on CS without context, and wonders why churn spikes at 90 days. Every handoff is a potential failure point, and most companies have at least three: marketing→SDR, SDR→AE, and AE→CS. The fix isn't more technology — it's documented SLAs, shared context, and accountability. Who owns the lead until the next person accepts it? What information must transfer? What's the SLA for first contact? Answer these questions, and you've solved 80% of handoff problems.
Define ItOther Definitions
“A sales handoff is the process of transferring a lead or account from one team member or department to another. Effective handoffs include complete context transfer and clear ownership transition.”
“Sales handoffs represent critical transition points in the customer journey. Organizations with documented handoff processes see 15-20% higher conversion rates through the pipeline.”
“B2B buyers cite 'having to repeat information' as their top frustration during the buying process, directly tied to poor handoff execution between sales teams.”
A sales handoff is the structured transfer of prospect or customer ownership between teams or roles within the revenue organization. Common handoffs include marketing to sales (MQL→SQL), SDR to account executive (qualified meeting→opportunity), and sales to customer success (closed-won→onboarding). Each handoff represents a potential failure point: without proper context transfer and clear accountability, leads fall through cracks, customers repeat their story multiple times, and deals stall. Effective handoffs require documented criteria (when to hand off), context requirements (what information must transfer), SLAs (response time expectations), and feedback loops (what happens when quality is poor). Organizations with mature handoff processes consistently outperform on conversion rates and customer satisfaction.
MistakesCommon Mistakes
No documented handoff criteria — leads passed too early or too late
Missing context requirements — next team starts from scratch
No SLAs on handoff response time — leads go cold waiting
No feedback loop — same qualification mistakes repeat endlessly
Technology over process — new tools won't fix undefined handoffs
Leads falling through the cracks between teams?
We document and optimize your handoff processes — marketing to sales, SDR to AE, and sales to CS — so no revenue gets lost in transition.
Experience across
