The broken handoff
Move context, not just the account
The practice that changes outcomes fastest is writing down the promise made during the sale, in the customer's own words, before anyone celebrates the close. Everything downstream depends on it: onboarding scope, the first review, what counts as progress.
Pair that with an overlap period where the seller stays visible for about thirty days. It removes the moment where a customer feels sold to and then passed on.
ICP discipline
Be honest about who you can serve well
Most churn that looks like a delivery failure started as a deal that never fit. A written profile is only useful if someone is allowed to say no with it, so the practice is a standing review of the accounts that struggled and what they had in common.
When the definition keeps stretching quarter after quarter, no post-sales process absorbs it for long.
Metrics that actually matter
Measure the outcome the customer bought
Health scores and satisfaction surveys tell you how a relationship feels. They rarely tell you whether the customer got what they paid for. The practice is one outcome measure per account, agreed with the customer, reviewed out loud in every business review.
Net revenue retention flatters portfolios with a few strong expansions. Read it next to logo retention and the outcome measures, not instead of them.
AI as a tool
Use AI to prepare, not to avoid the conversation
The useful applications are unglamorous: summarising account history before a call, drafting a recap someone then edits, spotting accounts that have gone quiet. The practice is keeping a person accountable for every customer-facing word that goes out.
AI is good at getting a team ready for a hard conversation. It is not a substitute for having it.
Process before scale
Fix how work changes hands before adding people
Teams that scale on top of an undocumented handoff hire their way into the same problem at a higher cost. The practice is documenting the moments where work changes hands, then adding headcount against a process that already works.
If your handoff depends on experienced people remembering what to do, you do not have a process yet.
Score your own handoff
A short set of questions on what happens between a signed contract and a customer who is using what they bought. You get a score by area and one clear place to start.
Take the Health CheckWatch the panels
Recent writing
- Process before scaleOct 21
How One Person Can Own the Whole Customer Relationship
- The broken handoffOct 19
Post-Sales Ownership Needs Authority, Not Just a Reporting Line
- The broken handoffOct 16
Who Owns the Post-Sales Customer Journey, and Why It Matters
- The broken handoffOct 12
What to automate in customer onboarding, and what needs a person
- Process before scaleOct 9
The sales to customer success handoff at every company size
The working documents behind the panels are in the Resource Center.