Who has the best sales to onboarding handoff?

It’s all about that handoff! I love having a form get filled out by the sales team so when I get the new customer I can hit the ground running! 

The form I use usually contains information like:

• Executive Sponsor (aka Contract Signer)
• Main Point of Contact (aka who I get to work with)
• What success looks like (What are some things they are looking forward to getting out of our product/service)
• Features they are most excited to get their hands on!

The last thing you want to do is interrogate the customer on the kickoff call. The customers are usually super excited to hit the ground running as well so it’s deflating when a whole call is dedicated to making sure you’re in alignment with the customer’s goals! I’m not saying don’t check in, but instead of asking them what they are most excited to get out of onboarding - come prepared with things you gathered from sales already and confirm what you know.

What did I miss?

Great start  !  What form builder do you use? Would love to see a topic.  This topic came up on a team stand up today and we are pivoting a bit to also include the executive sponsor’s time commitment to join a workshop or socialization call in the sales cycle and confirmed at kickoff so the power user and champion does not get in the weeds and we lose traction from the exec sponsor.

@dana_slapfive,

Love this! Do you use a particular form builder? I happened to be a huge form fan over here...

@dana_slapfive I’m used to Formstack and google forms (It doesn’t need to be fancy right out of the gate. I’m a big believer in MVPs so I lean into what’s free and when I’ve proven it works I can justify the cost of a new/nicer form builder)

Anywho - I love that idea of getting the executive sponsor’s time commitment! It’s important to keep a pulse on them because if they get lost, then your renewal may be at risk!

During the kickoff call, I typically go through a brief PowerPoint that outlines the project and the onboarding process at a high level. I also have slides that introduce each member of my team that will be working on getting the client up and running during implementation and who will be the point people once they go live. I also use this time to set expectations for communication and deliverables. I try to avoid asking the client too many questions aside from the “getting to know you” questions - generally asking them to introduce themselves, how they define success, and open the floor to any questions they have prior to our first implementation call.

My best handoffs have been when my sales team or AE pull me in to meet the client prior to deal closing. We do a prep call so I learn who I am meeting and why they are signing but then I get to introduce myself and build rapport prior to our kickoff call. 

This model doesn’t scale but has been really good for strategic accounts or large new logo acquisitions. 

We use a Hubspot form that integrates right into the customers account so all the information from pre sales is already there and teed up with the CS handoff documentation that sales collects during their handoff call.  

Here are two resources I created a ways back - now this is all in hubspot but a good reference and mental check list to ensure these things are a part of your Sales to CS handoffs.

@dana_slapfive What technology do you use for your forms? 

@JustaCSM Hubspot forms 😀

We used to do this all the time - you’re absolutely right about scalability, though. In the good old days, the same resource would serve as the sales engineer, would write the plan, and then would execute the plan with the client. Worked great when client count was in the 10’s, not so good when the client count is in the 100’s. We reserve this for the Whales that come in periodically where it’s practically a requirement due to complexity.

Love this thread! And thanks for telling me about it @harrisclarke !

We currently use Typeform -> Salesforce to collect information about our prospects and customers throughout their customer journey with us at Maxio. So all the information collected during the sales process is available for the onboarding team.

But we also require the sales team to complete a “Sales Handoff Notes” section in Salesforce which captures this information in distinct fields to ensure consistency:

• Reason for purchase and primary goal(s) - this is repurposed into the onboarding kickoff deck to reiterate the top objectives of the implementation

• Fit Notes - this is useful if there are portions of the customers business that isn’t a perfect fit

• Visual Workflow Lucidchart Link - this is critical to show our prospects how our solution will fit in and integrate with other existing systems. We have a Lucidchart library to map out our standard workflows and we modify per customer as necessary. This shows wow data will flow and in which direction and helps paint the picture of what done looks like to not just close the deal, but to maintain scope control with our customers during the onboarding process. This can be used to show what the solution is and also what it isn’t.

• Important context for use case - many times gives us the story behind their primary goals

• Foreseeable implementation challenges - super helpful to identify potential landmines that could be an issue in onboarding

• Challenging personalities - super helpful for the onboarding team to know who they will be working with and things to look out for such as team members that don’t agree, people that are often pushing meetings, have conflict priorities, etc

• Proof of Concept Notes, etc - sometimes we have a POC and sometimes we don’t. This is helpful for us to not only get additional info but to be able to report on which customers had a POC and which didn’t. This allows us to report on implementations to see, if we have a POC do our feedback scores improve? Do our durations go down?

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Once a deal is closed and an implementation consultant is assigned it is their responsibility to setup an internal handoff meeting with the sales team. They should review all the notes and go into that meeting with sales with pre-planned clarifying questions.

Then in the onboarding kickoff meeting and the deck template we use we highlight the objectives and the visual workflow diagram again so that it’s crystal clear we heard then during the sales process and we are ready to execute. 

We have a sales form that needs to be sent to us when the contract is at 90% ( sent to the client) , then we have a handover call with the Salesperson before the KOC. We find this process very helpful as getting the sales form before the deal is closed, helps us prepare the resources and do our research on the client. For the sales form, we use google forms as it’s internal, it doesn’t have to be fancy but we are planning to use the CRM ( Hubspot )  forms in the future. 

We all know each customer is different and unique so we have an “Onboarding Survey” that the customer fills out (usually at the 90% opp completion) which gives them the ability to jot down goals/objectives/concerns, etc., Once the contract closes, the AE is required to schedule a 15-min internal (zoom call) with the implementation manager to give them more context as to what they can expect. We’ve found that getting the AE on the line gives us a better read of what kind of customer we can expect (the good/the bad & sometimes the ugly)

But this way the team has a more holistic picture as to the customer’s maturity and what they ultimately want to accomplish. 

@ishnayder has entered the chat! Thanks for contributing!!! I love that you have the sales team be more involved. That’s a great way to ensure the customer turns into a lifelong advocate. 

If someone would like to replicate what you’re doing, do you have any pro-tips on navigating those waters to get Sales buy-in?

For sure! One pro-tip is find an enthusiastic and close seller you may know. Ask them to try this out with you, a sort of trial-run, for a set of customers. Gather as much additional information from them that isn’t available in hand-off notes, etc., to drive that specific value with the customer. The customer tends to have a sense that the internal hand-off is more seamless if the seller gives additional info outside of SFDC notes, etc. Then, sell it to your manager! Tell them you’ve taken the initiative and found the experience supplemental to what you have already, which is for the better. Then, ask they go and help turn this into a process w/ sales managers and their team. The key is not to overwhelm so starting out with a brief 10-15 minute call for a closed account is usually not frowned upon :) 

Another pro-tip - determine what is missing from your current handoff process! Create more questions that are typically asked during onboarding that can be answered by the seller who closed the deal! Then, be the squeaky wheel! Ping the seller and emphasize you need the FULL picture and this additional information will make their customer’s implementation more smooth! Ideally, these will be incorporated into the hand-off process.