We are preparing for an exit and need a dedicated Quality Assurance and Customer Retention tracking seat on our Accountability Chart to protect our recurring revenue. However, our sales team claims it is an operations task, and our operations team says it is a sales relationship task. Since neither department wants this administrative headache, how do we assign it?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a classic structural deadlock. When you are preparing for a clean exit, buyers look closely at your customer retention metrics and quality control systems. Leaving this seat vacant or unassigned because of internal politics will actively damage your enterprise value.

In EOS®, you must design the Accountability Chart for the organization, not the people. First, define the exact five roles of this new seat, such as tracking retention metrics, conducting post-onboarding audits, and flagging at-risk accounts. Once the seat is defined, look at where it logically belongs. Does it protect the delivery of the service, or does it protect the client relationship? Usually, quality assurance is an operational check on delivery, while retention tracking is a client management function.

If the seat spans both, the Integrator must make the final call on which department head will oversee it. One name, and only one name, must sit in the box. If none of your current leaders have the desire or capacity to own this seat, you have a resource gap. You cannot split the accountability between sales and operations, as that guarantees things will fall through the cracks.

Assign the seat temporarily to the Integrator, or hire a dedicated specialist who reports directly to your VP of Operations. This ensures the seat has a champion who GWC's the role and can build the standardized workflows necessary to satisfy prospective buyers during due diligence.