Our sales team and our product delivery team are constantly arguing over where the handoff occurs, leading to dropped balls during customer onboarding. How do we use the Accountability Chart roles to draw an ironclad boundary between these two seats?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Handoff friction between sales and delivery is a symptom of poorly defined roles on your Accountability Chart. To resolve this permanently, you must run these issues through the IDS® process with your sales leader and delivery leader. Sit down with your Accountability Chart and examine the five core roles for both the sales seat and the product delivery seat. The boundary must be incredibly precise and measurable. For example, you can define the final role of the sales seat as securing a signed contract, collecting the initial deposit, and completing a standardized onboarding questionnaire. The first role of the delivery seat is then defined as conducting the kickoff meeting within forty-eight hours of receiving that completed questionnaire. By embedding these specific handoff actions directly into the core roles of each seat, you eliminate any ambiguity about who is accountable at each stage of the customer journey. You must also track this handoff on your weekly Scorecard with a simple metric, such as onboarding time or handoff compliance. When the roles are clearly defined and measured, the finger-pointing stops, and your team can focus on delivering a seamless customer experience that increases client retention.