Handover to delivery: what the salesperson must pass on

A handover works when the salesperson passes to the person doing the work everything the buyer was told, not only what the quotation says. That means promises made outside the paper, the people on the buyer's side, the dates that matter and what the buyer is worried about. Put it on one page, and have the receiver read it, question it and sign it before the first delivery step begins.

Where does a sale go wrong after the signature?

In the conversation nobody wrote down. At the meeting the buyer said "we must be ready before the festival bookings", the salesperson said "no problem", and the quote carries a delivery line and no dates. Three weeks later the delivery team schedules by its own calendar and the buyer feels deceived.

The salesperson did not lie. The knowledge stayed in one head. The deal that was sold and the deal that was delivered became two different jobs.

What belongs on the page?

Each heading answers a question the delivery person would otherwise put to the buyer, who has already answered it once.

HANDOVER   Buyer ____  Order no. ____  Date ____
Sold by ____            Received by ____

1. Sold: items, quantity, price, payment (attach the quote)
2. Promised outside the quote: anything said or implied
3. Buyer's people: who decides, who uses, who pays,
   who to call when it goes wrong (names, numbers)
4. Dates that matter, and the reason behind each
5. Site facts: access, power, hours, who holds keys
6. What worries the buyer, in their words
7. What we refused: requests we said no to
8. Still open: decisions waiting on someone

Box 2 is the one that matters. Box 7 is the one nobody fills in, and it prevents the quarrel later: "they asked for free servicing in year two and I said we would see."

How should the handover happen?

As a short meeting, not an email. Fifteen minutes between the two people with the page on the table. The salesperson talks through each box. The receiver asks "what do you mean by..." wherever a line is vague, because every question the receiver must ask is a gap in the page.

Keep the page to one sheet, so that nobody can say they did not reach the last box. Then the receiver reads back the three things most likely to hurt: the date, the promise outside the quote and the worry. A wrong read-back means the handover is not finished.

For example: a sound-system installer in Siliguri

Imagine an installer in Siliguri who sells sound and lighting to a new marriage hall. During the site visit the owner says: "My first bookings are the Puja weeks. The hall cannot be quiet or half-lit on those days." The salesperson replies "we will manage".

The quote lists the equipment and installation "as per schedule". The installation team, working to its habit, wires the main hall first and the stage lighting last. The stage lights are not tested when the first booking walks in. The owner is angry. The installer is baffled: nobody told the installation team about the Puja dates, and two bookings (₹60,000 each, invented figures) move to another hall.

The salesperson stays up with the team that night, the supplier absorbs the overtime, and the owner is told plainly what went wrong. After that the firm adopts the page. Box 4 on the next order might read, for example, "Bookings from Puja week; stage lights live and tested before the first booking, date agreed with the owner." The installer reads it before planning anything. It does not undo the lost bookings, and the owner stays wary for the rest of the season.

What does a salesperson tend to leave out?

Put one question to the salesperson before they sign off: "What would embarrass us if the delivery person did not know it?" Whatever they say goes on the page.

When is this too heavy?

Not every sale needs it. A walk-in buying a standard item that leaves with them needs no form. Where one person sells and delivers every job, the page adds little, though a short note still helps when that person is ill or away. Use it where promise and work are separated by two people or two departments: installation, projects and services delivered over time.

Watch the opposite failure, a page that is filed and never read. If the receiver cannot recall what it says a week later, shorten it.

Fill one in for your latest order

Copy the headings into a note and complete them for the last order you closed. If box 2 or box 7 is empty, ask the salesperson whether that is truly so. A closed sale reaches the people who deliver it through a stage of the sales process, and if you want the page built around how your trade sells, customer onboarding is the related work; start by telling us what you need at /requirements.