The sales process · After the order
Most of the damage is done in the week after the order is signed.
The handover is the point where selling stops and the people who do the work take over. It is a written note, a named contact and one conversation, and it decides whether the customer's first month matches what they were sold. GullySales puts that handover into your process.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
The handover is the point where selling stops and the people who do the work take over. It is a written note, a named contact and one conversation, and it decides whether the customer's first month matches what they were sold. GullySales puts that handover into your process.
An order is signed on Friday. On Monday somebody else rings the customer, or arrives at their gate, knowing the order value and very little else. Six weeks of meetings sit in one head, and it is the wrong head.
We ask what happens at the handover from marketing to sales, where enquiries go cold. This is the second handover, sales to delivery, and it does more damage, because by now the customer has paid you.
Almost every promise that turns into a dispute was made out loud and in good faith. We can start before Dasara. The old line keeps running while we install the new one. Your operator gets trained on site. None of it is in the purchase order.
The closure steps before this end in a signature and a debrief. What follows is the second order, decided in the first month rather than the eleventh. We do not install your machines or treat your patients, so the part we work on is the process: what gets written down, who rings whom, and when.
Where this sits
Stage 9 of 10, after the order. Handing the customer to whoever delivers, then earning the second order and the referral.
- The stage before
- Sales closure
- The stage after
- Running the process
If you want this done for you
A new customer's first weeks with you should prove they chose right.
The work
What this step is actually like.
“The promises nobody wrote down”
In the last meeting before an order, a salesperson gives things away to get it signed. A start date that suits the customer's shutdown week. A site engineer on day one. Payment stages nobody in accounts has seen. Ask him for everything agreed outside the quotation on the day the order lands. In three weeks he will remember only the parts that went well.
“Twenty minutes, and who has to be in it”
Four people at most: the salesperson, whoever will run the job, the owner, and the person who raises the invoice. That last one is there because a fair share of the arguments turn out to be about payment stages accounts never agreed to. Twenty minutes in the first week is the whole thing. If those are two people in your firm, it takes ten.
“The introduction that comes before the van”
Your customer should know who is arriving before he arrives. One message from the salesperson does it: this is Naveen, he handles the installation, he will call tomorrow to fix a time. Two lines, sent the same week. Without them your fitter is a stranger at the gate at eight in the morning, arguing about what was included.
“Where a handover goes wrong”
The note gets written after the first complaint instead of before the first visit. Or it repeats the purchase order, which the delivery team already had. The quiet failure is both sides assuming the other one rang, so nobody did, and the customer spends a fortnight wondering whether anything is happening.
What we do
What you end up with.
The artefacts this step produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.
The handover note
One page, written by the salesperson on the day the order is confirmed. What they bought and in which configuration. Dates promised out loud, including the ones missing from the quotation. Who signs off at their end and who releases payment. Site access, working hours and the name of the person who will be there. Anything agreed as a favour.
Result: The person doing the work knows what was sold, not only what was ordered.
The kick-off call
The salesperson reads those promises back to the customer with the delivery person listening, inside the first week. Let the customer correct them out loud, then date the page.
Result: A misunderstanding surfaces in week one instead of in month four.
The named contact, both ends
One person at your end whose number the customer has, and one at theirs who can decide. When your fitter changes, somebody tells the customer before the new one turns up.
Result: The customer can say who to ring without searching an old message.
The salesperson's last call
A date in the note for the person who sold it to ring once after the first delivery. Not a courtesy call. Ask what is different from what he described in the meeting.
Result: Nobody is sold to by one person and then handed to strangers.
Template
Handover note
One note per won order, passed from the seller to whoever delivers.
| Row | Item | What was promised | Who at the customer | Date or condition | Anything unusual | Handed to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scope | ||||||
| Price and payment | ||||||
| Contacts | ||||||
| Deadlines | ||||||
| Risks |
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
This work sits inside sales process design, at stage 7, after the sale. The audit comes before it, and sales management keeps it running.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2 · you are here
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Who writes the handover note, sales or delivery?
We are four people and everybody does everything. Do we still need this?
How do we know our handover is working?
What if the salesperson promised something we cannot do?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Where to go next
The work that carries this step further.
The rest of after the order
Or read the whole sales process in order.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.