A won deal is not a ready project. These six fields are the difference, and most handoffs are missing at least three of them.
Why handoffs break
Sales and delivery keep different records. Sales knows what was promised and who said yes. Delivery needs to know what to build, who approves it, who owns it, whether it is paid, what is in hand and what was promised on the side. When those six facts do not move across together, the project starts anyway, and the founder becomes the bridge. That is the stage that breaks first when sales double.
The six fields
Carry these from the sales record into the delivery brief, keep a link to the source for each, and have the receiving owner accept the handoff. One person may hold several roles. Record access status, never passwords or credentials.
| Field | Source | Owner | If it is missing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Scope and acceptance criteria | The accepted proposal or written scope, current version | Sales or account lead supplies; delivery lead checks | Keep the project in onboarding. An informal sales note is not an agreed deliverable. |
| 2. Client approver | The client’s written confirmation of who can approve work | Account lead | Ask for a named decision-maker. Silence or an unnamed contact is not approval to start. |
| 3. Delivery owner and start | Capacity check and the confirmed start agreement | Delivery lead | Keep requested dates separate from confirmed dates. Work waits for the agreed start conditions. |
| 4. Required payment status | The invoice or payment record, checked against the terms | Finance or the responsible owner | Do not release work that requires payment. A “won” stage is not evidence of payment. |
| 5. Inputs and access status | Intake checklist; confirmation that materials and access are available | Onboarding owner, confirmed by the delivery lead | Assign the gap and a next action. A partial start needs explicit approval and a recorded boundary. |
| 6. Exceptions and extra requests | Sales notes checked against the accepted scope | Sales lead clarifies; delivery lead accepts the resolved brief | Record the open question. New requests stay outside delivery until their scope is agreed. |
Set it up in the tools you already have
You do not need a new platform. In most CRMs and project tools the six fields are a template with six required fields and one “accepted by” checkbox. The rules are simple:
- A deal cannot move to “delivery” until all six fields are filled and the delivery owner has accepted.
- Field 4 is checked against the payment record, not the sales stage.
- Field 6 is a list, not a paragraph. Each open item has an owner and a date.
- A native automation can create the draft project or a review task when the deal is won. A person confirms readiness. Nothing starts itself.
Test it before you trust it
Run four cases through the handoff before you automate anything: a complete record, a missing approver, an unpaid required invoice and an extra request that was never in scope. The handoff should identify the right owner and hold the start when required. If it quietly creates an approved project in any of those cases, it is not ready.
What this changes
Kickoffs stop waiting on the founder, because the delivery owner has what they need and the authority to say “not yet”. Fewer projects start half-ready, so fewer finish late. Scope creep gets caught at field 6 instead of at the invoice. And when sales double, the handoff is the one stage that already runs without you.
For the full process around this, including what “ready” should mean and the exceptions worth designing for, see the client onboarding workflow and readiness checklist.