You never get a second chance to make a first impression!
The Sales to Onboarding handoff, (also known as the AE to Onboarding handoff) or the Sales to Customer Success handoff (also known as the AE to CSM handoff), the handoff process is one that greatly determines the customer’s experience. Lots of businesses understand this truth but still struggle to nail successful handoffs.
So, let’s cover the fundamentals.
Most new client relationships start with the sales rep before getting to the customer success team. The prospect gets familiar with the sales team, builds confidence in the company, makes a purchase, and boom! – someone else takes over. That’s where the Customer Success Manager comes in. However, that’s not always the case. Other handoffs occur during the customer lifecycle. Some of these are temporary, like a customer calling the customer support department with complaints or enquiries. The customer might have to contact Sales again for a different business opportunity. Customers also interact on public forums with account managers, renewal teams, etc. These processes constitute some quick handoffs that are also crucial.
The customer might have interacted with about 10+ people within their first year of working with your company.
They are people with emotions, so the different interactions with your company must be important. You don’t want buyer’s remorse kicking in immediately. The prospect gets converted to a paying customer, and that’s only possible through proper handoff and onboarding. Think like the customer: you only buy from somebody you trust. Therefore, when a salesperson approaches you, the priority is asking if you can trust them and what they sell. Company A might be superior to Company B, but you won’t buy from either unless they gain your trust. Top businesses know this fact, and that’s what makes them successful.
Trust is the name of the game!
Immediately after a customer buys from a sales person they are handed off.. As a customer, the doubt pops up: Can I trust this new representative? How am I sure they will maintain the same quality and projected expectations? How about my stated preferences with the previous onboarding rep? Starting all over with a stranger? Now, that’s the tricky part of the SaaS client onboarding process. You must maintain the customer’s trust during the handoff. Here are three quick ideas to have a success sales to CSM handoff process:
1. An excellent approach is bringing in the customer success manager even before the deal gets closed with the new client. Bring them on board immediately after you confirm the client’s interest. It allows them to establish a relationship with the prospect and have a brief understanding before the internal handoff. The goal is to create a personalized business relationships.
2. Additionally, the sales team must properly document vital prospect information before the CSM takes over. Failure to do that would mean the customer success asks questions that have been previously asked. It exposes a lack of internal communications, and the client feels unimportant. You’d agree that such results in a unsatisfied client.
3. Make sure that the customer us assigned to the best possible CSM. The CSM should have the correct number of accounts and a balanced book of business so they have the capacity to help the new customer.
If you need help with any of the above three ideas, learn more how Handoffs.com works here: https://www.handoffs.com/how-it-works
Nailing the sales handoff process is very important. It is the opportunity to gain the customer’s trust and confidence in your product/service. It also helps deliver satisfactory results and ensures happy customers. Happy customers translate to happy business relationships, which implies a higher customer retention rate, resulting in a boost in sales revenue.
