In many small sales teams the summer or Christmas holiday follows the same pattern: someone leaves, a customer calls with a question about an offer, and nobody knows what was agreed. The reflex is to move all open deals to a colleague, and back again two weeks later. Pomio CRM recommends a simpler rule that keeps ownership stable and still makes sure every buyer gets an answer.
Ownership and cover are two different things
The owner is the person accountable for the deal: the relationship with the buyer, the amount and close date in the forecast, and the result when the deal is won or lost. Cover is temporary: someone who answers questions and keeps agreed next steps moving while the owner is away. Mixing the two causes problems. If ownership changes for every holiday, reports by salesperson show deals jumping between names, targets and any commission discussion get harder, and the history no longer tells you who built the relationship. Keep the owner, and arrange cover separately.
What to arrange before the holiday
A few days before leaving, the owner goes through every open deal. Each deal gets a short handover note: where it stands, what the buyer last said, what was promised and what must not be promised. Every task that falls within the absence is assigned to the stand-in, with the original due date. Deals without a clear next step get one first; a deal with a next-step date is much easier to cover than one where only the owner knows what happens next. Finally, an out-of-office reply names the stand-in, so a buyer knows whom to contact.
Make sure the stand-in can actually see the deal
Cover only works if the stand-in can open the deal, read the notes and log activities. In a team where salespeople can see each other’s deals, this needs no extra steps. If access is limited to own records, check before the holiday that the stand-in has team access or that a manager covers instead. Avoid sharing logins as a shortcut: every user should work under their own account, so the activity history shows who actually spoke to the buyer.
When a change of owner is the right call
Some absences are not holidays. Long-term sickness, parental leave or a move to another role mean the deal will close, or slip, without the original owner. In those cases waiting only delays decisions, and the deals should be reassigned to a new owner with a note explaining why. Agree a simple threshold in the team, for example that an absence that covers the expected close date or has no fixed return date leads to reassignment, and apply it the same way for everyone.
Handing back after the holiday
On the first day back, the stand-in leaves a short note on each deal they touched: what happened, what was promised and which tasks are still open. Open tasks go back to the owner. In the next pipeline review, look at the covered deals together, so nothing that happened during the absence gets lost between two people.