Pomio CRM keeps won deals, contacts, tasks and activities on linked records. The riskiest moment in a customer relationship is often not the negotiation but the first week after signature: the salesperson moves on to the next deal, and the people who have to deliver are still waiting for the details. A simple rule closes that gap: every deal that moves to closed-won creates a handoff task with an owner and a due date.
Why won deals get dropped
Sales teams are measured on closing, so the stage change to won feels like the finish line. For the customer it is the start. If the only signal is a status change in the pipeline, nobody in delivery or customer success is explicitly asked to act. The kickoff call slips, the first invoice goes out before onboarding has started, and the customer hears nothing in the week they were promised a fast start.
What the handoff task should contain
Keep it short and concrete. Name the receiving owner, set a due date (usually within one or two working days), and link the task to the won deal and its primary contact. In the description, record the agreed scope, the expected start date, any discounts or special terms, and the open items or promises the salesperson made. Like any other task, it needs a due date; without one it is a note, not a handoff.
Who owns the task
The task belongs to the person who has to act next, not to the salesperson who closed the deal. In a small team that may be the founder or a project lead; in a larger one it is delivery or customer success. The salesperson stays available for questions, but the handoff is only complete when the receiving owner has confirmed the kickoff date with the customer and closed the task.
Win reason and handoff are different things
Recording a win reason explains why the customer bought; the handoff task makes sure someone delivers what they bought. Do both at the same moment, but do not merge them into one free-text field. The win reason feeds your reporting; the handoff task feeds next week's work.
Make it a habit, not a heroic effort
The same discipline that gives every meeting a follow-up task the same day applies here: the action is created while the context is fresh. Agree that no deal counts as properly closed until the handoff task exists, and check it in the weekly pipeline review alongside new wins. For expansion deals with existing customers, the handoff is often to the current account owner instead of a new onboarding team, but it is still a task with a name and a date.
How Pomio CRM helps
In Pomio CRM the handoff task is linked to the won deal and the primary contact, so the receiving owner opens one record and sees the notes, emails, meetings and agreed amount from the sales process. Activities stay linked to the contact and deal, which means the delivery team does not have to ask the customer to repeat what they already told sales. Task lists and due dates show which won deals still have no confirmed kickoff.
A practical checklist
Deal marked won: create the handoff task the same day; assign it to a named owner in delivery or customer success; set a due date within one or two working days; link it to the deal and the primary contact; record scope, start date, special terms and open items; record the win reason separately; review won deals without a closed handoff task every week.
Further reading
Should the salesperson create the handoff task or the receiving team?
The salesperson creates it, because they hold the context. The receiving owner completes it.
What if delivery starts months later?
Still create the task now, with a due date for the first contact with the customer, so the start date is confirmed and nobody forgets the deal in the meantime.
Does a small team need a formal handoff?
Yes, even if the same person sells and delivers. A dated task turns “I will get to it” into a commitment the customer can rely on.
Should the handoff be a separate deal or project?
Not necessarily. A linked task on the won deal is enough to start; larger implementations can get their own project once the kickoff is planned.