Sales-to-CS Handoff Checklist

Use this at signature — before the ink is dry. Every unchecked box is a landmine that goes off in week 3 of onboarding.

1. Deal & Account Economics

• Final ARR/MRR and contract term (start date, end date, auto-renew terms)
• Billing frequency and payment terms (net 30/60, PO required, invoicing contact)
• Any non-standard discounting and the business reason for it
• Multi-year ramp schedule, if applicable
• Upsell/expansion products included, excluded, or promised "later"
• Contract redlines or non-standard legal terms Legal should flag to CS (custom SLAs, data residency, indemnity carve-outs)

2. Stakeholder Map

• Full list of everyone in the buying process — name, title, role (economic buyer, champion, user, blocker, influencer)
• Who signed vs. who will actually use the product day-to-day (often different people)
• Org chart or reporting lines between the above, if known
• Anyone who was NOT won over — a skeptic, a blocker, someone who preferred a competitor
• Stakeholders likely to leave/move roles in the next 6 months (flight risk = knowledge/relationship risk)

3. Champion & Political Context

• Who is the internal champion — name, title, why they championed this deal
• What the champion personally needs this deal to deliver (their internal win, not just the company's)
• Champion's relationship with the economic buyer
• Any internal politics CS should know about (replaced a competitor, prior failed vendor, contested budget)

4. Technical & Implementation Requirements

• Required integrations and priority order (must-have for go-live vs. nice-to-have)
• Data migration scope — what's coming from where, who owns extracting it
• Security/compliance requirements surfaced during the sale (SSO, SOC 2 ask, DPA)
• Environment/instance requirements (sandbox, specific role/permission structure)
• Any pilot/POC results — what was tested, what passed, what was a caveat

5. Promises & Commitments Made During the Sale

• Every feature, timeline, or capability promised verbally or in the deck that isn't in the standard contract — verbatim, not paraphrased
• Roadmap items the customer was told are "coming soon," and the real target date (or "no committed date")
• Specific individuals promised specific service levels (dedicated CSM, quarterly business reviews)
• Pricing or renewal commitments made for future terms

6. Risk Flags

• Why did they buy NOW — the trigger event, and does that urgency evaporate post-signature?
• What alternative were they seriously considering, and why did we win
• Any hesitation or "soft no" overcome late in the cycle — what was it, how was it resolved
• Budget source and stability across the full term
• Anything unusual about the buying process suggesting organizational dysfunction (rushed, under-scoped, missing stakeholder buy-in)

7. Success Criteria & Definition of Value

• The customer's own words for what "this worked" looks like
• Specific metrics they will use to judge renewal
• Timeline they expect to see value by
• Who internally will be asked "was this worth it" at renewal, and what they care about

8. Kickoff Logistics

• Kickoff call scheduled with correct stakeholders invited (not just the champion)
• Access provisioning status — logins, SSO config, admin rights assigned
• Onboarding/implementation timeline shared with the customer before or during kickoff
• Internal AE-to-CSM handoff call completed live (minimum 20 minutes); AE attends kickoff call #1

Sign-off

• AE confirms this document is complete and accurate
• CSM/AM confirms receipt and has scheduled kickoff within [X] business days of close
• Both parties agree: no field above is blank without an explicit "N/A — confirmed not applicable"