In 1996, four men made Canadian history when they won the Olympic gold medal in the men’s 4×100-meter relay in a time of 37.69 seconds. This historic win was especially surprising, considering the team had struggled in the events leading up to it. They had the quickness but needed to work through the mechanics of the race and interpersonal issues before finding success. Why? Because a relay race isn’t simply about speed — it is also about chemistry. And when you’re competing at the highest levels, the difference between winning and losing the race comes down to the team’s performance in the handoff and transition zones.

It isn’t much different for B2B organizations. You can have great sales and customer success (CS) teams, but if you don’t have smooth account handoffs and transitions from one team to the next, you will be failing your customers and lose speed in the race to retention and growth. A successful transition supports delivery of a customer experience that feels like a single, seamless interaction — or a baton pass made without losing stride — from first contact to onboarding and beyond.

In aligning sales and CS teams to provide a seamless transition, there are some best practices to consider that are integral to passing the baton in a way that sets up the next team, and the customer, to succeed. So where to start? Two tactics to consider:

  • Create a transition checklist. CS teams need specific information from sales, and creating a checklist provides clarity and supports consistency. It should include information that can only come from sellers, such as the customer’s key stakeholders, org chart, promises made during the purchase, specific use cases, goals, and pain points. Ensure that the checklist lives in a shared tool such as a CRM or customer success platform, making it easily accessible to both teams.
  • Establish a knowledge transfer process. To make sure that customers realize the value promised, sellers should share the information gathered during the buying process, breathing life into the transition checklist. This allows the customer success manager (CSM) to gain more context, especially around goals and outcomes. These insights provide CSMs with the knowledge and information needed to start building a joint customer success plan prior to the partnership kickoff call, complete with measurable, identifiable milestones.

To successfully progress customers around the proverbial track toward the finish line, a robust process that prioritizes the partnership aspect and includes the insights that matter helps to make it more than a “check the box” task. Clear track lanes also provide ownership clarity for each team, optimizing their performance in the transition zones and alleviating the need for strenuous training. To learn more about successful account transitions, read Drive Retention Through Effective Sales-To-Customer Success Account Transitions, and if you’re a Forrester client looking to improve this process, reach out to your account team to book a guidance session with me today.