The sale is signed. Does delivery understand the promise?

Capture the reason the customer bought

A signed agreement tells the delivery team what was purchased, but it may not explain why the customer chose to act now. In a small business, that context often lives with the salesperson and disappears when the work moves to another colleague. Create a handover note that starts with the customer’s situation, the decision they need to improve and the event that made the work urgent. Use the customer’s actual words where permission and relevance allow; do not turn an optimistic sales interpretation into a confirmed requirement. The note should help delivery understand the promise without reopening every commercial conversation.

Translate the promise into a first milestone

Define the first useful milestone in terms the customer can recognize. It might be a team completing an agreed workflow, a first order accepted against its specification, or a decision-maker receiving a usable reporting pack. These are illustrative examples, not universal customer-success metrics. Distinguish that milestone from internal setup tasks such as opening a project folder or assigning staff. List the evidence that will demonstrate completion and the person who can accept it. The purpose is to give the first weeks of delivery a shared destination, while keeping the full agreement and any exclusions visible.

Make the customer’s work visible

Document the customer’s contribution with the same care as the supplier’s tasks. Access to records, a named approver, available staff and timely answers may all affect the plan. Record these dependencies as responsibilities with dates agreed by the people involved, rather than as blame waiting to happen. In a hypothetical reporting project, the supplier can prepare a template, but the customer must identify the authoritative data owner. If that role remains unclear, producing a polished dashboard does not resolve the problem. Discuss a fallback or a revised sequence before the dependency delays the whole engagement.

Run a handover with the people doing delivery

Bring the salesperson, delivery owner and relevant customer contact into a short handover. Review the reason for purchase, scope, exclusions, first milestone, dependencies and unresolved questions. Ask delivery to restate the promise in plain language; the exercise can reveal a difference between what was sold and what can be delivered. Record corrections and obtain the appropriate approval before making a new commitment. Use a single current note rather than a chain of forwarded messages. A customer should not need to repeat a sensitive or complex explanation to every new person who joins the account.

Measure progress and listen to the customer

Choose a small set of progress indicators and combine them with a conversation about experience. GOV.UK’s service standard connects a clear definition of success, useful performance measures and user research. Adapt that principle to the engagement rather than importing government reporting obligations. Track whether the first milestone occurred, which dependencies remain open and what prevents the customer from using the output. A completed training session is not the same as demonstrated use. Likewise, a satisfied comment does not prove sustained value. Explain what each indicator can establish and what still needs observation over time.

Use the first review to repair the system

At the first review, ask both teams where the handover helped and where it failed. Repeated scope confusion may require a clearer proposal template; late access may require an earlier dependency check; repeated questions may require better documentation. Fix the process rather than merely asking individuals to communicate more. Keep the relationship owner accountable for unresolved items even when several specialists are involved. A useful handover is small enough to maintain and specific enough to guide action. It protects the customer’s expectations, helps delivery start well and gives the next sale a more reliable foundation than enthusiasm alone.