THE CATTALYST
Inbound sales handoff specification

Purpose: define how incoming commercial enquiries move from source to an accepted next action. Complete this with the client commercial owner, sales operations, the proposed provider and relevant privacy, security and legal specialists. This is an operational worksheet, not legal advice or a fixed service package.

BUSINESS DECISION
Business problem:
Customer or buyer groups included:
Products, services and markets included:
Work explicitly excluded:
Current process owner:
Proposed provider owner:
Discovery questions still unresolved:

ENQUIRY ROUTES
For each route, record source, channel, arrival pattern, record destination and current owner.
Web form:
Telephone:
Chat:
Direct email:
Referral or event:
Other approved route:
How non-sales enquiries reach the appropriate team:

RESPONSIBILITY BOUNDARY
Tasks the provider performs:
Qualification evidence required:
Tasks retained by internal sales:
Closing authority, if any:
Pricing and discount authority:
Product or contractual promises the team must not make:
Approval route for questions outside authority:

HANDOFF RECORD
Unique enquiry or customer reference:
Link to authoritative CRM record:
Source and relevant campaign or referral context:
Arrival timestamp and time zone:
Contact details and relevant permissions:
Preferred channel and callback arrangements:
Existing account and active opportunity check:
Ownership conflict or duplicate status:
Customer's stated requirement:
Evidence of suitability:
Current arrangements or constraints:
Buying context and people involved:
Timing and agreed next action:
Information already sent or explained:
Unresolved questions:
Receiving owner:
Expected action time:
Acceptance status and timestamp:
Rejection or rework reason:
Evidence source:

ACCEPTANCE AND OWNERSHIP
Who is authorised to accept a handoff:
Minimum evidence needed for acceptance:
How acceptance is recorded:
Pending-decision visibility:
Who retains responsibility while pending:
Approved rejection reasons:
Rework route:
Escalation when the receiving owner is unavailable:
Customer update responsibility while the record is disputed:

COVERAGE
Covered calendar and time zone:
Relevant daylight-saving arrangements:
Channel-specific response commitments:
Definition of acknowledgement:
Definition of useful response:
Out-of-hours classification and next step:
Callback arrangements:
Internal specialist or pricing availability:
How exceptions are displayed to the customer and receiving team:

SYSTEMS AND DATA
Authoritative customer record:
Required system access by role:
Duplicate matching and merge ownership:
Mandatory notes and controlled fields:
Data minimisation rules:
Recording and retention arrangements approved by specialists:
Suppression and channel-preference process:
Export, ownership and exit arrangements:
Action if the system is unavailable:

TRAINING AND READINESS
Approved product and process knowledge source:
Who maintains it:
Practice scenarios:
Observed readiness evidence:
Supervisor or coach support:
Questions that require specialist escalation:
Client dependencies still blocking readiness:

LAUNCH TEST CASES
For every case below, record expected path, actual path, customer message, owner, evidence and corrective action.
Duplicate enquiry with an existing internal owner:
Enquiry received outside coverage:
Customer requests a callback:
Request outside the approved product or market:
Missing or unavailable internal decision-maker:
System access failure:
Customer needs service rather than a sales discussion:
Qualified handoff rejected by the receiving team:
Pending handoff with no acceptance decision:
Buyer asks a question outside the team's authority:

PERFORMANCE DEFINITIONS
Eligible enquiry received:
Relevant contact established:
Qualified handoff submitted:
Client-accepted handoff:
Held conversation:
Accepted opportunity:
Reporting window and cohort entry event:
Pending and rejected work by age and reason:
Source and owner for each measure:
Conditions for adjusting or expanding capacity:

APPROVAL AND REVIEW
Accountable client owner:
Accountable provider owner:
Security and privacy approvals required:
Procurement and legal review required:
Open assumptions:
Live-readiness decision and evidence:
Review date:
Continue, adjust or stop decision: