A Sales-to-Delivery Handover Checklist That Protects Project Margin

What the Handover Must Cover

Before the kickoff, the salesperson or account lead should walk the delivery lead through the following.

Outcome and deliverables: what will the client receive, and what does acceptance mean?

Scope boundaries: what is included, excluded or dependent on a later decision?

Fee and budget: fixed fee or time and materials, planned hours by role, and expected margin.

Assumptions: what must the client supply, approve or decide, and by when?

Dates and dependencies: milestones, external deadlines and any dates promised verbally.

Stakeholders: decision maker, day-to-day contact and people who can request changes.

Risks: unresolved technical questions, compressed timelines and work estimated with low confidence.

Billing arrangements: milestones, purchase order needs and any agreed cap.

Link to the signed scope and proposal. A verbal summary is useful, but the delivery team also needs the source of truth.

Test the Estimate Against the Actual Team

The handover is the last easy opportunity to check whether the planned people are available. If the proposal assumes a mid-level consultant but only a senior specialist has capacity, revisit the cost and margin forecast. If a key person is away during a promised milestone, fix the schedule before the client builds a plan around it.

Do not hide the budget from the project manager. The delivery lead needs to know what the fee allows, how much effort was sold and where there is contingency. That context helps them make sensible trade-offs when a request or delay appears.

Record Open Questions Before Kickoff

Create a short list of assumptions that still need confirmation. Give each an owner and a date. For example: "Client to confirm data access by Friday" or "Technical lead to validate migration estimate before build begins." An unresolved assumption that stays invisible is often treated as a promise later.

If the delivery team finds a material gap between what was sold and what can be delivered, resolve it internally first, then give the client a clear plan. The worst outcome is starting work against two different understandings of the project.

Make Handover a Gateway, Not a Ritual

The project should leave handover with a baseline budget, named team, initial schedule, agreed scope and a list of open decisions. The delivery lead should be able to explain both the work and the commercial limits in their own words.

After kickoff, compare planned and logged time regularly. Handover protects the starting position; ongoing budget visibility protects it as the project changes.

How Hourglass Approaches This

Hourglass combines project delivery tracking, team planning and profitability reporting in one place, so the budget and assumptions agreed at handover stay visible through the ongoing weekly review rather than living only in the original proposal document.