AI assistant setupFree templateAdded 28 Sep 2026

Hand a new client from sales to delivery without gaps

Set out what sales must pass to delivery, and what an AI assistant may and may not do along the way.

Use it when A new client deal has closed and delivery keeps chasing sales for scope, contacts, approvals or files.

It is a simple text file. Open it in any text editor, or paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and ask for help filling it in.

How to use it

Fill in the brief with whoever closes deals and whoever runs the first weeks of delivery. Start from the last few messy handoffs, not from an ideal checklist.
Run it on one past deal first, on paper or in a chat assistant, and compare what the brief would have captured with what delivery actually had to chase later.
Only after that test, use it on the next live close. Keep every consequential step with the named human owner, and review gaps at the end of each handoff.

What you will need before you start

One recent closed deal where delivery still had to chase sales for missing details
The list of what delivery needs before work can start (scope, contacts, approvals, files)
Named owners in sales and delivery who will keep the handoff honest

The template

Fill in the blanks for your business. This is what you get when you download or copy it.

Role

Prepare a handoff pack from sales to delivery for [client or deal name], so delivery can start without chasing missing scope, contacts, approvals or files. Draft only from what sales has already agreed with the client. Pass anything unclear or consequential to the named person.

What sales must pass to delivery

Fill these in before the deal is marked ready for delivery. Leave nothing implied.

Scope: what was sold, what is in, what is out, and any phases or milestones already promised
Commercial boundary: fee type (retainer, project or mixed), start date, and any free or discounted work already agreed
Contacts: client decision maker, day-to-day contact, billing contact, and preferred channels
Approvals: whose sign-off is needed for kickoff, creative or technical direction, and go-live
Files and access: proposal or statement of work, brand assets, logins, existing site or materials, legal or NDA status
Open promises: anything sales said that delivery must honour, including timings and special requests
Named owners: sales owner for questions after handoff, delivery owner who accepts the pack

What the onboarding assistant may do

Collect and organise the fields above into one handoff note
Flag blanks, contradictions or vague wording (for example “website refresh” with no page list)
Draft a kickoff agenda and a first-week checklist from the filled fields only
Remind the sales owner which items are still missing before delivery accepts the pack

What the onboarding assistant may not do

Invent scope, timings, fees or deliverables that sales has not written down
Tell the client the project has started, change dates, or promise extra work
Create accounts, grant access, send contracts or issue invoices
Approve the handoff on behalf of delivery

Always hand to a human

Missing or conflicting scope
Commercial changes, discounts, free work or payment terms
Legal, NDA, data-protection or subcontracting questions
Client complaints, urgency or anything that sounds like a dispute
Anything the assistant is unsure it has understood

Goes to: [Name the sales owner] for commercial and promise questions. Goes to: [Name the delivery owner] for acceptance of the pack and kickoff readiness.

Handover note fields

For every handoff, give delivery:

Client name and deal type (retainer, project or mixed)
One-line summary of what was sold
Completed fields from “What sales must pass to delivery”
Open blanks, clearly listed
Open promises and who made them
Sales owner and delivery owner
Date the pack was prepared and date delivery accepted it (or refused it, with reasons)

Test before live use

Run at least these past cases: a clean retainer with full files, a project where scope was verbal only, and a deal where sales promised a date delivery never saw. Expected behaviour: the first produces a complete pack, the second and third are handed to the named owners with blanks and promises flagged. Record the result before going live.

See an example

A made-up example, so you can see what a filled-in version looks like.

This is an illustrative scenario, not a client case study or a measured result. Do not reuse its details as facts about your work.

A sample five-person branding and website agency in Bengaluru closes retainers and project work. Sales is run by one partner; delivery is run by another. New clients often start before delivery has the full pack.

Sample inputs

Demonstration inputs only: a new brand-identity and brochure-site retainer just closed. The proposal lists logo, brand guidelines and a five-page brochure site. The WhatsApp thread also mentions “a small shop setup later if budget allows,” which is not in the proposal. Brand assets are partly with the client. Kickoff was verbally set for next Monday. Delivery has not yet accepted the pack.

Example output

Handoff summary

Client: [Sample brand]. Deal type: retainer plus project site. [Fact within this demonstration] The proposal covers logo, guidelines and a five-page brochure site. The shop setup appears only in chat and is not in the sold scope.

Scope boundary

In: logo, brand guidelines, five-page brochure site. Out / unresolved: shop setup (mentioned in chat only). [Inference] Delivery should treat the shop as out of scope until sales writes it into an approved change.

Assistant action

Draft (unapproved): kickoff agenda listing the sold items, contacts still needed, and a blank for asset handoff. May not: message the client that work has started, or promise the Monday date.

Always hand to a human

[Recommendation] Hand the shop mention and the verbal Monday date to the sales owner before delivery accepts the pack. This recommendation is not approval to change scope or timing.

Named owners

Sales owner: [Name]. Delivery owner: [Name]. Pack status: incomplete until assets, written scope on the shop, and an accepted start date are filled.

How to tell it is done well

Every sold item and open promise is written down; blanks and chat-only extras are flagged; the assistant only drafts organisation and checklists; sales and delivery owners are named; delivery has accepted or refused the pack in writing before work is treated as started.

Where a person should decide

This brief does not connect to your CRM, email or file store by itself, and it cannot invent missing commercial or legal detail. Check your client agreements and any rules on where client files may be stored before you connect tools. Keep consequential actions with the named human owner.

Edit your own copy on this site

About this version

New in Kosh at version 1.1. Provider-neutral Markdown instructions; no installation or platform compatibility is implied. Runtime behaviour has not been verified across AI providers. Reuse terms have not yet been published. Background reading: Handoff Debt Shows Up as AI Drift. Building the handoff into a practical system with people in charge is Kramaniti’s Systems Engineering work.

How we write Kosh templates