An Agency Proposal Handoff Checklist for Sales and Delivery

Use the handoff to reconcile the proposal with the commitments the client actually accepted. Give the delivery lead one approved version and a short list of decisions to resolve before kickoff.

What sales hands over

• The approved proposal version and any signed agreement or written amendments.
• The client’s goal in their own words, the decision maker, and the day-to-day contact.
• Deliverables, exclusions, review rounds, fees, and dates that were promised in calls or email.
• Client inputs and deadlines, plus unresolved questions and assumptions.

What delivery confirms

Assign a person and date to each dependency. Compare the estimate with the promised work. If a commitment appears only in notes, confirm it with sales before telling the client it’s included. Agree who owns change requests and where approvals will be recorded.

Copyable kickoff handoff

Approved version: [link and date]. Client outcome: [one sentence]. First deliverable: [output, owner, due date]. Client input needed: [item, owner, due date]. Open decision: [question and decision maker]. Scope boundary to confirm: [line from proposal].

Fictional example: sales promised six stakeholder interviews, and the client agreed to recruit participants. Delivery assigns the client sponsor a recruitment deadline and schedules interviews only after confirming availability. If recruiting becomes agency work, the team documents the change before kickoff.