Choose the handoff owner
Identify who qualifies an inquiry, who accepts it for delivery, and who follows up. Note where responsibility changes when an account lead is unavailable.
Agency operations / field guide
When a client handoff exposes the cost of your CRM.
A license is only one part of the decision. Map the people, touchpoints, and work behind each handoff before you compare software.
Touchpoint architecture
Illustrative example / 01
New inquirySource & context
QualificationFit & next step
Shared client recordOwnership & history
Delivery handoffScope & commitments
Client follow-upFeedback & renewal
A planning model, not a product interface.
01 / Decision points
Define the work before you price the software.
Start with a real client journey. The requirements that emerge will make estimates easier to compare and expose work that a license quote may leave out.
Agree on the minimum record
List the details delivery needs, such as client contacts, agreed scope, open questions, and the next commitment. Separate essential fields from nice-to-haves.
Count the people and systems
Include occasional users, contractors, and the tools that exchange information. Ask which access levels and connections each estimate covers.
02 / Workflow map
Use these checkpoints to turn an agency handoff into testable requirements. Ask vendors to show the process with a representative example.
Trace the client record across the handoff.
Follow one inquiry from first contact through delivery and a later renewal conversation. For each transition, document what must move and who needs to see it.
Capture
Record where inquiries arrive and who adds context. Decide whether an agency needs to distinguish new opportunities from requests by existing clients.
Evaluate: How can information enter the record, and what setup or connection work does each route require?
Qualify
Define the signals that make an inquiry ready for a proposal. Include the person responsible for the next conversation and the date it should happen.
Evaluate: Can the team represent its stages and ownership clearly, including exceptions and shared accounts?
Transfer
Specify what account management passes to delivery: scope, decision-makers, promises, and unresolved questions. Decide where the receiving team acknowledges the handoff.
Evaluate: What information can be shared with delivery, and what permissions or extra seats might be needed?
Revisit
Determine how feedback and renewal context return to the account owner. Avoid relying on a single person's inbox as the only history.
Evaluate: How can the team find prior decisions and next steps, and who maintains the record over time?
03 / Cost reference
Build an estimate beyond the license line.
Ask for one-time and recurring amounts separately. Record assumptions beside each figure so proposals with different scopes can be compared fairly.
| Cost area | Work to account for | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Licenses | Access for account, sales, delivery, and occasional users. Changes in headcount or access levels. | What is included for each user type, and how does the estimate change as seats change? |
| Integrations | Connecting existing communication and delivery tools, testing data flows, and maintaining them when processes change. | Which connections are included, and who is responsible for setup and ongoing upkeep? |
| Migration | Cleaning contact records, mapping fields, importing history, checking duplicates, and validating a sample after import. | What data can be transferred, who prepares it, and what work falls outside the estimate? |
| Administration | Managing permissions, updating stages and fields, training new users, and reviewing data quality. | Who will own these tasks, and how much internal or external effort should be budgeted? |
Also consider the effort of adoption: document the time needed to agree on the process, train the team, and adjust it after launch.
04 / Selection brief
Leave the comparison with a usable brief.
Before requesting estimates, write down the same assumptions for every option. Review the brief with both the account lead and the person who will administer the system.
- A sample client journey and the owner of each handoff
- Required records, fields, access levels, and connections
- Data to migrate and the person responsible for cleaning it
- One-time costs, recurring costs, and internal effort to validate