The handover from sales to delivery loses information
What was promised in the sales conversation isn’t in the order. Delivery asks, the customer is surprised, and you explain it for the third time.
Area 04 · Operations
Your company should work even when you aren’t everywhere.
Operations means: handovers, delivery, accountability, capacity and documentation are set up so that the standard case runs without you – and exceptions are treated as exceptions.
Analyze my shop
Initial consultation – we look at which handover snags first.
How you'll notice
Three places where operations quietly costs money
Every project is a special case
There is no standard workflow against which exceptions can be measured. So everything is planned individually – even what repeats every week.
Capacity is felt, not planned
Whether the team can take on another order is known only to whoever is closest to it. Commitments come from optimism, not from utilization.
The principle
Separate standard operations from exceptions
The biggest lever in operations is rarely a new tool. It is the decision about what is standard – and what is not.
Standard operations
- Defined handover with required fields between sales and delivery
- A documented workflow for the most frequent order type
- Clear ownership per step, not per person
- Acceptance criteria known before you start
Exceptions
- Are flagged as such, not quietly built in
- Have a decision-maker and a reason
- Are collected – frequent exceptions become the new standard
- Costs show up in time, so they can be priced in
What you hold in your hands
Workflows that work even without an explanation
Handover log sales → delivery
What information an order must contain before it starts.
Standard workflow for the main order type
Steps, responsibilities and approval points – short enough to be read.
Capacity overview
A simple view of what the team has committed to and what is still possible.
Exceptions list
Collected deviations with reasons – the basis for the next standard.
Matching services
What we work with in this area
Assessment
We don’t build a process map to sit in a drawer.
We create documentation along the real workflow and only as detailed as it will be read in daily work. It’s about workflows that work without you – not about completeness.
In the online shop
Inventory and returns: how the area shows up in e-commerce.
Inventory and delivery capability
Wrong availability costs orders that were already there (Station 02).
Returns
Return costs belong in the contribution margin per order, not just in logistics.
Frequently asked questions
Clearly answered.
Isn’t that only for larger companies?
Quite the opposite. The smaller the team, the more depends on the owner. A single documented standard workflow relieves them the most.
Does this require new software?
Usually not. A properly used CRM and a short standard workflow are often enough. Software comes only once the workflow is in place.
How do you keep the documentation from going stale?
By being short, having an owner, and collecting exceptions regularly. Whatever repeats often moves into the standard – that’s how it stays current.
