Phases, owners, and acceptance gates
| Phase | Owner | Work | Acceptance evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capture the founder’s judgment | Founder and first seller | Review real wins, losses, and poor-fit customers; record evidence behind each decision. | The seller can explain fit and disqualification using examples. |
| Define the offer and process | Sales lead and delivery lead | Set scope boundaries, stages, proposal approvals, and delivery acceptance rules. | The seller knows what can be promised and when approval is required. |
| Practice together | Founder and seller | Observe calls, then have the seller lead while the founder reviews decisions. | The seller can run representative conversations and record useful next actions. |
| Transfer with review | Sales manager | Review pipeline evidence, exceptions, and handoff quality on a defined cadence. | The founder intervenes at agreed boundaries rather than in every deal. |
Before the first working session
Name a sponsor who can resolve competing priorities and a manager who will maintain the result. Gather a recent normal case, an exception, and the current instructions. Reserve time for the people doing the work; a plan cannot be validated entirely through leadership discussion.
Worked example
Illustrative example: the founder can recognize customers whose requested timeline is unrealistic, but the first seller cannot. The team documents delivery prerequisites and adds an operations review before promising a compressed date.
When to pause or revise the plan
Do not remove founder involvement solely because a calendar date has arrived. If the seller cannot qualify fit, explain the offer, or respect delivery boundaries, identify the missing training or rule and retest.
A practical review rhythm
At each phase boundary, review completed evidence, unresolved decisions, and the next owner. If a prerequisite is missing, record who will resolve it and when the team will review it again. Keep acceptance separate from effort spent: a completed meeting is not proof that the new workflow can operate.
Handover and continuing ownership
Keep a shared library of objections, loss reasons, scope questions, and delivery feedback. Update the playbook as the team learns instead of treating the founder’s current approach as permanently complete.
Related implementation resources
Discuss the operating problem
Elixir consulting starts at $5,000 per month, with final pricing based on scope. Bring a recent example, the current workflow, and the person who owns the result to define the appropriate implementation scope.