SDR → AE Handoff & Follow-Up Ownership System

The Problem It Solves

When a founding SDR qualifies a lead and passes it to a founding AE, two things go wrong. First, the handoff itself is messy — context lives in the SDR's head and doesn't make it to the AE cleanly. Second, the follow-up after the demo falls through the gaps — the AE assumes the SDR is chasing, the SDR assumes the AE owns it, and the lead goes quiet.

This system installs the handoff infrastructure: written rules for when a lead moves, what data travels with it, who owns it at every stage, and what happens if nobody acts.

Inbound Sources

SDR-qualified leads passed from outbound sequences
Inbound demo requests routed to SDR for qualification first

[Technical: HubSpot deal stage change triggers the Make.com workflow. When a deal moves from "SDR Qualifying" to "AE Demo Scheduled", the handoff sequence fires automatically. No manual tagging required.]

Handoff Logic

Condition	Action	Owner After Handoff
SDR marks lead as SQL	Deal stage moves to "AE Demo Scheduled"	AE assigned immediately
Demo completed, no next step logged	Alert fired to AE within 4 hours	AE owns follow-up
AE no activity within 48hrs post-demo	Slack alert to founder	Founder reviews
Lead goes dark after 2 follow-ups	Moved to "SDR Re-engage" stage	SDR reassigned

Ownership Rules

SDR owns the lead until the demo is confirmed, not until the demo happens
AE owns the lead from demo confirmation onwards no shared ownership
Handoff note is required before deal stage advances: one mandatory field in HubSpot capturing the key qualification context (pain, budget signal, next step agreed)
If the AE hasn't logged activity within 48 hours of the demo, an automated Slack message fires to the founder with the deal name and last activity
If a deal goes dark after 2 AE follow-ups with no reply, it routes back to the SDR for re-engagement with a 7-day cooldown
Original lead source and SDR qualification notes travel with the contact through every stage change