Lost Handoffs Quietly Cost Small Businesses Work, Not Refusals

A small business owner missed a customer's price request after a note left on a desk got buried, and the customer hired a competitor instead. The article argues that work is rarely lost through outright refusal but through gaps between steps, where no one clearly owns the next action. Handoffs typically fail because no one is named to act, the relevant details are scattered across notes and memory, and no one routinely reviews what is stalled. Such small, unnoticed gaps can accumulate until customers leave or bills go unpaid. The piece is written for business owners and makes no claims about any particular product.