Step 6: Plan and configure your Workflow
Think of your Workflows as containers for multiple processes that are to be applied to leads with a single step. Workflows can be applied automatically via the submission of a form or the completion of a task. They can assign one or more Types to the lead, assign or remove one or more Users to the lead, update the Sales Pipeline attributes for that lead, schedule and send one or more email messages (such as an Autoresponder) to the lead, and schedule Tasks for the lead.
Time should be spent thinking about the process you wish to use for your sales lead followup. Often it is better to create several smaller Workflows rather than one large one, breaking the process into stages. Once you have a good idea of how you wish your Workflows to behave, you can begin building them.
If you intend to use any Autoresponder emails, or other scheduled email messages in your Workflows, it is a good idea to load them into your Messages before building your Workflows. This way they are available from within the Workflow Edit Screen, eliminating the need to come back and add them later.
To add a Workflow to your account, click on your Settings Tab, then on Workflow. Then click on "Add Workflow" to add a new workflow, or if you have chosen one of our account templates, you may click on one of the existing workflows to edit it.
Elements of the Workflow:
Email Notice - add any "non-user" emails that you wish to have a notice sent to when this Workflow is triggered. Often this is to the marketing or sales manager, who wants to know when new leads are entered into the system. Enter multiple email addresses as needed, separated by a comma. Note - this is separate from the notice that a new assigned user receives, so do not enter the users email address here.
Sales Status/Pipeline - here you may set the initial settings for this element for leads that this Workflow is applied to. For example: For incoming website leads, you may want to start them as "Hot" and set the Opportunity Stage at 0%.
Types - Assign one or more Types to the lead as it comes in.
Users - Add one or more users, as a group or in a round-robin format.
Messages (Autoresponders) - Choose a message from your message library to serve as an autoresponder. Schedule it to be sent to the lead immediately, or at a specified interval. You can add additional autoresponders. This is useful if you wish to set up a Workflow to send a drip email campaign.
Tasks - Create and schedule a Task (followup) or Tasks that are automatically assigned to leads that this Workflow is applied to, and schedule reminders for assigned users.