If your sales team is dropping the ball or tripping over each other, you’re not alone. Keeping track of who’s doing what—and making sure nothing slips through the cracks—can feel like herding cats. This guide is for sales managers, team leads, and anyone in the trenches who wants less chaos and more results. We’ll walk through how to assign and track sales tasks in Spoke so your team can actually collaborate instead of just saying they do.
Let’s get into it. No fluff, just what you need to know.
1. Getting Set Up: The Basics You Shouldn’t Skip
Before you start assigning tasks, make sure your Spoke setup won’t trip you up later.
- User roles: Double-check everyone’s permissions. If someone can’t see or update tasks, they’ll be stuck.
- Integrations: If you want your email, CRM, or Slack to play nice with Spoke, connect them now. But don’t get sucked into connecting every tool “just because.” Start with what your team actually uses.
- Naming conventions: Decide how you’ll name tasks. For example, start task titles with the account name:
[Acme Corp] Follow up on contract. It’ll save your sanity later.
Pro tip: Spend 15 minutes with your team agreeing on these basics. It’s boring, but it’ll prevent headaches.
2. Step-by-Step: Assigning Sales Tasks in Spoke
Here’s how to keep things clear from the start.
2.1. Create a New Task
- Click the “+ New Task” button (or whatever your version of Spoke calls it).
- Fill in the task name. Be specific—“Call client” is useless. “Call Jane from Acme Corp about Q2 renewal” is better.
- Add details in the description. Include phone numbers, context, or anything that’ll save back-and-forth.
2.2. Assign the Task
- Use the Assignee field to pick the responsible person. Don’t assign tasks to groups—pick a real person. If everyone’s responsible, nobody is.
- Set a due date. Even if it’s a soft deadline, you need one. “ASAP” is not a date.
2.3. Set Priority (But Don’t Obsess)
- Mark the task as high, medium, or low priority if you must, but don’t spend ages debating it.
- In reality, most sales teams ignore this after a week. If everything’s marked “urgent,” nothing is. Use it just enough to help, not to add busywork.
2.4. Add Followers (Optional)
- If someone else needs to be kept in the loop, add them as a follower or watcher.
- Don’t add your whole team to every task. That’s just more notifications for everyone to ignore.
What works: Assigning tasks to real people, with real deadlines, and enough info to take action.
What doesn’t: Vague tasks, missing context, or tasks assigned to “the team.”
3. Tracking Tasks Without Losing Your Mind
Assigning tasks is the easy part. Keeping track of them is where most teams get stuck.
3.1. Use Views (But Don’t Overcomplicate)
- Set up personal and team views: “My Open Tasks,” “All Sales Tasks Due This Week,” etc.
- Use filters. Filter by assignee, status, or due date to see what matters right now.
- Don’t waste hours building fancy dashboards—start with simple lists and tweak as you go.
3.2. Update Statuses—But Keep It Simple
- Use basic statuses like “Open,” “In Progress,” and “Done.”
- Avoid creating a dozen custom statuses (“Waiting for Response,” “Chasing for Response,” “Maybe Still Waiting...”). It gets confusing fast.
- Make it a habit: Whenever you finish a call, update the task. If you’re waiting on a client, leave a comment.
3.3. Notifications: Friend or Foe
- Spoke will send notifications when you’re assigned a task or when it’s updated.
- Encourage your team to actually check these—but also, don’t let notifications become noise. If everyone’s getting pinged for everything, people will just ignore them.
- Tweak your notification settings to only get what you really need.
Pro tip: Do a weekly sweep—spend 10 minutes on Friday clearing out old or finished tasks. It keeps things from piling up.
4. Collaborating on Tasks (Without Micromanaging)
Collaboration doesn’t mean everyone needs to comment on every task. Here’s how to actually work together.
4.1. Use Comments for Context, Not Chit-Chat
- Add comments for updates (“Left voicemail, will try again tomorrow”), questions, or attaching files.
- Don’t use task comments for general chit-chat or unrelated side discussions.
4.2. Share Files and Links—But Don’t Dump Everything
- Attach only what’s needed: proposals, contracts, or key emails.
- Don’t turn every task into a dumping ground for every email or file.
4.3. Escalate or Reassign When Stuck
- If you’re blocked, tag your manager or teammate and explain what’s needed.
- Reassign tasks if someone else is better placed to handle it—but always explain why.
4.4. Avoid Endless @Mentions
- Tag only people who actually need to see something or take action.
- Too many @mentions = everyone tunes out.
What works: Short, useful updates and clear calls to action.
What doesn’t: Over-documenting, endless back-and-forth, or involving everyone in every task.
5. Reporting and Reviewing Progress
You don’t need a 40-page report to see if your team’s on track. Here’s what actually helps.
5.1. Use Simple Reports
- Check Spoke’s built-in reporting for completed vs. overdue tasks.
- Look at “Tasks by Assignee” to spot bottlenecks or overloaded teammates.
- Don’t obsess over stats—just check if things are moving.
5.2. Weekly Standups or Reviews
- Do a quick weekly review of key tasks: What’s done, what’s stuck, and what’s next.
- Don’t use the meeting to read every task aloud. Focus on what actually needs discussion.
5.3. Adjust as You Go
- If nobody’s using a certain status or tag, drop it.
- If you notice recurring issues (like tasks always overdue), fix the root cause, not just the symptom.
Pro tip: Ask your team what’s actually working for them in Spoke. If something’s a pain, change it—don’t just stick with default settings because “that’s how we started.”
6. What to Ignore (or Not Overthink)
There’s a lot you can do in Spoke, but not everything’s worth your time.
- Don’t over-customize: Fancy workflows, endless tags, or custom fields sound great, but usually just add clutter.
- Don’t rely on automation for everything: Automated reminders are nice, but real follow-up still needs a human touch.
- Don’t micromanage: If you’re checking every task update, you’ll drive yourself (and your team) nuts.
Stick to what helps your team move faster and communicate better. Ignore the rest, at least to start.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple and Iterate
Assigning and tracking sales tasks in Spoke isn’t rocket science, but it’s easy to make it more complicated than it needs to be. Start with clear, specific tasks, assign them to real people, and check in regularly. Don’t get bogged down in features or dashboards you’ll never use. Get the basics right, and tweak your process as you go. The goal isn’t to have a perfect system—it’s to have a team that actually knows what’s going on and gets things done.