You know the feeling—your team is hustling, deals are moving, but stuff keeps slipping through the cracks. If you’re tired of hearing, “I thought you were going to follow up,” then automating your follow-up tasks is a no-brainer. This guide is for anyone using 2xconnect who wants to actually boost sales productivity, not just fill out more CRM fields for the heck of it.
Let’s cut to it. Here’s how to set up 2xconnect so the right follow-ups happen, at the right time, with the least amount of manual grunt work.
Why Automate Follow-Up Tasks in 2xconnect?
Before you dive in, it’s worth asking: Is automation really going to help? Short answer: Yes, if you do it right.
What works: - Making sure no opportunity falls through the cracks. - Freeing up reps to sell, not just update spreadsheets. - Keeping your pipeline moving without nagging or micromanaging.
What doesn’t: - Blindly automating every possible task (hello, robot spam). - Overcomplicating things to the point where nobody trusts the system.
Bottom line: Use automation to support real sales conversations, not replace them.
Step 1: Map Out Your Follow-Up Process (Don’t Skip This)
You can’t automate chaos. Before you touch 2xconnect, get clear on your sales process:
- What triggers a follow-up? (e.g., after a demo, after a quote, after no response)
- Who needs to follow up? (the same rep, an account manager, someone else?)
- How soon? (right away, next day, a week later?)
- What’s the actual follow-up? (call, email, LinkedIn message, etc.)
Pro tip: Grab a whiteboard (or a napkin) and sketch out what should happen. This will save you hours later.
Step 2: Get to Know 2xconnect’s Automation Tools
2xconnect has a handful of automation features, but not all of them are worth your time. Here’s what actually helps with follow-ups:
- Automated Task Creation — Set rules so tasks are created automatically based on deal stage, activity, or lack of response.
- Workflow Rules — Trigger follow-ups or reminders when specific conditions are met.
- Templates for Follow-Up Actions — Prebuilt task templates save time and keep follow-ups consistent.
- Notifications & Reminders — Get pinged when it’s time to reach out (without flooding your inbox).
What to ignore: Overly complex multi-step automations unless you have a big team and someone dedicated to maintaining them.
Step 3: Start Simple—Automate Basic Follow-Up Tasks
Let’s walk through the basics. Here’s how to set up follow-up automation in 2xconnect without making things messy.
a) Create an Automated Follow-Up Task After Key Activities
Suppose you want to make sure every prospect gets a follow-up call 2 days after a demo.
- Go to Settings > Automation > Task Rules
Look for the section where you can create new task rules. - Set Your Trigger
Choose “Demo Completed” (or whatever activity makes sense for your process). - Define the Action
Set it to “Create Follow-Up Call Task.” - Set the Timing
Delay the task by 2 days, so the rep has time to breathe but doesn’t forget. - Assign the Right Owner
Usually this is the rep who did the demo, but you can get fancy if needed. - Save and Test
Create a fake deal, run through the demo, and make sure the follow-up task appears when and where you expect.
Pro tip: Name your tasks clearly—“Follow up with [Contact Name] re: Demo” is better than “Call.”
b) Automate Reminders for Unanswered Emails
No one likes chasing ghosts, but it beats losing a deal because you forgot to nudge someone.
- Set Up a Workflow Rule
Trigger: If no email reply is logged within X days of sending a proposal. - Action: Create a reminder task for the rep—“Follow up: Awaiting client response.”
- Timing: Pick a realistic window (3-5 business days is usually fair).
Watch out: Don’t stack these endlessly. If someone’s not responding after two nudges, it’s probably time to pick up the phone or move on.
c) Use Templates for Repetitive Follow-Up Actions
If your team keeps writing the same “Just checking in…” email, save everyone’s sanity:
- Build a follow-up task template that includes suggested call scripts or email text.
- Plug these templates into your automated tasks, so there’s no guesswork.
Pro tip: Keep templates human. If they sound robotic, people will ignore them.
Step 4: Layer in Smarter Automation (But Don’t Go Overboard)
Once you’ve got the basics working, you can start to add smarter triggers—if you actually need them.
a) Trigger Tasks Based on Deal Stage Changes
- When a deal moves from “Qualified” to “Proposal Sent,” automatically create a follow-up reminder.
- If a deal goes stale (no activity for 10 days), create a “Re-engage” task.
b) Assign Tasks to Different Roles
- If your process involves handoffs (e.g., SDR to AE), set rules so the right person is always responsible for the next step.
c) Auto-Close Stale Follow-Ups
- Set up a rule to close out tasks that are more than 30 days old and never completed. No one needs a graveyard of overdue tasks cluttering the dashboard.
What to skip: Don’t try to automate every possible edge case. You’ll just create confusion and a tangled mess of rules.
Step 5: Review, Test, and Improve
Automation isn’t “set it and forget it.” Stuff changes—people leave, processes evolve, and what worked last quarter might break now. Here’s how to keep things tight:
- Test your automations with real data. Don’t trust that everything will work just because you clicked “Save.”
- Ask your team what’s useful and what’s annoying. If automated tasks are being ignored or marked complete without action, tweak or ditch them.
- Check for duplicate or conflicting rules. Overlapping automations = confusion and dropped balls.
- Audit regularly. Once a month, review what’s working and what’s just noise.
Pro tip: If your team starts ignoring automated tasks, you’ve probably automated too much.
What About Integrations and Fancy Features?
2xconnect plays nicely with a bunch of other tools. This can be handy, but don’t get sucked into integration rabbit holes unless you really need them.
Some to consider: - Calendar integrations: Automatically sync follow-up tasks with Google or Outlook calendars. - Email tracking: Get notified when someone opens your email, then trigger a follow-up. - Third-party automation platforms: If you’re already using tools like Zapier, you can connect 2xconnect to just about anything—but only if it actually solves a real problem for your team.
What to ignore: Integrating for the sake of integrating. If it doesn’t clearly save you time or help close deals, skip it.
Common Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
- Automating busywork: Don’t automate stuff just because you can. Focus on what actually helps sales.
- Too many notifications: More isn’t better. If reps get pinged every five minutes, they’ll start ignoring everything.
- Not involving the team: If you set up automations in a vacuum, expect grumbling (or worse, workarounds).
- Ignoring the human touch: Automated follow-ups are great, but canned messages and robotic tasks can turn people off.
Keep It Simple—and Iterate
Automating follow-ups in 2xconnect can actually boost sales productivity, but only if you keep your process simple and real. Start with the basics, see what works, and don’t be afraid to kill automations that just create noise.
Remember: The best automation is the one your team barely notices, because everything just happens when it’s supposed to. Start small, tweak often, and let your salespeople do what they do best—sell.