Sometimes it feels like leads go to a black hole the minute they hit your CRM. If your team’s scrambling to figure out who owns what, or if you’re tired of babysitting spreadsheets, you’re not alone. Automating lead assignment can make a world of difference—but only if you do it right. This guide is for anyone who’s ready to stop messing around and actually get faster follow-ups using Sharefable.
Let’s cut through the fluff and get your team responding to leads before they go cold.
Why Automate Your Lead Assignment? (And What to Watch Out For)
Manual lead assignment is slow, error-prone, and a real morale killer. Here’s what automation actually gets you:
- Speed. Leads go to the right person instantly. No waiting for someone to check a queue.
- Fairness. No more cherry-picking or “I didn’t see that one!” excuses.
- Consistency. Every lead gets handled the same way, every time.
But let’s be real: automation only works if you set up the rules carefully. Messy logic leads to missed leads. Overcomplicated rules break when your team changes. Keep it simple, test it, and don’t assume it’ll fix a broken sales process.
Step 1: Get Your Lead Sources Connected
First things first: make sure every way a lead enters your world gets logged in Sharefable.
Typical sources: - Website forms - Landing pages - LinkedIn or social ads - Manual entry (think: phone calls, trade shows)
How to connect them: - Use Sharefable’s built-in integrations for major form tools and ad platforms. - If you’re using something obscure, you might need to set up a webhook or use something like Zapier. - Double-check that test leads show up in Sharefable with all the info you need (name, email, source, etc).
Pro tip: Garbage in, garbage out. If your sources aren’t capturing clean, complete data, fix that before you start building workflows.
Step 2: Decide Who Should Get Which Leads
Don’t start clicking around in the workflow builder yet. Spend 10 minutes mapping out how you actually want leads assigned.
Common assignment approaches: - Round robin: Rotate leads evenly among your sales reps. - By territory: Assign based on geography, industry, or product interest. - By availability: Send leads to whoever’s online or has capacity. - Priority-based: Flag VIP leads for senior reps; others go to the general pool.
What to avoid: - Overly granular rules (“Leads from zip code 94610 who like tennis go to Jenny”). You’ll regret this. - Ignoring PTO/away statuses. Nothing like assigning a hot lead to someone on a beach in Bali.
Write it down (seriously, on paper or a doc). You’ll need this for the next step.
Step 3: Build Your Assignment Workflow in Sharefable
Now the fun part—let’s actually automate:
- Navigate to Automation or Workflows
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In Sharefable, find the automation/workflows section. (The name might vary, but you’re looking for where you can create rules.)
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Start a New Workflow
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Usually there’s a “+ Create Workflow” or similar button. Give your workflow a clear name—something like “Lead Assignment: Round Robin”.
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Set Your Trigger
- Trigger: “When a new lead is created” or “When a form is submitted.”
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Make sure you’re not double-triggering (e.g., don’t fire on both ‘lead created’ and ‘lead updated’ unless you want weirdness).
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Add Assignment Logic
- Use Sharefable’s built-in assignment actions:
- Round Robin: Add all eligible reps to the pool.
- Rule-based: Set conditions (e.g., if “Country = US,” assign to Team USA).
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For more advanced setups, you might need to use “if/then” branches or conditions.
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Set Fallbacks
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What if everyone’s busy? Or someone’s account gets deactivated? Always add a fallback rule (e.g., “Assign to Sales Manager”).
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Notify the Assignee
- Make sure the assigned person actually gets notified (email, app push, Slack—whatever your team uses).
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Test this for real. People miss a lot of notifications.
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(Optional) Create Escalation Rules
- If a lead isn’t touched in X minutes/hours, reassign or alert a manager.
- Don’t overdo this; endless alerts = everyone ignores them.
Pro tip: Less is more. Start with basic logic. Add complexity later if you really need it.
Step 4: Test With Real (But Fake) Leads
It’s tempting to hit “activate” and hope for the best. Don’t.
- Create a handful of test leads that match different assignment rules.
- Check who actually gets assigned—and that they see the notifications.
- Try edge cases. What happens if no one’s available? What if a field is blank?
- Ask a couple of reps to walk through the process as if they were real leads.
Common pitfalls: - Notifications go to spam or are too subtle. - Leads assigned to old accounts or unmonitored inboxes. - Assignment rules skip certain leads because of missing data.
Fix these now. It’s way easier to tweak before it goes live.
Step 5: Roll Out and Monitor (Don’t “Set and Forget”)
When you’re confident it works, turn it on for real leads. But keep an eye on things for the first week or two:
- Watch for missed or unassigned leads. Use Sharefable’s reporting or dashboard to check.
- Ask for feedback. If reps aren’t seeing assignments, or leads are getting lost, you want to know fast.
- Tweak as needed. Don’t be afraid to simplify if you notice confusion.
Red flags: - Leads piling up in a single rep’s queue. - Slow response times after automation (yes, it happens if rules are off). - Reps gaming the system (e.g., “forgetting” to mark leads as contacted).
What Actually Works (And What’s Just Hype)
- Works: Simple round robin with fallback, clear notifications, and regular check-ins. Most teams don’t need more at first.
- Works: Escalation for untouched leads if your managers actually act on these alerts.
- Doesn’t work: Fancy scoring models or AI-based assignments unless your data is rock-solid and you have a big team. For most, it’s overkill.
- Doesn’t work: Over-customizing per rep. It’s a maintenance nightmare.
- Ignore: Marketing claims about “1-click lead routing to triple sales.” Automation helps, but it’s not magic.
Keep It Simple, Review Regularly
Automating lead assignment in Sharefable isn’t rocket science, but it does take a bit of upfront thinking. Start basic. Test with your team. Don’t pile on rules you don’t need. And check in once a month to make sure it’s still working for your (probably changing) team.
The real win? More leads get followed up, faster. That’s it. Don’t let “automation” become just another thing to babysit. Iterate, keep it simple, and move on to more interesting problems.