If you're managing a sales team, you know how easy it is for performance issues to slip through the cracks. Metrics get missed, people get busy, and nobody wants to be the person constantly pinging reps about their numbers. This guide is for managers, ops folks, or anyone who wants to keep their team on track—without turning into a micromanaging robot.
We'll walk through how to use Leveleleven to automate performance alerts, so your team gets the nudges they need, and you can spend less time chasing and more time coaching.
Why automate performance alerts at all?
Let’s be real: Nobody likes surprise underperformance, and nobody likes endless Slack/Teams/email nagging. Automated alerts bridge the gap. The good ones are:
- Timely (not too late to change behavior)
- Specific (not just “do better!”)
- Actionable (what should I do next?)
But you’ve got to strike a balance. Too many alerts, and people tune them out. Too few, and you’re back to scrambling at the end of the month.
Leveleleven can help, but only if you set it up with your real workflow in mind.
Step 1: Get clear on what matters
Before you touch any settings, nail down what you actually want alerts about. Not every metric needs an alarm bell. Focus on:
- Leading indicators: Things reps can still influence (calls, meetings, pipeline).
- Lagging indicators: Outcomes (deals closed, revenue) are less actionable day-to-day.
- Team vs. individual: Are you trying to drive team culture or hold specific people accountable?
Pro tip: Start with 1–2 key activities. It’s easier to add more later than to claw back a flood of annoying notifications.
Step 2: Map your data to Leveleleven
Leveleleven pulls its data from Salesforce, so garbage in = garbage out. Make sure:
- The fields and objects you care about are tracked and up-to-date in Salesforce.
- Activities (calls, emails, meetings) are logged consistently—otherwise, your alerts are pointless.
- Everyone’s using the same definitions. If “meeting” means different things to different people, your alerts won’t be fair.
What doesn’t work: Trying to automate around messy data. If your Salesforce hygiene is a mess, fix that first.
Step 3: Decide who gets alerted—and how
You can set up alerts for individuals, teams, or both. Think about:
- Audience: New reps may need more nudges; veterans, less so.
- Delivery: Email, Slack, Teams, or in-app? Pick what actually gets read.
- Privacy: Public shaming is rarely productive. Set alerts to go to just the person (or maybe their manager).
Ignore: The temptation to CC everyone “just in case.” More noise ≠ more action.
Step 4: Set up your triggers in Leveleleven
Here’s where you actually build out the alerts:
- Log into Leveleleven.
- Head to the “Coaching” or “Scorecard” section (depends on your setup).
- Look for “Alerts” or “Notifications”—it’s not buried, but the UI isn’t exactly Apple-level.
- Choose the metric(s) you want to track. Example: “Calls made this week.”
- Set your threshold. For example: Alert if <50% of goal by Wednesday noon.
- Pick your audience (individual, team, manager).
- Choose the delivery method (email, Slack, etc.).
- Write a clear, specific message. Don’t just use the default “You are behind goal.” Say what’s missing and suggest a next step.
- Save and test it. (Seriously—run a test to make sure it fires when it should.)
Pro tip: Set alerts for when people are falling behind, not just when they’ve already missed the goal. Early nudges are way more useful.
Step 5: Test, tune, and avoid alert fatigue
Don’t just “set and forget.” Here’s how to sanity-check your setup:
- Monitor the first week. Are people getting bombarded? Are alerts firing at the right time?
- Ask your team. Did they see the alerts? Did they ignore them? Did it help?
- Adjust thresholds. Too strict = noise. Too loose = useless. You want just enough to prompt action.
- Review delivery channels. If nobody checks their email, switch to Slack (or vice versa).
What doesn’t work: “Spray and pray” alerting. If everyone’s getting pinged constantly, they’ll tune out everything—including the important stuff.
Step 6: Use alerts as a coaching tool—not a hammer
The goal isn’t to catch people out. It’s to help them self-correct—before you have to step in.
- Frame alerts as reminders, not gotchas.
- Use them to open conversations: “Saw you got the call volume alert—anything blocking you this week?”
- Don’t overreact to every alert. Patterns matter more than one-off misses.
Ignore: The idea that more alerts = more accountability. Genuine accountability comes from conversations, not automation.
Step 7: Review and refine every month
Your team will change. Goals will shift. Don’t let your alerts go stale.
- Once a month, look at which alerts fired, and what happened next.
- Are they prompting the right actions? Are some always ignored?
- Kill any alert that’s just noise.
- Add new ones only when there’s a clear need.
Pro tip: Involve your team. They’ll tell you which alerts are helpful and which are just background noise.
What to watch out for
Here’s where most teams trip up:
- Too many alerts: You’re not running a fire drill. Be selective.
- Vague triggers: “Not hitting goal” is too broad. Get specific (“<40 calls by Thursday noon”).
- Ignoring context: If someone’s out sick or on vacation, alerts will look worse than they are.
- Alert sprawl: Keep a simple list of active alerts. If you can’t remember what’s set up, neither can your team.
Wrapping up
Automated performance alerts can save you time, drive the right behaviors, and keep your team on track—if you keep things simple. Start with one or two key alerts, tune them based on real feedback, and don’t be afraid to kill what doesn’t work. The goal isn’t more noise; it’s less micromanagement.
Iterate, listen to your team, and remember: the best automation is the kind you barely notice because it just works.