Keeping track of what everyone’s supposed to do shouldn’t be harder than the work itself. If you’re running a sales team—or any group that lives in their dialer and inbox—task assignment can get ugly, fast. This guide is for anyone using Frontspin who wants to actually use its built-in task management for real teamwork, not just to tick boxes.
Why bother with Frontspin’s task features?
Let’s be real: most sales tools tack on “task management” as an afterthought. It’s clunky, gets ignored, and everyone falls back on email threads or sticky notes. But Frontspin’s task system is baked into your daily workflow. If you stick with it, you’ll spend less energy chasing people for updates and more time closing deals.
Still, it’s not magic. You need a process, a clear sense of who owns what, and a willingness to tweak as you go. Here’s how to actually make it work.
Step 1: Get your team and permissions sorted
You can’t assign tasks if the right people aren’t in your Frontspin account. Before you even touch the task features:
- Check your user roles: Only admins and managers can assign tasks to others. Double-check who has which permissions in the “Admin” panel. If you’re not an admin, you’ll need to ask one to adjust roles.
- Clean up your team list: Remove ex-employees and add anyone new. Trust me, it saves headaches later.
- Group your team logically: Use Frontspin’s “Teams” or “Groups” to segment reps by territory, product line, or whatever actually makes sense for your workflow.
Pro tip: Don’t overcomplicate your setup. If you have a small team, you probably don’t need a bunch of granular groups.
Step 2: Set up your task types (and keep them simple)
Frontspin lets you create different task types: call, email, follow-up, and custom ones. The temptation is to make a custom task for every possible scenario (“Send Q2 pricing deck,” “Nudge Bob about lunch,” etc.). Resist that urge.
- Stick to a handful of task types: Calls, emails, follow-ups, and maybe a generic “to-do.”
- Name them clearly: “Client follow-up” is better than “Check-in.” Be specific but not granular.
- Color-code if it helps: Some people love this. If it’s just visual noise, skip it.
What to ignore: Don’t waste time building out dozens of custom task templates unless you have a real reason. It’s just more to maintain.
Step 3: Create and assign tasks
Here’s where most teams trip up: they create tasks, but don’t actually assign them, or the assignment isn’t clear. In Frontspin, you’ve got two main ways to assign tasks:
Option A: Assign tasks from a contact or account
- Find the contact/account: Search or click into the record.
- Click “Add Task”: It’ll usually be a button right in their profile.
- Fill in the details: Task type, due date, notes. Be direct—no one wants to read a novel here.
- Assign to a team member: There’s a dropdown to select who owns it.
- Save: The task pops up in their task list and dashboard.
Option B: Bulk-assign tasks (for call lists or campaigns)
If you want a whole group to hammer through a list:
- Go to your call list/campaign.
- Select the records (checkboxes).
- Choose “Assign Task” from the bulk actions menu.
- Assign to one or more users: You can round-robin or assign all to a single user.
- Set due dates and notes, then save.
Honest take: Bulk-assignment is great for repetitive, low-complexity actions (like “call these 50 leads”). For anything nuanced, do it one at a time.
Step 4: Track progress (without micromanaging)
Assigning tasks is pointless if you never check back. But you don’t want to spend your day peering over everyone’s shoulder either.
- Use the Task dashboard: Frontspin’s dashboard shows overdue, due today, upcoming, and completed tasks. You can filter by user, team, or task type.
- Set up daily/weekly review habits: Block 10 minutes to scan open tasks. Look for bottlenecks or repeated delays.
- Automated reminders: Frontspin can ping users about overdue tasks. Use it, but don’t set so many reminders that everyone tunes them out.
- Talk, don’t nag: If someone’s always behind, have a real conversation. The tool can’t fix unclear expectations or burnout.
What doesn’t work: Relying solely on notifications. Salespeople (and, honestly, everyone) get notification fatigue. A quick team huddle or Slack message works better for the tough stuff.
Step 5: Close the loop and actually complete tasks
Finishing a task in Frontspin is as simple as clicking “Complete,” but don’t treat it like a meaningless checkbox.
- Add short notes on completion: “Left a voicemail, will try again Thursday.” This saves future-you (and your manager) a lot of head-scratching.
- Review completed tasks during check-ins: Spot patterns—are some tasks always taking too long? Is someone crushing it with follow-ups?
- Archive or delete junk: If you have ancient, irrelevant tasks cluttering the list, clear them out. Otherwise, people start ignoring the task list entirely.
Pro tip: Encourage your team to close tasks as they do them, not in one big batch at the end of the week. It’s more accurate and less stressful.
Step 6: Adjust your process (don’t set and forget)
No task system is perfect out of the box. You’ll notice what works and what gets ignored.
- Ask your team for feedback: What’s annoying? What’s unclear? Fix it fast.
- Drop unused task types: If no one’s using “Send swag,” kill it.
- Tweak notification settings: Too many pings? Scale back. Nobody getting reminders? Turn some on.
- Document your process: One shared Google Doc beats a dozen “how do I assign a task?” emails.
What to ignore: Fancy integrations until your team is reliably using the basics. Zapier, Salesforce sync, etc. can wait.
Common pitfalls (and how to dodge them)
You’re not alone—almost everyone trips over these at some point:
- Assigning tasks with no owner: Always pick a person. “Team” tasks get ignored.
- Too many tasks, not enough clarity: Don’t assign busywork. Focus on what drives real results.
- No due dates: “Someday” isn’t a deadline. Always set a date, even if it’s arbitrary.
- Letting tasks pile up: Review and clear old stuff weekly.
Wrapping up: Keep it simple, and iterate
Frontspin’s task management works best when you treat it as a living process, not a one-time setup. Start basic, assign real tasks, check in often, and don’t be afraid to tweak your approach. The goal here isn’t to “maximize productivity” with a bunch of dashboards—it’s to make sure the right things get done, by the right people, on time. That’s it.
Don’t overthink it. Set it up, see what sticks, and keep it human.