Ever finish a call or email and think, “I’ll definitely remember to follow up”—and then, of course, you don’t? If you’re juggling leads, clients, or projects, you know that keeping up with follow-ups is where things fall apart. This guide is for anyone using Reachout who wants to stop losing track of tasks and start having next steps handled for them—automatically.
Let’s get into it: how to schedule follow-up tasks in Reachout without overcomplicating your workflow, what actually works, and how to avoid drowning in reminders that don’t do anything.
Why Bother Automating Follow-Ups?
Manual follow-ups sound doable until you’re busy. Here’s what you’re up against if you don’t automate:
- You’ll forget things, even with the best intentions.
- “I’ll do it later,” usually means “I’ll never do it.”
- Important relationships slip through the cracks.
Automating follow-up tasks in Reachout means:
- Every lead gets the right nudge at the right time.
- You spend less time on boring admin work.
- You actually follow up—consistently.
But, before you jump in, know this: automation isn’t magic. It’s only as good as the system you set up and maintain.
Step 1: Know What You Want to Automate
Don’t just flip on every automation switch. Take five minutes to decide:
- What counts as a “follow-up” in your world? (An email? A call? A reminder to send a proposal?)
- When do you usually need to follow up? (After a meeting? After sending a quote? When someone goes quiet?)
- How do you want to be reminded? (Task list? Email notification? Slack ping?)
Write this down somewhere. If you set up a bunch of reminders for things you don’t actually care about, you’ll start ignoring all of them.
Pro tip: Start with one or two key follow-ups—don’t try to automate everything at once.
Step 2: Get Your Reachout Account Ready
You can’t automate anything without the basics in place. Make sure:
- Your contacts, deals, or projects are imported into Reachout.
- Your notification settings are up to date (so you actually see reminders).
- You have a general sense of where “Tasks” or “Automations” live in the Reachout interface.
If you’re not sure where these are, poke around or check Reachout’s help docs. Don’t spend hours—just get familiar enough to find your way around.
Step 3: Create Your First Follow-Up Task Template
Reachout lets you create “Task Templates” or “Automations” (depending on what they call it this week) tied to specific events. Here’s how to set one up:
- Go to the Automation or Tasks section.
- Usually, there’s a sidebar menu—look for something like “Automations,” “Workflows,” or just “Tasks.”
- Click ‘Create New Automation’ or ‘Add Task Template.’
- The wording varies, but you want to create something that runs after a trigger (like a completed call or sent email).
- Choose your trigger.
- Common options: “Call completed,” “Deal moved to stage X,” “Email sent,” etc.
- Pick the trigger that fits your follow-up scenario.
- Set the action to ‘Create Follow-Up Task.’
- This is where you tell Reachout what you want it to do automatically.
- Example: “When I complete a call with a contact, create a follow-up task for 3 days later.”
- Customize the task.
- Name: “Follow up with {{Contact Name}} about {{Deal Name}}”
- Due date: “3 days from trigger event”
- Assign to: Yourself or a teammate
- Add notes or checklist items if you need them (but don’t overdo it).
- Save and activate.
- Test it with a dummy contact or deal to make sure it works.
What to skip: Don’t build a monster workflow with 10 steps right away. Keep it simple. You can always add more triggers or actions later.
Step 4: Use Conditional Logic (If You Really Need It)
Some folks love conditional logic—“If X, then Y, but only if Z.” Reachout usually offers this, but honestly, most people don’t need it at first.
When it’s worth it: - If you only want follow-ups for certain deal types, clients, or stages. - If you want different follow-up timing for hot vs. cold leads.
How to do it: - When building your automation, look for “Add Condition” or “Filter.” - Set rules like “Only if deal value > $5,000” or “Only for contacts with tag ‘VIP.’”
What to ignore: If you’re not sure you need it, skip this for now. Overcomplicating rules is the fastest way to break your own system.
Step 5: Decide How You’ll Get Notified
Automation is useless if you never see the tasks it creates. In Reachout, you can usually get notified by:
- In-app task lists
- Email notifications
- Push notifications
- Slack/Teams integrations (if you’ve connected them)
Pick one or two channels—don’t try to be everywhere, or you’ll just tune it all out. Set aside a time each day or week to check your follow-up tasks.
Pro tip: If you’re ignoring email notifications, turn them off. There’s no point cluttering your inbox with reminders you’ll never read.
Step 6: Test the Whole Thing (Don’t Skip This)
Before you trust automation with your real clients, run a few tests:
- Complete a test call, deal, or email and see if the follow-up task appears.
- Check if the due date and assigned person are correct.
- Make sure you get notified where you expect.
If something feels off, tweak the automation. Most bugs come from weird triggers or typos in template fields.
What people mess up: Forgetting to check task assignments—make sure tasks go to the right person, not just whoever set up the automation.
Step 7: Maintain and Adjust (The Boring But Important Part)
You’ll probably need to tweak your follow-up automations after a few weeks. Stuff changes—your process, your team, your clients.
- Once a month, review your automations. Are they still working? Are you ignoring certain reminders?
- If everyone’s snoozing the same task, it’s a sign you don’t need it—or the timing is off.
- Add new triggers as your workflow evolves, but don’t try to automate everything.
Pro tip: Ask your team what’s actually helpful. If they’re overwhelmed by useless tasks, scale back.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore
What works: - Automating follow-ups for routine stuff: post-call check-ins, proposal reminders, client onboarding steps. - Keeping automations simple and focused. - Regularly cleaning up or updating automations that no longer fit.
What doesn’t: - Over-automating every single interaction. People start ignoring tasks and the whole thing collapses. - Relying solely on automation for high-touch or sensitive relationships. Sometimes you need a personal touch. - Ignoring maintenance—old automations pile up and become noise.
What to ignore: - Fancy features you don’t need (like AI-generated “next steps” that sound generic). - Integrations you won’t actually use. Start with basics before connecting every tool under the sun.
Keep It Simple (and Real)
Automating follow-up tasks in Reachout isn’t rocket science, but it does take a bit of setup and, honestly, a lot of discipline. Start with one or two automations that solve a real problem for you or your team. Test them, use them, and fix what’s broken. If you keep it simple—and actually use the tasks you create—you’ll stop letting things slip through the cracks.
Remember: the best automation is the one you actually use. Build from there, and you’ll save yourself a ton of hassle.