If you’re running a sales team, you know the pain of deals stalling out—or vanishing—without warning. Chasing every deal by hand is a recipe for burnout and missed quotas. This guide is for anyone who wants to use Kluster to stay ahead of at risk deals, set up alerts that actually help, and stop letting revenue slip through the cracks.
No fluff, no mysterious “AI-powered magic.” Just a practical walkthrough of setting up automated alerts in Kluster, what really works, and what you can skip.
Why Automated Alerts Matter (But Only If You Do Them Right)
Automated alerts sound great in theory: software watches your pipeline, pings you when something looks shaky, and you swoop in to save the day. But most teams either drown in too many alerts, or miss the ones that matter. The trick is getting specific with what “at risk” actually means for your sales process—and keeping the noise to a minimum.
Before you dive in, know this: no system is perfect. Alerts are just tools. They won’t close deals for you, but done right, they’ll give you a heads-up before it’s too late.
Step 1: Nail Down What “At Risk” Really Means For You
Don’t just use Kluster’s defaults or copy what you saw in a sales blog. Every company’s definition of an “at risk” deal is different. The more specific you get, the more useful your alerts will be.
Some common warning signs: - No activity logged in X days (calls, emails, meetings) - Deal stuck in the same stage for too long - Close date pushed back more than once - Low engagement from key stakeholders - Deal size shrinking as renewal approaches
Pro tip: Ask your reps and managers what “bad vibes” they notice before deals go sideways. Their gut instincts are often more valuable than a canned template.
Write down your top 2–3 “at risk” signals before opening Kluster. If everything is “at risk,” nothing is.
Step 2: Map Your CRM Data to Kluster
Kluster pulls its data from your CRM—usually Salesforce, HubSpot, or similar. Alerts are only as good as the data they’re built on. Before you build anything, make sure: - Your CRM sync with Kluster is working (no stale or missing data) - The fields you need (like “Last Activity Date,” “Deal Stage,” etc.) are available in Kluster - Your team is actually logging activity in the CRM (no logging, no alerts)
What doesn’t work: If your sales team is skipping activity logging, or if your CRM fields are a mess, automated alerts just create noise. Fix the basics first.
Step 3: Set Up Your First Automated Alert in Kluster
Here’s how to do it without getting lost in menus:
- Log in to Kluster and go to the Alerts section.
- Usually, there’s a sidebar or top menu. Look for “Alerts,” “Notifications,” or similar.
- Click ‘Create Alert’ (or similar).
- You’ll see options for the type of alert—choose “Deal Alert” or “Opportunity Alert.”
- Define your alert criteria.
- Use those “at risk” definitions you wrote down earlier. For example:
- “Deal has had no activity for 10 days”
- “Deal stage hasn’t changed in 14 days”
- “Forecasted close date has moved back twice”
- You’ll usually use filters like “Last Activity Date,” “Stage Duration,” or custom fields.
- Pick who gets the alert.
- You can send to deal owners, managers, or a Slack/email channel.
- Don’t blast everyone with every alert—target only those who can act on it.
- Set the alert frequency.
- Daily, weekly, or “as it happens.”
- Daily summaries are usually enough—instant pings make people tune out fast.
- Write a clear message for the alert.
- Include deal name, owner, what’s wrong, and what action to take.
- Example: “Deal ‘Acme Corp Renewal’ hasn’t had any activity in 12 days. Reach out to your champion ASAP.”
Pro tip: Test your alert with just yourself or one rep first. Make sure it actually triggers when you expect, and the message is clear.
Step 4: Avoid Alert Overload
This is where most teams screw up. If you create an alert for every possible risk factor, your inbox (or Slack) will explode. People will start ignoring alerts—or worse, building “mark as read” habits.
Keep it simple: - Start with one or two high-impact alerts. - Only add more if you’re acting on the ones you have. - Regularly prune alerts that aren’t useful.
What to ignore: Don’t bother with alerts for trivial changes (“deal amount changed by $100”) or low-stakes deals unless you’re in desperate need of micromanagement.
Step 5: Review and Tweak Regularly
Automated alerts aren’t “set and forget.” Once a week (or at least once a month), spend 15 minutes checking: - Are the right people getting the alerts? - Are you actually acting on them—or just ignoring them? - Are the alerts surfacing real risks, or lots of false alarms? - Have your definitions of “at risk” changed as your sales process evolves?
If an alert isn’t helping, kill it or adjust it. The goal is fewer, better alerts—not a dashboard full of red flags.
Step 6: Tie Alerts to Actual Action
Alerts don’t mean much unless someone does something with them. The best teams have a simple process: when an “at risk” alert fires, the deal owner (or manager) reviews it and takes one of a few actions: - Reach out to the customer or prospect - Escalate to a manager or exec - Update the CRM with new info - Mark the deal as lost if it’s truly dead
Pro tip: If you’re managing a team, use these alerts as a coaching tool—not as a way to “gotcha” reps. The point is to help, not to beat people up over stalled deals.
Step 7: Don’t Overthink Automation
It’s easy to get sucked into tweaking every setting or creating elaborate rules. Don’t. The best alert systems are boring: they quietly flag the real problems, and you fix them.
If you spend more time fiddling with alert logic than actually talking to customers or helping reps, you’re missing the point.
Honest Pros and Cons of Kluster Alerts
What works: - Kluster’s alert builder is flexible—if your CRM data is clean, you can get really specific. - Integrates with Slack and email, so you’re not tied to yet another dashboard. - Easy to start small and scale up as you see what helps.
What doesn’t: - Wonky CRM data or poor activity logging = useless alerts. - Too many alerts, and everyone tunes out. - Not all risk factors can be captured by software (gut feel still matters).
What to ignore: - “AI-powered” recommendations that don’t match your actual sales process. - Overly complex alert chains. If you need a flowchart, you’re going to hate maintaining it.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Automated alerts in Kluster are only as good as the thinking behind them. Start with a couple of clear, actionable alerts based on what actually signals risk at your company. Watch how they work, prune or tweak as you go, and stay focused on helping your team spot—and act on—deals before they die.
Don’t chase perfection. A few solid alerts, reviewed regularly, beat a tangled mess of notifications every single time. Keep it simple, keep it honest, and you’ll actually see results.