If your sales team spends more time arguing about who gets which lead than actually closing deals, something’s off. Automated lead routing can fix that—if you do it right. This guide is for sales managers, RevOps folks, or honestly anyone who just wants leads to land in the right person’s lap, without drama.
We’re focusing on Hellorobin—a CRM tool with built-in automation, but not immune to the usual setup headaches. You’ll get it running, avoid the common traps, and (hopefully) have fewer Slack arguments.
Why bother with automated lead routing?
Let’s be honest: manual lead assignment is a mess after your first five reps. Leads get lost, cherry-picked, or delayed. Automated lead routing solves that—if your rules are clear and your setup is solid. Do it wrong, and you’ll just automate the chaos.
Automated lead routing in Hellorobin means:
- Leads go to the right person, fast.
- No more inbox battles or “who owns this?” confusion.
- Better tracking and reporting for everyone.
But don’t expect perfection on day one. Expect to tweak as you go.
Step 1: Sketch out your actual routing logic (don’t skip this)
Before you even touch Hellorobin, get clear on how you want leads assigned. You’ll save yourself hours of rework.
Ask yourself: - Do you assign by territory? (E.g., state, country, zip) - By company size? (SMB, mid-market, enterprise) - By vertical or product line? - Do you have round robin rules? - Are there reps who handle only certain lead types? - Any “VIP” leads that need special handling?
Pro Tip: Write it all down in plain English first, even if it’s messy. You’ll refer to this constantly.
What not to do: Don’t try to automate every possible exception. Start with the rules that cover 80% of your leads. You can always add exceptions later.
Step 2: Prep your data in Hellorobin
Automation is only as good as your data. If your leads don’t have the right fields filled out, your rules will break.
- Check your lead capture forms and integrations: Are you consistently collecting territory, company size, industry, etc.?
- Standardize fields: “United States”, “USA”, and “U.S.” will trip up any routing rule. Pick one format and stick with it.
- Spot missing data: If 30% of your leads are missing a routing field, fix that before you set up elaborate rules.
Pro Tip: Use Hellorobin’s data validation features to enforce required fields on web forms and integrations.
Step 3: Get familiar with Hellorobin’s routing engine
Hellorobin has its own way of handling lead routing. It’s flexible, but not always obvious.
Key things to know:
- Routing is rule-based: You set up “if/then” logic based on lead fields.
- Rules run in order: The first rule that matches is the one that assigns the lead.
- Round robin is an option: You can alternate leads between reps, as long as you set up the pool correctly.
- You can trigger alerts: For leads that don’t match any rule (think “uncaught” leads), you can send a notification.
What works: The basics—territory, round robin, or industry routing—work well.
What doesn’t: Super-nested, multi-condition rules get hard to debug. If you’re trying to automate a flowchart with ten branches, rethink the logic.
Step 4: Build your first routing rule
Let’s actually set one up. Assume you want to assign all US-based leads to your US sales team in a round robin.
- Go to Settings > Lead Routing in Hellorobin.
- Click “Add New Rule.”
- Set your condition:
- Field: “Country”
- Operator: “equals”
- Value: “United States”
- Choose assignment method:
- Select “Round Robin”
- Pick your US sales reps or team
- Add fallback:
- What happens if no reps are available? Choose a manager or create an “unassigned” queue.
- Save the rule.
- Move the rule up/down to control its priority in the list.
Pro Tip: Name your rules clearly (e.g., “US Leads – Round Robin”), so you don’t get lost later.
Step 5: Add more rules for edge cases
Let’s say you’ve got a senior rep who handles enterprise accounts, or you want to fast-track leads from a specific vertical.
- Add a new rule above the general one.
- Set your condition (e.g., “Company Size” equals “Enterprise”).
- Assign to the designated rep or team.
- Save and test.
Order matters. Hellorobin checks rules top to bottom. The first match wins. If your “catch-all” rule is at the top, none of your special cases will ever trigger.
Step 6: Set up testing (seriously, don’t skip this)
Don’t just trust that your rules work. Test with real sample leads.
- Create test leads with different combinations of fields.
- Watch where they go. Are they assigned as expected?
- Check the “unmatched” bucket. Any leads landing here probably need a rule tweak or data fix.
- Fix typos (the #1 cause of routing fails).
Pro Tip: Do a dry run with your sales reps. Have them verify they’re getting the right leads. They’ll spot issues you missed.
Step 7: Create alerts and backups
Automation always fails at the edges. You need a safety net.
- Set up an alert for unassigned or “unmatched” leads. Usually, this is a Slack or email alert to a manager.
- Regularly review the unassigned queue. Don’t let leads pile up here.
- Backstop rules: At the bottom of your rule list, add a “catch-all” that assigns anything missed to a default owner or queue.
Step 8: Launch, but plan for tweaks
Once you’re happy with your rules, turn them on for real. But don’t expect to be done forever.
- Check assignments daily for the first week. You’ll spot weird cases.
- Ask reps for feedback. If someone’s getting nothing (or everything), adjust.
- Iterate: Most teams tweak their routing every few months. That’s normal.
What to ignore (at least for now)
- Over-automating: You don’t need a rule for every single exception. Start simple.
- Integrating with five other tools on day one: Get routing working in Hellorobin first. Sync it to your other tools later.
- Gamifying assignment: Some CRMs offer “first to claim” or speed-based routing. Usually, that just rewards whoever sits at their keyboard all day.
Wrapping up: Keep it simple, keep it moving
Automated lead routing in Hellorobin can save you hours and a lot of headaches. But every minute you spend over-complicating things is a minute you’ll waste fixing them later. Start with the basics, test with real leads, and build from there. Simple rules, clear priorities, and regular gut checks—those are the real secrets to keeping your sales team focused on selling, not sorting.