If you’re a sales rep, you already know: it’s easy to let good deals slip through the cracks. You’re juggling calls, emails, demos, and pipeline updates. Nobody needs another tool that makes things more complicated. You just want a nudge when it’s time to follow up—ideally without living in your CRM. That’s where Troops comes in.
Troops pushes CRM updates and reminders straight into Slack or Teams, so you can stay on top of your pipeline without a hundred browser tabs. But the setup isn’t always obvious, and the default settings are rarely enough. Here’s a straightforward guide to creating opportunity follow up reminders in Troops—so you can actually trust your reminders, skip the manual tracking, and keep deals moving.
Why Use Troops for Follow Up Reminders?
Let’s get this out of the way: Troops isn’t the only game in town for sales alerts, but it’s one of the better ones for teams already living in Slack or Teams. You’re not adding “just another app”—Troops sits in your existing chat, pulling info from Salesforce or HubSpot.
What works:
- Troops reminders are hard to ignore because they show up where you’re already working.
- It can be tailored to your pipeline and your team’s quirks.
- You don’t have to log in to your CRM just to see what’s next.
What doesn’t:
- If your Salesforce (or HubSpot) data is junk, your reminders will be too.
- Too many alerts = alert fatigue. Don’t go wild.
- The setup can be clunky if you’re new to automation.
Step 1: Make Sure Troops Is Connected to Your CRM and Chat
Before you do anything, check that Troops is set up and integrated with your CRM (usually Salesforce or HubSpot) and your chat platform (Slack or Microsoft Teams).
Here’s what to check: - You’ve got access to Troops and you’re logged in. - The right CRM account is connected. Test it by running a simple search or alert. - Troops has permission to post in your Slack/Teams channel—or DM you.
Pro tip: If you’re not an admin, you might need help from your ops or IT team to set this up the first time. Don’t waste time fighting permissions—just ask.
Step 2: Decide What You Want to Be Reminded About
There’s no point in setting up reminders for every little thing. The goal: only get nudged when it’s really time to follow up on an opportunity.
Common use cases: - Remind me when an opportunity hasn’t been updated in X days. - Remind me when a close date is coming up (and there’s been no recent activity). - Remind me if there’s no next step logged. - Remind me if a deal is in a certain stage for too long.
Think about where deals usually stall for you or your team. That’s where reminders will matter most.
Step 3: Set Up a Troops Workflow (The Heart of Reminders)
In Troops, you set up “Workflows” to trigger reminders. Here’s how:
- Go to the Troops dashboard.
- Click “Create Workflow” (sometimes called “New Signal” in older versions).
- Choose your CRM (e.g., Salesforce Opportunity).
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Pick a trigger event. This is where you decide when Troops should send a reminder.
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Example triggers:
- Opportunity “Last Modified Date” is more than 7 days ago.
- Opportunity “Next Step” is blank.
- Opportunity “Close Date” is in the next 3 days, and “Stage” is not “Closed Won/Lost.”
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Add filter conditions. This helps avoid noise.
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Filter examples:
- Only for opportunities over $10,000.
- Only for deals in “Negotiation” or “Proposal” stage.
- Only send to the opportunity owner.
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Choose your action: Send a message (to a user, channel, or group).
You can personalize the message—include opportunity name, amount, link to CRM, etc. -
Sample message:
:bell: Reminder: Opportunity "{Opportunity Name}" hasn't been updated in 7 days. Next steps? View in Salesforce
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Turn on the workflow and test it with your own deals first. It’s easy to get spammed if you mess up the filters.
Pro tip: Start simple. You can always layer on complexity later. One or two high-impact reminders beat a dozen noisy ones.
Step 4: Test Your Reminders Before Rolling Out
This is a step most people skip. Don’t.
- Use your own opportunities to trigger the workflow. Did you get the reminder? Was it useful?
- Ask a teammate to try it for their deals. Did anything break or get missed?
- If you’re getting too many reminders, tighten your filters. If you’re getting nothing, loosen them.
What to ignore: Don’t waste time making the reminder message “perfect.” Clarity beats cleverness.
Step 5: Roll Out to Your Team (or Just Yourself)
Once you know your reminders aren’t blowing up anyone’s inbox or chat, you can expand.
Options: - Send reminders as a direct message to each opportunity owner. - Post to a shared channel for more visibility (useful for pipeline reviews). - Let reps subscribe/unsubscribe to certain workflows if your team’s picky.
Heads up: Some reps love reminders, some hate them. Don’t force-feed it—invite feedback and tweak as needed.
Step 6: Tune and Maintain (Don’t Set and Forget)
Your pipeline changes, your team changes, and what was helpful in January might be noise by March.
Keep things useful: - Review which reminders get acted on (and which get ignored). - Kill or combine reminders that aren’t helping. - Update filters as your sales process evolves (new stages, new owners, etc). - If you switch CRMs or change pipeline structure, revisit your workflows.
If you’re a manager, check in with your reps: Are these reminders actually helping, or just adding to the noise? Adjust accordingly.
Pro Tips for Not Hating Your Own Reminders
- Less is more. One or two targeted nudges work better than a flood of generic alerts.
- Personalize where possible. A reminder that says “Your deal is stuck—what’s next?” beats “Automated Alert: Opportunity update required.”
- Combine with other workflows. For example, set up a “celebrate wins” alert for morale, not just reminders for what’s falling behind.
- Integrate with your calendar. Some teams add a calendar link or suggest booking a follow-up right in the reminder.
What to Watch Out For (And What to Ignore)
Watch out for: - Dirty CRM data. Garbage in, garbage out. If reps aren’t updating the CRM, even the best reminders will be pointless. - Notification overload. If everyone’s getting pinged for every little thing, people will tune it out. - Workarounds. If you find yourself building convoluted reminders to fix bad process, maybe fix the process instead.
Ignore: - Overly fancy message formatting. - Reminders for things nobody cares about (do you really need a ping for every $500 deal?). - The urge to automate everything. Start with what matters most.
Keep It Simple, Tune as You Go
Setting up follow up reminders in Troops doesn’t have to be complicated. Start with one or two real pain points, automate those, and see how it feels. The best reminders are the ones you barely notice—because they help you take action before deals stall. Don’t worry about getting it perfect out of the gate. Just set it up, pay attention, and keep tweaking until it works for your workflow. That’s how you keep your pipeline moving—and your sanity intact.