If you’re running a sales team, you already know the pain: too many tools, too many cooks, and way too many “oops, I messaged that lead twice” moments. Setting up team collaboration and user roles in Colddm can save you from chaos—but only if you do it right. This guide is for sales managers, team leads, and anyone tasked with making sure a sales team doesn’t step on each other’s toes.
What follows is a practical, no-fluff walkthrough for setting up Colddm so your team can focus on booking meetings, not untangling mistakes.
1. Start with a Plan: Don’t Just Add Everyone
Before you even open Colddm, pause. Adding everyone to a tool before you’ve thought through how you want to work is how teams end up in a mess. Here’s what you should figure out first:
- Who actually needs access? Not every SDR, AE, and intern needs the same permissions.
- What’s your sales process? If you don’t have a basic flow written out, do it now. (Seriously, a napkin sketch helps.)
- How much do you trust your team? Be honest. If you’re worried about accidental changes, set roles tightly at first.
Pro tip: Sketch out your ideal roles and responsibilities on paper or in a doc before touching the software. You’ll save yourself a lot of clicking around later.
2. Setting Up Your Team in Colddm
Assuming you’ve got your Colddm account ready, here’s how to actually add your team:
Step 1: Invite Team Members
- Go to Settings > Team Management (or whatever Colddm calls it—sometimes “Users” or “Members”).
- Click Invite User.
- Enter their email address and select their role (more on that next).
- Send the invite.
What works: Invites are straightforward. Most people get them immediately.
What doesn’t: Double-check email addresses. There’s little more annoying than a team member not getting their invite because of a typo.
Note: Some plans limit the number of users. Check your subscription before inviting the whole company.
Step 2: Assign Roles Carefully
Colddm offers three main roles (as of 2024):
- Admin: Full access. Can add/remove users, change settings, see and edit everything.
- Manager: Can view and manage most things, assign leads, and monitor progress, but can’t change billing or some high-level settings.
- User/Sales Rep: Can only see their own leads and tasks. Can’t see or mess with other people’s stuff.
Honest take: Don’t hand out Admin like candy. Only give it to people you trust not to accidentally (or intentionally) nuke your system. Most folks should be Users or Managers.
3. Organize Your Team by Groups or Territories
Don’t dump everyone in one big lump. Organize your team by whatever makes sense for your business:
- By region: East Coast, West Coast, EMEA, etc.
- By segment: SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise.
- By vertical: Healthcare, SaaS, Manufacturing, etc.
In Colddm, you can create Groups or Teams (terminology might differ). Here’s how:
- Go to Team Management > Groups.
- Create a new group, give it a name, and add users.
- Assign leads or accounts to each group.
What to ignore: Fancy hierarchies for a small team. If your team is under 10, you probably don’t need elaborate groups—just enough structure so people know what’s theirs.
4. Set Up Permissions and Sharing Rules
This is where most teams get tripped up. You want reps to see what they need, but not everyone else’s pipeline. Here’s the lowdown:
-
Default: Private Pipelines
Reps see their stuff, managers see everything, admins see everything. -
Custom Sharing:
You can open access for collaboration (say, if two reps share an account), but don’t overdo it. The more people who can edit, the more likely you’ll have accidental changes.
What works:
- Keep most pipelines private.
- Use sharing for handoffs or coaching.
What doesn’t:
- Letting everyone edit everything. It sounds “collaborative” but leads to confusion and mistakes.
Pro tip: If you need to collaborate on a specific account, make a shared note or use @mentions, rather than opening up the whole pipeline.
5. Standardize Processes with Templates and Playbooks
Sloppy outreach happens when everyone writes their own emails and follows their own cadence. In Colddm, you can set up:
- Message templates: Standardize your cold emails, LinkedIn scripts, etc.
- Cadence/playbook templates: Set the default steps for outreach so new reps don’t have to guess.
How to do it:
- Go to Templates or Playbooks in the sidebar.
- Create or edit templates.
- Set permissions: Who can edit? Who can use? (Usually, only Managers/Admins should edit, everyone else just uses.)
Honest take:
Templates are great, but don’t overcomplicate. Start with 2-3 basic ones, improve as you go. If you make 15 templates nobody uses, you’ve wasted your time.
6. Set Up Notifications and Activity Tracking
You want to know what’s happening, but not drown in notifications. Here’s how to dial it in:
- Set up activity tracking: Managers and Admins can see activity logs (emails sent, calls made, meetings booked).
- Adjust notification settings: Make sure you get notified for important stuff (lead assigned, reply received), but not every little thing.
What works:
- Weekly summary emails for managers.
- Real-time notifications only for high-priority events.
What doesn’t:
- Not setting any notifications, then missing key updates.
- Turning every notification on and getting “alert fatigue.”
7. Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)
Setting up Colddm isn’t rocket science, but there are a few traps:
- Giving everyone Admin. Someone will break something, guaranteed.
- Not updating roles when people change jobs. Audit roles monthly.
- Letting templates get messy. Set a schedule to review and clean up old templates.
- Ignoring onboarding. New hires need a walkthrough—don’t just tell them to “figure it out.”
Pro tip: Once a quarter, have a 15-minute team review of your Colddm setup. You’ll spot weird stuff before it becomes a problem.
8. When to Ignore Features
Colddm has bells and whistles—integrations, automations, “AI suggestions.” Here’s the truth:
- Start simple. Get the basics right before you mess with integrations.
- Be skeptical of “AI.” It’s usually just glorified autocomplete. Don’t trust it to write your emails or assign leads.
- Automations: Use them only after your manual process works. Otherwise, you’ll just automate mistakes.
9. Iterate as You Grow
No setup is perfect forever. As your team changes, revisit your roles and structure. Ask what’s actually helping, and what’s just busywork.
Quick checklist for regular reviews:
- Does everyone still need the access they have?
- Are people using the templates and playbooks, or ignoring them?
- Is anyone getting too many (or too few) notifications?
- Are there new features worth trying—or is it more noise than help?
Keep It Simple, Keep It Clean
Sales teams thrive on clarity. Don’t let your Colddm setup get bloated or confusing. Start as simple as possible, review it regularly, and don’t be afraid to tweak things as you learn what works. Collaboration is about making life easier, not adding extra steps. Set it up right, keep it tidy, and get back to selling.