If you run a big sales team, you know that chaos is just a missed handoff away. Maybe you've got dozens of reps, a handful of managers, and a pipeline that feels more like rush hour than a smooth process. If you’re using Emelia to handle your outreach and team workflows, you’ve probably realized that just inviting everyone into the platform and hoping for the best isn’t going to cut it.
This guide is for sales leaders, ops folks, and anyone tasked with keeping a large team coordinated in Emelia—without drowning in permission headaches, lost deals, or “who changed my sequence?” drama.
Why Team Collaboration Gets Messy Fast
Let’s be honest: sales tools love to promise “seamless” teamwork, but in big teams, it’s usually more like “seams everywhere.” The problem isn’t always the tech—it’s the human stuff:
- People step on each other’s toes (or prospects).
- Data gets duplicated, lost, or mangled.
- Reps see things they shouldn’t, or worse, can’t see what they need.
- Admins end up as bottlenecks instead of enablers.
Emelia does a decent job at providing the basics for teams, but you need to set it up right and know what to watch for. Here’s how to get your large sales team working together without losing your mind—or your deals.
Step 1: Get Your Team Structure Straight
Before you even touch Emelia’s settings, sketch out your actual team structure. Who’s doing what? Who needs to see (and edit) what?
Typical roles to define: - Sales reps: Work their own leads, maybe see shared templates but shouldn’t touch others’ deals. - Team leads/managers: Oversee reps, need visibility across pipelines, sometimes edit sequences. - Admins: Set up integrations, manage users, handle billing, usually shouldn’t get involved in day-to-day sales work. - Specialists (e.g., SDRs, AEs): Sometimes need custom access—don’t just lump everyone in “rep.”
Pro tip: If your org chart is a mystery, your Emelia permissions will be too. Spend the time here—it saves headaches later.
Step 2: Set Up User Roles and Permissions in Emelia
Emelia gives you a few levers to control access, but don’t expect Salesforce-level granularity. That’s both a blessing and a curse.
The Basics: What Emelia Offers
- Default roles: Admin, Manager, User. Sometimes you’ll see “Viewer” or similar, depending on your plan.
- Custom roles: Some plans let you tweak these, but don’t expect total flexibility.
- Object-level permissions: Who can see/edit what (contacts, sequences, campaigns) is tied mostly to roles and ownership.
How to Set It Up
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Add users with the least privilege needed.
It’s tempting to give everyone admin “just in case,” but don’t. Start small; you can always bump them up. -
Assign roles based on real responsibility.
If someone manages reps, they get “Manager.” But don’t give them admin unless they really need to add integrations or change billing. -
Double-check what each role can actually do.
Emelia’s help docs are… fine, but test it yourself. Create a dummy user in each role and see what they see. -
Use teams or groups if you have them.
Some versions of Emelia let you bundle users into teams. Use this for region-based or product-based groups, so you don’t have to micromanage every user.
What works:
- Keeping admins limited (ideally, just IT/ops and one backup).
- Using Manager for anyone who needs to see team pipelines and reports.
- Restricting User to reps—don’t let them edit shared templates or global settings.
What doesn’t:
- Letting everyone “just have admin for now.”
- Ignoring the difference between “can view” and “can edit.”
- Overcomplicating—if you need to draw a map to explain your permissions, it’s too much.
Step 3: Sharing (and Not Sharing) the Right Stuff
A big team means a lot of assets—templates, sequences, contact lists, reports. Here’s how to keep the right things visible (and safe):
Campaigns & Sequences
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Personal vs. shared:
Emelia lets you choose if a sequence is private or team-wide. Use shared only for real best practices—don’t let everyone blast out edits. -
Lock down editing:
Only managers or trusted reps should be able to change shared sequences. Otherwise, you’ll get “helpful improvements” that break everything.
Templates
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Version control matters:
There’s no magic undo in Emelia. Save old copies before making big changes to team templates. -
Limit who can publish:
Publishing a template to the team should be a privilege, not a free-for-all.
Contact Lists
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Avoid duplicate outreach:
Make sure reps can see which contacts are already in sequences. Emelia flags this, but only if everyone’s working from the same source. -
Restrict exports:
Not everyone should be able to export or bulk delete contact data. That’s how you lose your pipeline—or your GDPR compliance.
Step 4: Keep Communication Tight—Inside and Outside Emelia
No tool solves the “I didn’t know you were working that account” problem by itself.
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Use notes and tags:
Emelia lets you add notes to contacts or accounts. Make it a habit. Tag important deals, stalled leads, or anything others might need to know. -
Don’t rely on in-app chat:
If Emelia has chat or comments, great, but don’t expect it to replace Slack or email. Use it for quick context, not full conversations. -
Set up notifications (but not too many):
Make sure managers get pinged for big events—like sequence changes or high-value leads—but turn off the noise. Inbox fatigue is real.
Step 5: Audit Regularly—Trust, but Verify
Permissions drift. People get promoted, change teams, or leave. If you set it and forget it, you’ll eventually have ex-employees with access (or reps who can nuke your templates).
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Quarterly permission audits:
Actually look through your user list every few months. Remove folks who don’t need access. Check for “temporary” admins who never got demoted. -
Spot-check activity logs:
Emelia logs most changes. If something breaks, don’t just blame “the system”—see who actually changed what. -
Ask for feedback:
If reps can’t do their jobs, permissions might be too tight. But if they keep finding surprises, you’re too loose.
Step 6: Avoid Common Pitfalls (and Time Sinks)
Some stuff just isn’t worth fussing over.
Don’t bother with: - Over-customizing roles if your team changes a lot—it’s more admin work than it’s worth. - Trying to lock down every single field. People will always find a workaround. - Onboarding everyone at once. Start with a core group, get it right, then scale up.
Do spend time on: - Training managers on what they should (and shouldn’t) change. - Documenting “how we use Emelia” in plain English—not just linking to the help center. - Setting up a quick process for requesting role changes (ideally, not “just DM the admin”).
The Honest Take: What Works, What Doesn’t
Works well: - Keeping permissions simple and based on real roles. - Using shared assets for true best practices, not as a dumping ground. - Regularly cleaning up users and assets.
Doesn’t work: - Hoping people will self-manage access. - Over-engineering permission hierarchies. - Ignoring feedback from the team.
If you’re running a truly massive team, Emelia’s permissions will eventually feel a bit basic. But for most large sales orgs, it’s “good enough”—as long as you stay on top of it.
Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Don’t try to get everything perfect up front. Start with clear roles, add people gradually, and adjust as you go. The real trick isn’t in the software—it’s in getting your team to communicate and actually use the processes you set up.
Emelia gives you the tools, but the discipline is up to you. Keep it simple, review often, and don’t be afraid to change things that aren’t working. Your pipeline—and your sanity—will thank you.