If you’re tired of seeing hot leads slip through the cracks or finding out about big deals after they’ve cooled off, you’re not alone. Real-time alerts can help—when they’re set up right. This guide is for sales, customer success, and RevOps folks who actually want alerts that work, not just more noise. We’ll walk through setting up real-time alerts in Velaris, what to watch out for, and how to make sure you’re catching the good stuff without drowning in notifications.
Why Real-Time Alerts Matter (and Why Most Are Useless)
Let’s get this out of the way: most alert systems are glorified spam. If you’ve ever ignored a Slack channel full of “urgent” pings, you know what I mean.
But the right alerts—set up to focus on real buying signals or risks—can:
- Surface leads when they’re actually hot, not a week later
- Flag opportunities before they go sideways
- Help you act fast (which, let’s face it, is half the battle)
The trick is to make Velaris work for you, not the other way around.
Step 1: Know What’s Actually Worth an Alert
Before you open up Velaris, decide what really matters. If you alert on everything, you’ll end up ignoring everything.
Good triggers for alerts:
- A lead views your pricing page for the third time
- A decision-maker books a demo
- An existing customer suddenly goes dark (no logins, no replies)
- A contract is about to renew (or churn risk spikes)
What to ignore:
- Every little click or email open (unless you like digital noise)
- Internal CRM updates that don’t mean action is needed
- “FYI” stuff—if it’s not actionable, don’t get pinged
Pro tip: Ask your sales or CS team what they wish they’d known sooner. That’s your hit list.
Step 2: Get the Right Data Flowing into Velaris
Alerts are only as good as the data behind them. If your CRM or marketing automation isn’t connected, you’re shouting into the void.
Check your integrations:
- CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.): Make sure lead and opportunity updates sync in real time, not just once a day.
- Website tracking: Is Velaris picking up on key page visits, form fills, or demo requests?
- Email/calendar: Calendar integrations can help track meetings and no-shows.
- Product usage: For SaaS, in-app events or API data is gold—if you can get it in.
If you’re not sure, test it: make a change, see if Velaris picks it up right away. If not, fix the integration before you bother with alerts.
Step 3: Build Smart Alert Rules (Not Just “Any Activity”)
Now for the fun part. In Velaris, you can set up triggers based on events, behaviors, or changes in deal status.
How to set up an alert in Velaris:
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Go to the Alerts or Automation section
(The menu changes sometimes, but it’s usually called “Alerts,” “Signals,” or “Automations.”) -
Choose your trigger event
This could be: - Lead status changes to “Hot”
- Account logs in after a long silence
- Deal stage moves to “Negotiation”
-
Custom: Lead visits the pricing page 3+ times in a week
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Add conditions
Don’t just trigger on everything. Narrow it down: - Only for deals over $10K
- Only if the lead is in a priority segment
-
Only if it’s a new opportunity, not a renewal
-
Set the notification channel
- Email (good for record-keeping, bad for urgency)
- Slack or Teams (faster, but easy to snooze)
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In-app (nice when you’re already in Velaris)
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Write a useful message
State what happened, why it matters, and what to do next.
Bad: “Lead updated.”
Better: “Sarah Lee (Acme Corp) just requested pricing—reach out within 10 minutes.” -
Test it—don’t just hope it works
Trigger the alert yourself or with a teammate. Make sure it fires and lands where you expect.
Step 4: Fine-Tune Your Alerts Before Opening the Floodgates
Set up a few high-signal alerts first. Wait a week. Are you getting value, or just pings? Tweak before you roll out more.
What to look for:
- Are you acting on the alerts, or ignoring them?
- Are you getting false positives (alerts with no follow-up needed)?
- Missing anything? (Hot leads you still didn’t catch)
Pro tip: Less is more. One good alert is better than ten ignored ones.
Step 5: Share Alerts with Your Team (But Don’t Overdo It)
Sometimes, an alert should go to a group—like when a whale account is showing buying signals. But if you blast every update to the whole sales team, people will tune out fast.
- Only send team alerts for big things (big deals, at-risk customers, etc.)
- For personal alerts (like “your lead is active”), keep it one-to-one
- If you’re a manager, set up a weekly “Missed Opportunities” digest so you can course-correct—not just react
Step 6: Review and Adjust Regularly
No alert setup is perfect on day one. Every month or so, check:
- Which alerts triggered most often?
- Which led to actual action (calls, follow-ups, closed deals)?
- Which never get used or get ignored?
Kill the noisy ones. Double down on the useful stuff. Don’t be sentimental—alerts are there to make your life easier, not fill your inbox.
What Actually Works (and What Doesn’t)
Works:
- Triggering on real buying signals (repeat website visits, demo requests, late-stage deal changes)
- Simple, clear messages with a call to action
- Tight integrations (so alerts are timely)
Doesn’t work:
- Alerting on every minor action (“lead viewed a PDF”...so what?)
- Vague alerts (“something changed in an opportunity”)
- Overlapping alerts that ping multiple times for the same event
Watch out for:
- Notification fatigue—if people ignore alerts, you’ve lost
- Data delays—if your CRM syncs every few hours, you’re not “real-time”
- Permissions—make sure alerts go to the right people, not the whole company
Wrapping Up: Keep it Simple, Iterate Often
Real-time alerts in Velaris can actually help you catch hot leads and act fast—if you keep things focused. Start with a handful of high-value triggers, see what works, and don’t be afraid to kill off the noisy ones. The goal isn’t to automate your job away; it’s to make sure you’re in the right place at the right time (without losing your sanity).
Start small. Tweak what isn’t working. And remember: the best alert is the one you actually notice—and use.