If your sales team is tired of leads piling up in one rep’s queue while others twiddle their thumbs, you’re not alone. Round robin lead assignment is the classic fix — but getting it up and running in Salesforce can be a pain. That’s where Leandata comes in. This guide is for admins and ops folks who want a no-nonsense walkthrough for implementing round robin in Leandata, without the headaches or the hype.
Let’s get your leads flowing evenly, with as little drama as possible.
Why Round Robin, and Why Bother with Leandata?
If you’re reading this, you probably already know: Salesforce’s default assignment rules are clunky and manual. Round robin is about fairness and speed — each new lead goes to the next available rep, in order. No more lead hoarding, no more “who got the last one?” arguments.
Leandata automates this, and it’s more flexible than DIY code or clunky Salesforce flows. It’s not magic, but it does save you a lot of time once it’s set up right.
Who should use this? - Sales teams with more than a couple of reps - Anyone sick of manual lead assignment - People who aren’t excited about writing Apex code
Before You Start: What You’ll Need
Don’t skip this part. Missing one thing here will trip you up halfway through:
- Leandata installed and connected to Salesforce (with admin access).
- A clear list of users you want in your round robin pool. (Name, Salesforce user IDs, active/inactive status.)
- Defined lead assignment criteria. Do all leads go to the pool, or just some? (Think: region, product, source.)
- Time. Block off an hour. It’s not rocket science, but don’t start this at 4:55pm.
Pro tip: Clean up your users first. If you’ve got inactive reps, or people who shouldn’t get leads, fix that in Salesforce before you build your pool in Leandata.
Step 1: Build Your User Pool in Leandata
Leandata calls these “Pools.” They’re just groups of users who’ll receive leads in turn.
- Log into Leandata.
- Go to Admin > Pools.
- Click New Pool.
- Name your pool something obvious, like “US SDR Round Robin.”
- Add users:
- Search for and select the reps you want.
- Double-check that only active Salesforce users are included.
- Set “Type” to User (not “Queue”).
- Save.
What works: Pools are flexible. You can add/remove users anytime, and Leandata will automatically handle the rotation.
What doesn’t: Don’t try to get clever with inactive users or “test” users in your pool. Leads can vanish into black holes that way.
Step 2: Set Up Your Routing Graph
This is where you tell Leandata how to handle incoming leads.
- Go to Routing > Lead Router (sometimes called “Routing Graph”).
- Click Edit (or “Create New” if you’re starting fresh).
- Find the part of your graph where leads should enter the round robin.
- Usually, this is after any filtering nodes (like “Is this a US lead?”).
- Drag a Round Robin node onto the canvas.
- Connect your lead source node to this new Round Robin node.
Pro tip: Keep your routing graph as simple as possible. The more branches you add, the harder it is to troubleshoot later.
Step 3: Configure the Round Robin Node
Here’s where the magic happens — or, at least, the logic.
- Click your new Round Robin node to open settings.
- Select your User Pool from Step 1.
- Set Assignment Object to “Lead.”
- (Optional) Set rules for skipping users:
- Out of Office: Automatically skip reps marked OOO in Salesforce.
- Max Open Leads: Skip reps who already have too many unworked leads.
- Be careful with these — if you set too many skip rules, you end up with everyone being skipped, and leads just sit there.
- Decide whether to use Capacity Balancing (optional). If enabled, Leandata tries to keep lead counts even, not just round robin order.
- This helps if some reps cherry-pick leads or work at different speeds.
- Downside: It’s more complicated and can have weird edge cases.
What works: Start simple. Basic round robin covers 95% of use cases. Only add skip rules if you have a real problem you need to solve.
Step 4: Test Your Routing
Don’t trust a routing graph you haven’t tested. You will miss something the first time.
- In Leandata, use the Routing Test feature:
- Enter sample lead data (pick a real rep email, check the assignment).
- Check the results:
- Does the lead get assigned to the right pool?
- Is the assignment rotating as expected?
- Push a test lead through Salesforce.
- Confirm it lands with the right user.
- Repeat for edge cases:
- What happens if a rep is OOO?
- What if you remove a user from the pool?
Pro tip: Test with real users, not just test accounts. Expose any surprises before your reps do.
Step 5: Activate and Monitor
Once you’re happy with testing, turn it on for live leads.
- Activate your routing graph in Leandata.
- Let your sales team know what to expect.
- Use Leandata’s built-in analytics to monitor assignment:
- Are leads being distributed evenly?
- Any reps getting skipped?
- Are leads getting stuck?
What works: Leandata’s reporting is good enough for most teams. If you see big imbalances, check your pool and skip rules first.
What doesn’t: Don’t “set and forget.” Reps leave, new ones start, and routing graphs drift over time. Check in every quarter.
Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
- Inactive or deactivated users in pools: Leads get assigned to nobody. Audit your pools regularly.
- Too many skip rules: If everyone is OOO or at max capacity, leads can fall through the cracks.
- Messy routing graphs: Complexity breeds bugs. If you’re confused, your leads will be too.
- No communication: If reps don’t know how leads are assigned, expect confusion and complaints.
Do You Really Need All the Bells and Whistles?
Leandata can do a lot more than basic round robin. You can build hyper-granular rules, add fallback pools, do account-based routing, and run complex scoring. Here’s the truth: Most teams do best keeping things simple. Start with basic round robin. If you discover a real need for more, add it later — not on day one.
Keep It Simple, Iterate As You Go
Getting round robin set up in Leandata isn’t hard — but it’s easy to overthink. Start simple, test like crazy, and don’t be afraid to adjust as your team grows or changes. The goal isn’t to build a Rube Goldberg machine. It’s to get leads to the right rep, fast, with as little drama as possible.
If you run into trouble, take a breath and go back to basics. Keep your routing clean, your pools up to date, and your skip rules sane. You’ll spend less time tinkering, and your sales team will thank you.