If you’re serious about B2B sales, you know your workflow can make or break a deal—or at least a day. Maybe you’re looking at Troops because you want your team to actually use your CRM. Or maybe you just want fewer annoying “update Salesforce” reminders. Either way, let’s cut through the fluff and talk about the features in Troops that actually matter for optimizing your sales workflow—and which “nice-to-haves” you can skip.
This guide is for sales leaders, ops folks, and sellers who are tired of tool overload and just want their team moving deals forward (not clicking around in tabs all day).
Why Troops Gets Attention (And Where It Actually Delivers)
Troops is pitched as the bridge between your CRM and where your team actually lives—Slack or Microsoft Teams. It pipes CRM data into chats, automates reminders, and promises to make sales less painful. Does it deliver? Sometimes, yes. But only if you set it up right and focus on what really moves the needle.
Let’s get into the features that actually help you sell more (and what’s just digital noise).
1. Real, Useful CRM Alerts (Not Just More Notifications)
What works:
Troops is great at surfacing important changes in your CRM—things like a deal moving stages, a new high-value lead, or a stuck opportunity. The trick is to only set up alerts for stuff people genuinely care about.
What to look for:
- Custom triggers: Can you set alerts for your key fields and milestones? For example, only pinging the team when an opportunity over $50k goes to “Negotiation,” not every time someone sneezes in Salesforce.
- Granular filtering: Can you filter alerts by team, region, or rep? This avoids flooding everyone’s Slack with stuff they don’t need.
- Context: Does the alert show enough detail for someone to act? (If you have to click 3 links to know what happened, that’s a fail.)
What to ignore:
Default alerts for “opportunity created” or “contact updated.” These quickly become background noise. Focus on signals, not static.
Pro tip:
Start with fewer alerts. Add more only if the team asks for them. If people are muting the channel, you’ve overdone it.
2. Easy, One-Click CRM Updates (So Reps Actually Do It)
What works:
The dream: reps update their deals straight from Slack/Teams without hunting around in Salesforce. Troops mostly delivers here, but the devil’s in the details.
What to look for:
- In-line editing: Can users update deal stage, close date, or custom fields right in the message thread?
- Guided workflows: Does Troops prompt for missing info in a way that’s not annoying? For example, if a field is blank, can it ask for just that, instead of opening a huge form?
- Mobile support: Can updates be made from a phone, not just a desktop? (Reps are on the go. This matters.)
What to ignore:
“Custom bot” features that nobody uses, or generic update forms that just open Salesforce in a browser tab. If your team has to jump to another system, it defeats the point.
Pro tip:
Make the easiest path the right one. Put Troops update prompts where reps already talk about deals—like the team’s “pipeline review” channel.
3. Smart Reminders (Without Becoming a Nag)
What works:
Reminders can be a lifesaver for regular pipeline hygiene—if they’re targeted. Troops lets you nudge reps to update deals or follow up with prospects, but if you’re not careful, these turn into spam.
What to look for:
- Personalized reminders: Can you set reminders by rep, team, or deal type? Generic reminders are easily ignored.
- Actionable content: Does the reminder include context (like which deals are missing info) and a quick way to fix it?
- Snooze or skip: Can users delay or dismiss reminders for deals that don’t need attention right now?
What to ignore:
Daily “update your pipeline” reminders for everyone. This just trains people to ignore the bot.
Pro tip:
Use reminders to nudge behavior, not just activity. For example, remind reps to add next steps for deals over a certain size, not just to “update your deals.”
4. Real-Time Deal Rooms (If Your Team Actually Collaborates)
What works:
Deal rooms—dedicated chat threads for big opportunities—can be gold for cross-team collaboration. Troops can spin these up automatically for big deals or at key milestones.
What to look for:
- Automatic room creation: Can a deal room spin up only when certain criteria are met? (Example: only for deals over $100k.)
- CRM context in the room: Does the chat thread show live deal info, not just chatter?
- Role-based access: Can you pull in execs, legal, or finance as needed, without blasting everyone?
What to ignore:
Deal rooms for every opportunity. This gets overwhelming fast. Reserve them for deals where lots of people actually need to coordinate.
Pro tip:
Set a clear rule: Only spin up a deal room if it’s big enough, late enough, or weird enough to need cross-functional input.
5. Metrics and Reporting (But Don’t Overthink It)
What works:
Troops can report on deal activity, pipeline changes, and rep engagement with the CRM—straight into Slack or Teams. This is good for visibility, but don’t let it become another dashboard graveyard.
What to look for:
- Digest reports: Can you set up weekly or monthly summaries for the team (not just real-time alerts)?
- Actionable insights: Are the reports tailored to what your team actually needs to act on? (E.g., “Deals slipping this week” beats “All pipeline changes.”)
- Configurable timing: Can you control when and how often reports get sent, so they don’t disrupt focus time?
What to ignore:
Daily “everything that happened” reports, or metrics that nobody actually reviews. If it’s not helping a manager coach or a rep prioritize, skip it.
Pro tip:
Ask your team what doesn’t get surfaced in your CRM today. Build reports around those gaps, not what’s easiest to automate.
6. Security and Admin Controls (Don’t Skip This)
What works:
Sales tools move fast, but you still need to keep your data safe. Troops has decent admin controls, but you should double-check how permissions work between your CRM, chat, and Troops itself.
What to look for:
- Granular permissions: Can you control who gets which alerts, who can update records, and who can create workflows?
- Audit trails: Is there a log of who changed what, in case there’s ever a dispute?
- Easy offboarding: Can you quickly remove ex-employees’ access if someone leaves?
What to ignore:
Assuming your chat platform’s security covers everything. Troops is a bridge—make sure it’s not a weak link.
Pro tip:
Work with IT to map out exactly what Troops can “see” and “change” in your systems. Don’t just trust the defaults.
What’s Overhyped or Not Worth the Setup Time?
- Generic “AI” features: Unless you see real gains in your workflow, skip the auto-summarizers and “insights” that just restate what’s already in the CRM.
- Integration overload: Troops plays best with Salesforce and Slack/Teams. If you’re hoping to connect 10 other tools, expect headaches (and diminishing returns).
- All-deal automations: Automation is great—until it’s everywhere. Be ruthless about what really needs hands-off handling.
Keep It Simple. Iterate as You Go.
If you take one thing away, let it be this: Start with the basics your team actually needs, and layer on more only if it helps. Troops is powerful, but it’s easy to end up with more noise than results if you chase every feature. Ask your team what slows them down today. Build around that. Review what’s working every quarter. Don’t be afraid to turn stuff off.
Sales workflows are about removing friction, not adding more dashboards and bots. Keep it simple. Listen to your team. Iterate. That’s how you actually get value from tools like Troops—without making your workflow even messier.