If you're tired of wrestling spreadsheets and watching good leads slip through the cracks, you're not alone. Automating lead routing actually can work—if you keep it simple, avoid magical thinking, and use the right tools. This guide is for sales and marketing folks who want to use Madkudu to automatically route leads in their CRM system (Salesforce, HubSpot, whatever). If you want practical steps, honest advice, and a few caveats—keep reading.
Why bother with automated lead routing?
Let’s get the sales pitch out of the way: automating lead routing saves time, reduces human error, and makes sure the right salespeople get the right leads, fast. But here’s the real reason people do it: manual lead triage is a pain, and nobody wants to get yelled at because a hot lead sat untouched for three days.
But automation isn’t magic. If you don’t have your scoring, segments, or data in order, you’ll just automate chaos. The right tool can help, but you need to know what not to trust it with.
What is Madkudu—and is it actually useful?
Madkudu is a lead scoring platform that plugs into your CRM and marketing stack. It uses your historical data and some third-party info to predict which leads are most likely to become customers. In theory, that means you can send good leads to sales right away, send tire-kickers to nurture, and stop guessing who deserves your time.
Is it perfect? No. Madkudu is only as good as your data and how you set up the scoring logic. It’s not a silver bullet, but it is a solid way to automate smarter routing—if you do the groundwork.
Step 1: Prep your CRM (Don’t skip this)
Before you connect anything, make sure your CRM isn’t a mess. If your fields are inconsistent, your users log junk data, or your lead assignment rules are already screwy, pause here and fix that. Automation amplifies whatever’s already happening—good or bad.
Checklist: - Make sure lead records have consistent fields (email, company, etc.). - Clean up duplicate or outdated records. - Double-check your current lead assignment rules—write them down.
Pro tip: If your sales reps routinely override assignments or ignore the CRM, talk to them first. No tool fixes people problems.
Step 2: Connect Madkudu to your CRM
The basics are straightforward: - Log into Madkudu and connect your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.) through their integrations panel. - Authorize access—use a service account if possible, not a personal login. - Let Madkudu pull in historical lead and opportunity data. This takes a while if you’ve got a lot.
Watch out for: Permissions issues. If Madkudu can’t see all the fields it needs, your scores will be off or missing. Double-check the integration guide for your CRM.
Step 3: Set up lead scoring logic
This is where the magic (supposedly) happens. Madkudu analyzes your past wins and losses to come up with a model of what a “good” lead looks like. But don’t just accept the default scoring and walk away.
Here’s what you should actually do: - Review the inputs Madkudu uses: firmographics (company size, industry), engagement (email opens, page visits), etc. - Check that important fields are mapped correctly (sometimes custom fields get left out). - Pilot the scoring on a sample of recent leads—do the “good” ones line up with your gut? - Tweak thresholds or weights if something looks off. Madkudu’s models are decent, but domain knowledge still matters.
Things that don’t work well: - If you have very little historical data, expect generic results. - If you sell to wildly different segments (SMB vs. enterprise), you’ll want to create separate scoring models.
Step 4: Build your routing rules
Once leads are scored, you need to actually do something with the scores. Here’s where you set up rules to assign leads to reps, teams, or workflows based on Madkudu’s scoring.
Typical routing rules: - “Hot” leads (high score): assign directly to sales reps for fast follow-up. - “Warm” leads: send to an SDR or nurture campaign. - “Low” score: drop into marketing nurture or ignore (honestly, sometimes that’s fine).
How to do this: - In your CRM, create assignment rules based on the Madkudu score field. - Use other fields if needed (region, product interest, etc.). - Test your rules with live data—don’t just go live and hope.
Gotchas to avoid: - Overcomplicating rules. The more branches you add, the harder it is to troubleshoot. - Failing to handle exceptions. What happens if a lead is missing a score? Have a fallback.
Pro tip: Document your rules in plain language somewhere everyone can find. Otherwise, when something breaks, you’ll forget what you built.
Step 5: Monitor, tweak, and don’t trust “set and forget”
Here’s the reality: your first setup will have problems. Some leads will get misrouted. Scoring will miss a few gems. That’s normal.
How to keep things on track: - Check weekly: Are leads being assigned correctly? Is anyone getting overloaded? - Talk to your sales reps. Are the “hot” leads actually good, or is the model off? - Adjust scoring thresholds or routing rules as needed. Don’t be afraid to change things. - Watch for CRM field changes—if marketing adds a new field, make sure Madkudu sees it.
What not to do: - Ignore the system for months. Small errors snowball. - Add more automation before the basics work.
What works, what doesn’t, and what to ignore
Works well: - Routing based on clear, simple “good fit” signals (company size, industry, past engagement). - Quickly sending hot leads to humans. - Reducing the number of manual assignments and missed follow-ups.
Doesn’t work well: - Overly complex routing trees with dozens of branches. - Relying on Madkudu for all lead decision-making—some nuance is lost. - Trying to automate when your CRM data is a dumpster fire.
Ignore the hype: - No tool (including Madkudu) can make up for bad input data. - “AI-powered” scoring is only as good as your process—review it regularly.
Caveats and honest advice
- Good data matters more than fancy tools. If your CRM is full of junk, fix that first.
- Don’t automate bad processes. If your team doesn’t follow up on leads now, automation won’t fix that.
- Start simple. One or two routing rules is better than twenty. You can always add more later.
Keep it simple and iterate
Automating lead routing with Madkudu can save you a lot of time and hassle—if you keep your setup simple, check your work, and don’t believe in silver bullets. Start small, monitor results, and tweak things as you go. The best systems are the ones you can actually understand, adjust, and explain to a new hire in five minutes.
Don’t aim for “fully automated” on day one. Just aim for “less chaos and fewer missed leads.” That’s a real win.