If you are new to automations, this overview is for you. After reading this article, you'll understand why automations are powerful and how they work.
In This Article
Step-by-Step Guide
Work through these sections to understand BrokerEngine's workflow system:
Step 1 — What Are Workflows?
A workflow is a sequence of triggers, tasks, and processes that generate a specific result. The first trigger for a workflow to begin is always a stage move. When a deal or lead card moves into a stage with a published workflow, the steps in that workflow begin to trigger in a linear fashion.
For example: an email template triggers the moment a card moves into a stage. After the email template is triggered, the workflow then automatically creates a task and assigns it to the broker.
Note: BrokerEngine comes pre-loaded with default workflows. You can customise any workflow to meet the needs of your work environment.
Step 2 — Why Use Workflows?
Many brokers come to BrokerEngine because they want to systemise, error-proof and automate their processes. The ability to specify, delegate, and automate team responsibilities for tasks, checklists, and emails is a powerful tool for any business.
Key Benefits:
- Your clients get a consistent (VIP) experience across your entire broker team
- You're prompted to complete important tasks exactly when they need to be completed
- Tasks are automatically assigned to the correct people
- You'll have more time to spend on tasks that can't be automated
- Communication is templated and triggered at key touch points
Step 3 — Understanding Workflow Components
Each workflow has four basic parts:
- A template that contains the information that BrokerEngine needs to automate the workflow.
- Steps that create or modify information in BrokerEngine.
- A trigger.
- Conditions for the workflow trigger (optional).
Step 4 — Automating Steps
A workflow can automatically create or modify information in BrokerEngine. You can use a workflow to automate any of the following:
- Create a task — A job that a person in your broker group needs to complete.
- Send an email — Send a message to the broker, team, or client.
- Send an SMS — Send a text message to a phone number.
- Add a contact tag — Add a tag to a contact (useful for Zapier integrations).
- Archive or unarchive card — Remove a card from a dashboard after a period of time.
- Move card to a stage — Move a card to a different dashboard stage.
- Send a document stack — Send a document request to a client.
- Assign or unassign a team or team role — Auto-assign tasks to your team.
- Trigger an external service — Use Zapier to send a text or add a contact to a marketing list.
- Set a delay — Set a period of time before continuing to the next step.
- Trigger a different workflow — Set another workflow running in BrokerEngine.
Step 5 — Using 1-Click Workflows
Use the 1-click workflow feature to add a collection of preconfigured checklist items and tasks to a card. This helps to ensure every deal detail is covered and each stage progresses without issues.
Step 6 — Adding Conditions
Add conditions to trigger (or not trigger) a workflow when one or more other values are true. There are two kinds of conditions:
- Positive conditions — The workflow is triggered if all conditions are true.
- Negative conditions — The workflow is not triggered if any condition is true.
Step 7 — Workflow Diagram
The workflow diagram gives you a visual representation of the current automations created in your BrokerEngine account.
Step 8 — Using Checklists
A checklist is a list of manual jobs that need to be done for a specific scenario. Each stage in a client's lifecycle typically has a checklist. Your team can manually tick off its tasks to ensure all requirements are met. While checklists aren't technically part of workflow automation, finishing a checklist can trigger a task completion, which can trigger the next step in a workflow.
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