What you’ll need:
Admin access for workspace-wide setup
A clear description of how your team handles a lead from first inquiry to Closed-Won or Closed-Lost
Defined sales roles and responsibilities
Work email addresses for the teammates you plan to invite
A few test leads and test communication channels
Keep in mind:
Set up the process before inviting the full team.
Every active lead should have one clear responsible user and one visible next action.
Pipeline stages should represent real sales milestones, not every small task.
Give each user only the access needed for their role.
Start with a simple workflow and add automation only after the manual process works correctly.
Some team-management, automation, reporting, and field controls depend on your Kommo plan.
A useful sales-team setup does more than give everyone access to the same CRM. It defines how new leads enter Kommo, who owns them, what information must be collected, when follow-ups happen, how work moves between roles, and how managers identify problems before opportunities are lost.
This guide helps you turn your existing sales process into a clear workflow your team can follow every day.
What a complete sales workflow should achieve
Workflow area | Expected result |
|---|---|
Lead intake | New inquiries enter the correct pipeline with their source and contact details |
Ownership | Each lead has one responsible user or team |
Qualification | Sales reps collect the same minimum information before moving a lead forward |
Follow-up | Every active lead has a task, deadline, or expected client action |
Handoffs | The next teammate receives the context, ownership, and task needed to continue |
Communication | The team uses consistent channels, templates, and response rules |
Automation | Repetitive actions happen automatically without hiding responsibility |
Management | Managers can see workload, stalled leads, overdue work, and results |
Choose the workflow model that matches your team
Before configuring Kommo, decide how work is divided. The model determines your pipelines, permissions, routing, and handoffs.
Team model | How it works | What to configure |
|---|---|---|
Full-cycle sales reps | One rep handles the lead from first response to closing | One main sales pipeline, clear ownership, follow-up tasks, and manager visibility |
Qualifier and closer | One role screens incoming leads and another manages qualified opportunities | Qualification stages, required handoff fields, ownership change, and handoff task |
Regional or product teams | Leads are routed based on location, language, product, or service | Routing fields, user groups, role access, and possibly separate pipelines |
Inbound and outbound teams | Different teams work with incoming inquiries and proactive outreach | Separate sources, task rules, qualification criteria, and reporting views |
Sales and post-sale handoff | Sales closes the deal and another team handles onboarding, delivery, or account management | Closed-Won handoff checklist, next-team task, and a separate post-sale pipeline when needed |
Key-account sales | A small group manages complex opportunities with several contacts and long cycles | Company records, detailed fields, meeting and proposal tasks, access controls, and longer stage deadlines |
Step 1: Map the process before building it
Write down the current sales process outside Kommo first. For each step, define:
What event starts the step
Who owns the lead
What information must be available
What action the teammate must complete
How long the step should normally take
What proves the lead is ready to move forward
What happens when the lead is not ready
What must be recorded for the next teammate
A simple workflow definition can look like this:
Step | Owner | Required information | Next action | Exit rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
New inquiry | Inbound rep | Source and contact method | Respond and identify the request | Client responds or inquiry is marked irrelevant |
Qualification | Inbound rep | Need, budget, timing, region | Confirm fit and collect missing details | Qualification criteria are met |
Proposal | Sales rep | Qualified need and offer details | Prepare and send proposal | Proposal is sent and follow-up is scheduled |
Negotiation | Sales rep | Decision criteria and objections | Resolve objections and confirm next decision | Client accepts, declines, or needs more time |
Closed-Won | Sales or onboarding owner | Sale value, product, agreement, delivery details | Start post-sale handoff | Onboarding or delivery owner accepts the handoff |
Step 2: Define roles and ownership
Decide what each role is responsible for before creating users and permissions.
Role | Typical responsibility | Recommended visibility |
|---|---|---|
Sales representative | Respond, qualify, follow up, move leads, and close sales | Own leads or team leads, relevant pipelines, tasks, chats, and approved fields |
Qualifier or SDR | Review new inquiries and pass suitable leads to sales | Incoming and qualification stages, shared channels, and qualification fields |
Closer or account executive | Manage proposals, negotiation, and closing | Qualified and later stages, proposal data, and assigned client conversations |
Sales manager | Monitor workload, coach the team, resolve escalations, and review results | Team-wide leads, tasks, relevant reports, and pipeline activity |
Sales operations or Admin | Maintain pipelines, users, fields, integrations, and automations | Workspace-wide configuration and reporting access |
Post-sale team | Handle onboarding, delivery, support, or account management after the sale | Won leads, handoff fields, relevant conversations, and post-sale pipeline |
For each role, also decide:
Who becomes the responsible user when a lead enters their part of the process
Who covers absences and after-hours periods
Who may reassign leads
Who may close a lead as won or lost
Who may edit sensitive fields or export data
Who maintains automations and integrations
Step 3: Build pipelines around milestones
A pipeline should show meaningful progress through the sales process. Use stages for client or deal milestones—not for every internal activity.
A general sales pipeline may include:
Incoming leads
First response
Qualification
Needs confirmed
Proposal sent
Negotiation or decision
Payment or agreement
Closed-Won
Closed-Lost
Use clear stage rules
For every stage, document:
Entry rule: What must be true before the lead enters
Owner: Which role is responsible
Required data: What must be known or recorded
Required action: What the responsible user must do
Expected time: How long a lead should normally stay
Exit rule: What proves the lead can move forward
Fallback: Where the lead goes if the client is not ready or does not respond
Tip: Avoid stages such as Called, Sent email, or Left voicemail when they represent one action rather than a change in the sales situation. Use tasks, notes, and activity history for these actions.
See Pipelines overview and Add or rename stages.
Decide when to use multiple pipelines
Use separate pipelines when the process, ownership, access, or reporting is meaningfully different. Common reasons include:
Different sales processes for products or services
Separate inbound and outbound workflows
Different departments or regions with restricted access
A post-sale process that continues after the deal is won
A renewal or repeat-purchase process with different stages
Keep one pipeline when the same stages and team rules apply. Too many pipelines can make routing, reporting, and handoffs harder to maintain.
Step 4: Decide how leads enter the workflow
List every source that can create a sales opportunity:
Messaging channels
Email
Website forms and live chat
Advertising lead forms
Calls
Bookings
Imports
Manual creation
Integrations and API connections
For each source, define:
Target pipeline and starting stage
Source, campaign, channel, region, or product value to record
Initial responsible user or team
Expected first-response time
Duplicate-handling rule
What happens outside business hours
Connect and test one source at a time. Confirm that the lead, contact information, conversation history, source data, owner, and first task appear correctly before adding more traffic.
See Choose how leads enter Kommo and Connect your first channel.
Step 5: Set ownership and routing rules
Every new lead needs a clear owner. Choose the routing method that fits your team:
Routing method | Best for | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
Manual assignment | Small teams or complex opportunities that need manager review | New leads may wait too long without a clear intake owner |
Source-based routing | Teams that specialize by channel or campaign | Ensure source information is recorded consistently |
Region or language routing | Distributed or multilingual teams | Define a fallback when the preferred teammate is unavailable |
Product or service routing | Specialized sales teams | Collect the product interest before assigning when possible |
Team or group routing | Larger teams with shared responsibility | Make sure one user becomes responsible for the actual follow-up |
Automated distribution | Higher lead volume and standardized qualification | Availability depends on your plan and configuration; test workload balance and exceptions |
Define these ownership rules:
Who owns unqualified incoming leads
When ownership moves to another role
Whether the original owner keeps visibility after a handoff
How leads are reassigned during vacations or shift changes
Who handles returning clients
Who may reassign high-value or escalated leads
Ownership should change only when responsibility actually changes. A teammate may help with one task without becoming the lead owner.
Step 6: Define the information your team must record
Use lead fields for opportunity details, contact fields for person-specific information, and company fields for business-level information.
Recommended core fields
Area | Example fields |
|---|---|
Lead origin | Source, campaign, channel, referral partner |
Qualification | Need, budget, timing, location, decision-maker status |
Offer | Product, service, plan, quantity, expected sale value |
Process | Priority, next decision date, proposal date, expected close date |
Outcome | Sale value, won details, lost reason |
Handoff | Agreement summary, client expectations, delivery details, post-sale owner |
Use fields for information you need to filter, report on, automate, or reuse. Use notes for context that does not require a standardized value.
Require data at the right moment
Do not require every field when a lead is first created. Make information required at the stage where it becomes necessary. For example:
Require need and region before leaving Qualification
Require proposal amount before moving to Proposal sent
Require sale value and product before Closed-Won
Require a lost reason before Closed-Lost
Required fields are available on plans that support them. Learn more in Configure custom fields.
Use tags carefully
Tags are useful for temporary or flexible labels, such as:
VIP
Urgent
Event campaign
Needs manager review
Re-engagement list
Use a field instead of a tag when the value must be consistent, mutually exclusive, required, or included in regular reporting.
Step 7: Invite users and organize groups
Invite a small pilot group first—ideally one person from each role in the workflow.
User groups can represent teams such as:
Inbound sales
Outbound sales
Enterprise sales
Regional sales
Sales managers
Onboarding or post-sale
Groups help organize users and apply team-wide access rules when those permissions are enabled.
See Invite your teammates and Create user groups in Kommo.
Step 8: Configure permissions by role
Use the principle of least access: give each role enough access to complete its work without exposing unrelated data or high-impact settings.
Access level | Typical use |
|---|---|
No access | The role cannot view or change the item |
Own records | Sales reps work only with leads for which they are responsible |
Team-wide | Team members or managers work with records assigned to their group |
Full access | Managers, operations, or Admins need workspace-wide visibility |
Review access to:
Leads, contacts, and companies
Specific pipelines and stages
Fields and sensitive information
Shared inboxes and email
Files and media
Exports and deletion
Automations and integrations
Reports and workspace settings
Important: Pipelines can be hidden for roles rather than individual users. Individual permissions can also control what a user can view, edit, delete, or export at specific pipeline stages.
After saving permissions, ask each pilot user to log out and back in, then verify what they can see and change.
See Set permissions and access levels in Kommo and Set up user permissions for pipelines.
Step 9: Build follow-up rules with tasks
A task should represent a concrete next action with an owner and deadline. Useful task types include:
First response
Qualification follow-up
Call
Meeting
Prepare proposal
Proposal follow-up
Payment check
Manager review
Post-sale handoff
For each active stage, decide:
Which next action should normally exist
Who is responsible
How soon it is due
Whether it should be created manually or automatically
What happens when it becomes overdue
Good task descriptions explain the expected result, not only the activity. For example, use “Confirm budget and decision date” instead of “Call client.”
Step 10: Standardize handoffs
A handoff is complete only when the next teammate has the context and responsibility needed to continue.
Handoff checklist
Update the responsible user
Move the lead to the correct stage or pipeline
Complete required qualification or deal fields
Add an internal note summarizing the client’s need and current situation
Record promises, objections, deadlines, and decision criteria
Attach or link relevant files and proposals
Create a task for the receiving teammate
Mention the teammate when immediate attention is required
Confirm that the receiving role has permission to access the record and conversation
Recommended internal handoff note
Client need | What the client wants to achieve |
|---|---|
Current status | What has already happened |
Qualification | Budget, timing, fit, and decision-maker details |
Offer | Product, service, price, or proposal shared |
Open questions | Information or decisions still missing |
Commitments | Anything promised to the client and its deadline |
Next action | What the receiving teammate must do and by when |
Step 11: Set communication standards
Define how the team communicates with clients and with each other.
Client communication rules
Expected response time by channel and business hours
Which channels are used for sales, support, or urgent issues
When a teammate should use a template
When a personal response is required
How to record calls, meetings, and off-platform communication
When to stop following up or move a lead to Closed-Lost
Internal collaboration rules
Use notes for context that should stay in the record
Use mentions when another teammate needs to act or answer
Use tasks for work with a deadline
Keep important client information in fields rather than private messages
Do not change the responsible user unless ownership changes
In the Chats section, teammates can review conversation history, create tasks and notes, mention colleagues, and filter conversations by channel, user, or status.
See Manage chats in Kommo and Create and set up chat templates.
Step 12: Automate stable, repetitive actions
Automation should support a clear process, not decide an unclear one.
Recommended automation order
Create tasks: Add the expected next action when a lead enters an important stage.
Record stable data: Add source, product, team, or routing values when they are known.
Notify the owner: Alert a teammate or manager about urgent, high-value, or overdue work.
Assign or reassign: Route leads using clear conditions.
Send routine messages: Use approved templates or bots for predictable communication.
Move leads: Change stages automatically only when the trigger reliably proves the milestone occurred.
Add AI: Use Kommo AI or an AI agent after sources, responsibilities, and escalation rules are ready.
Useful starter automations
Trigger | Action | Business value |
|---|---|---|
New lead is created | Create a first-response task | New inquiries become visible and time-bound |
Lead enters Qualification | Create a qualification task for the responsible user | The same core questions are handled consistently |
Lead enters Proposal sent | Create a follow-up task for the correct date | Proposals do not remain unattended |
High-priority tag is added | Notify a manager or create an escalation task | Important opportunities receive faster attention |
Lead reaches a handoff stage | Reassign the responsible user and create a task | The next role receives ownership and a clear action |
Lead is Closed-Won | Create onboarding or delivery task | The post-sale process starts without delay |
Kommo automations can be connected to pipeline stages and can create or complete tasks, reassign users, send emails, start bots or an AI agent, and perform other configured actions. Availability depends on the action and your plan.
See Automate pipeline actions and Set up digital pipeline triggers.
Step 13: Prepare daily views for reps and managers
Sales rep view
Each rep should be able to find:
New leads assigned to them
Unanswered conversations
Tasks due today
Overdue tasks
Leads without a next task
High-priority leads
Leads waiting for a client response
Leads that have remained in one stage too long
Sales manager view
Managers should be able to review:
Unassigned new leads
Workload by user or team
Unanswered conversations and response delays
Overdue tasks
Stalled leads
Pipeline value and stage distribution
Won, lost, conversion, and revenue results
Ownership and handoff gaps
Use preset and custom filters by responsible user, stage, date, source, and other criteria. See Filter and search leads, contacts and companies.
Step 14: Define the team operating routine
Frequency | Sales rep routine | Manager routine |
|---|---|---|
Start of day or shift | Review new leads, unanswered chats, overdue tasks, and today’s priorities | Check unassigned leads, coverage gaps, and urgent exceptions |
During the day | Update stages, complete tasks, record key information, and schedule the next action | Resolve escalations and rebalance workload when needed |
End of day or shift | Confirm every active lead has an owner and next action | Review unanswered conversations and overdue work |
Weekly | Review active opportunities and stalled deals | Review pipeline movement, response speed, task discipline, and coaching needs |
Monthly | Review goals and personal performance | Review conversion, revenue, workload, sources, lost reasons, and workflow changes |
For a detailed team-performance framework, see Track your sales performance.
Step 15: Test the full workflow before launch
Use one test lead for each important route through the process.
Recommended test routes
New incoming message → qualification → proposal → Closed-Won
New incoming lead → not qualified → Closed-Lost
Qualifier → sales rep handoff
Sales rep → manager escalation
Sales → post-sale handoff
Returning client with an existing contact
Lead created outside business hours
Lead assigned while the preferred owner is unavailable
Confirm that:
The lead enters the correct pipeline and stage
Source, contact, product, and routing information is captured
The correct user or team receives ownership
The user has permission to open and update the record
The first-response task is created with the correct deadline
Messages, notes, calls, files, and tasks remain in the history
Required fields appear at the intended stage
Handoffs update ownership and create the next task
Automations run only once and under the correct conditions
Closed-Won and Closed-Lost results appear correctly in reports
Managers can find overdue, stalled, and unassigned work
See Send and receive your first message, Create your first follow-up task, and Move and close your first lead.
Roll out the workflow in stages
Pilot: Use one small team, one pipeline, and a limited number of real leads.
Observe: Watch where users hesitate, skip fields, create unnecessary tasks, or lose context.
Adjust: Simplify stages, permissions, fields, templates, or automation conditions.
Document: Record stage rules, ownership rules, task standards, and handoff requirements.
Train: Give each role a short workflow focused on their daily responsibilities.
Expand: Invite the remaining users and connect additional channels or lead sources.
Review: Check adoption and results after the first week and first complete sales period.
Common setup problems
Problem | Why it happens | Recommended fix |
|---|---|---|
Leads have no clear owner | The workflow uses a team name or shared inbox without individual responsibility | Assign one responsible user and define a fallback owner |
Pipeline has too many stages | Every call, message, or task was turned into a stage | Keep milestones as stages and track actions with tasks and history |
Reps skip important information | Fields are unclear, excessive, or required too early | Reduce fields and require them only at the relevant stage |
Handoffs lose context | Ownership changes without a note or next task | Use a handoff checklist and automate the receiving task |
Automations conflict | Several triggers react to the same event or broad conditions | Test one automation at a time and make conditions specific |
Managers edit every lead manually | Ownership, tasks, and exception views are not clear | Build routing rules, task standards, and manager filters |
Reports do not match reality | Stages, responsible users, sale values, or closed results are not updated consistently | Define clear exit rules and verify sample records regularly |
Sales-team workflow checklist
The complete lead journey is documented before configuration
Each role has a defined responsibility and backup
Pipeline stages represent clear sales milestones
Each stage has an entry rule, owner, required data, next action, and exit rule
Each lead source has a target pipeline, stage, owner, and response rule
Every active lead has one responsible user
Lead, contact, and company fields store the correct type of information
Required fields appear only when the information is needed
User groups and permissions match real team responsibilities
Each active stage has a clear follow-up rule
Handoffs include context, ownership, and a next task
Client and internal communication standards are documented
Automation supports a tested manual process
Sales reps and managers have useful daily views
The workflow has been tested from intake to closing and post-sale handoff
A pilot team has reviewed the setup before full rollout
The team has a daily, weekly, and monthly operating routine
Best first result
A new lead enters the correct pipeline, reaches the right teammate, receives a timely response, moves through clearly defined stages, and always has visible ownership, context, and a next action until the sale is won or lost.