Automations & Workflows 11 min read

Creating Your First Automation Workflow

Build a new-lead follow-up sequence that texts, emails, and assigns tasks while you sleep. The automation every VC Suite account should have running by day 7.

Workflow Anatomy

A workflow has three parts: a trigger (what starts it), actions (what happens), and conditions (branching logic based on data or behavior). Open Automations → Workflows → + Create Workflow to start from scratch, or pick a recipe from the library to modify.

Choose a Trigger

For a new-lead follow-up, the trigger is Form Submitted filtered to your specific form. Other common triggers: Appointment Booked, Tag Added, Opportunity Stage Changed, Inbound Message Received. A workflow can only have one trigger; if you need multiple entry points, build separate workflows or use a single Tag Added trigger with tags applied from multiple sources.

First Action: Send an SMS

Add an SMS action. Message body: Hey {{contact.first_name}} — thanks for reaching out. I got your info and will personally text you back within the hour. Send from your registered business number. This message acknowledges the lead within seconds of submission, which moves conversion rates by 15–30%.

Second Action: Wait 2 Minutes

Add a Wait step set to 2 minutes. This creates a natural gap before the email arrives so it does not feel robotic.

Third Action: Send an Email

Add an Email action. Use a plain-text email (no fancy HTML template) signed from a real person. Subject: Thanks for reaching out, {{contact.first_name}}. Body: short paragraph acknowledging the inquiry, one sentence about what happens next, link to a calendar to book a call. Plain-text emails from a real name inbox 2–3x better than stylized templates.

Fourth Action: Assign Internal Task

Add an Internal Notification action to email yourself (or your sales rep) with the lead's name, phone, email, and form responses. This is what pulls them out of the inbox and into action.

Fifth Action: Tag and Pipeline

Add Add Tag (e.g. new-lead-2026-q2) and Create Opportunity in your primary pipeline, stage New Lead. This gets the contact into your sales tracking automatically.

Branching with If/Else

Add an If/Else step to branch on form answers. Example: if the form includes a budget question and they answered “$10K+”, branch to a VIP path that texts you directly; if “Under $1K”, branch to a self-serve nurture sequence. Branches are the difference between a form and a lead qualification system.

Test Before Going Live

Before publishing, use Test Workflow with a test contact (your own phone and email). Verify each step fires, each message arrives, the tag applies, the opportunity appears. Silent failures at step 3 of a 9-step workflow are the worst kind of bug — catch them in testing.

Publish and Monitor

Set the workflow status to Publish. Watch the execution log for the first 24–48 hours to confirm real submissions are triggering it correctly. You can always pause, edit, and republish.

Prefer We Do It

We Can Set This Up For You.

If reading this and thinking "I'd rather someone just do it right the first time" — that's what we do. Book a call and we'll scope it.

Schedule A Call →

Keep Reading

Related Articles