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. Other articles (see Related articles below) show you how to create and edit workflow automations.
Contents
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.
Here is an example. The first step in this workflow is an email template. The email template will trigger the moment the lead or deal card moves into the stage this workflow is published on. After the email template is triggered, the workflow then automatically creates a task (prepare documents) and assigns the task to a party (the broker in this example).
BrokerEngine comes pre-loaded with default workflows. You can customise any workflow to meet the needs of your work environment.
Why use workflows?
Many brokers come to BrokerEngine because they want to systemise and automate their processes, which is the core value proposition of workflows. 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 experience across your entire broker team.
You're reminded to complete important tasks.
Tasks are 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.
Workflows are the engines that power BrokerEngine automations. Workflows guide deals through the entire process and trigger essential tasks when needed. The bottom line? Workflows save you time by automating essential processes that keep you and your clients up to date.
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.
Automating steps
A workflow can automatically create or modify information in BrokerEngine. You can use a workflow to automate any of the steps listed below.
Create a task - A job that a person in your broker group needs to complete (e.g. complete a checklist).
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. This is especially useful for Zapier integrations. Zapier uses tags to trigger an action, such as sending an SMS or adding a contact to your mailing list.
Archive or unarchive card - Remove a card from a dashboard after a period of time. This helps to keep your dashboards tidy and uncluttered.
Move card to a stage - Move a card to a different dashboard stage. For example, your team submits a deal to a lender and marks the task as Done. This triggers a workflow that moves the deal card to the Deal Submitted to Lender stage.
Send a document stack - Send a document request to a client.
Assign or unassign a team or team role - For example, once the broker completes the Broker Wizard, you can auto-assign the task of preparing the submission to your Pre-Submission Team.
Trigger an external service - Use an external service like Zapier to send a text message 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.
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.
Triggers
Most triggers involve a deal, lead, or review moving from one stage to another. They can be applied to your entire broker group or specific brokers.
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.
Using workflow diagrams
The workflow diagram gives you a visual representation of the current automations available in BrokerEngine.
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 for a client. While checklists aren't technically part of workflow automation functionality, finishing a checklist can trigger a task to be completed, which can trigger the next step in a workflow.