Automating your business is more than just setting up a couple of workflows at random. What works for your neighbor might not work for you. As a business leader, you need to translate high-level business goals into actionable initiatives that drive results. That goes for marketing as well as for sales.
So how do you go from high-level business requirements to concrete and scalable workflows? In this blog post, we break down how you translate the needs your organization has to workflows that work for you and that drive growth for your organization.
Every automation journey begins with a crystal-clear understanding of why you’re automating. Or at least it should. Whether it’s to increase SQLs, shorten the sales cycle, improve lead nurturing, or boost customer retention, your business objective should be the north star guiding workflow design.
So invite your stakeholders for a meeting or a workshop in which you determine what that business objective should be, and how to measure it. Don’t overcomplicate this.
Example:
A SaaS company wants to increase product demo sign-ups by 30% within the next quarter.
Before building any workflows in HubSpot or any CRM/automation platform, map the customer journey from the first point of contact to conversion and beyond. Identify key stages, touchpoints, and the emotional triggers or barriers at each phase.
Ask questions like:
Where are leads falling off?
Which messages convert?
What data do we collect, and when?
This helps you pinpoint the moments where automation can create lift, like lead scoring, email nurturing, internal notifications, or behavioral triggers you can use.
Think of each workflow as a cause-and-effect system. For each point in the journey, define:
Trigger: What event kicks off the workflow? What is the cause for you wanting to automate a set of actions? (e.g. form submission, lifecycle stage change)
Action: What happens next? (e.g. send an email, assign to sales, update property)
Outcome: What result do you want? (e.g. increased engagement, SQL handoff, closed deal)
Use a platform like HubSpot with a visual workflow builder that makes it easy to see and optimize these sequences.
Automation without segmentation is like shouting into a void. Sending a one-size-fits-all message to your complete database just doesn’t work. So use smart lists and behavioral data to tailor content by persona, industry, lifecycle stage, or behavior. B2B buyers expect relevance, and segmentation ensures you deliver it.
Pro tip: Use dynamic content and personalization tokens to make every message feel one-on-one, even if you send your messages at scale.
One of the most common pitfalls in automation: a disconnect between marketing workflows and sales processes. It happens all the time: sales and marketing just don’t get together to discuss common goals, handover from marketing to sales or feedback loops. It’s a recipe for failure.
Involve your sales team early to ensure:
They understand what actions qualify a lead.
They’re notified and ready when a lead becomes sales-ready.
Feedback loops exist to refine workflows based on real conversations.
This alignment increases close rates and improves the overall customer experience. Check our blog post about how to achieve sales and marketing alignment in 4 steps.
No workflow should ever be “set it and forget it.” There are several reasons for that. First of all, the world changes, and you need to change with it. Second: you may find over time that you overlooked something. Or you may make assumptions that in reality just don’t work as expected. And third: you may find that you can make a good workflow even better, or more sofisticated. Use your platform’s analytics to track:
Open/click rates
Workflow conversion rates
Lead velocity
Revenue influenced by the actions in your workflows
Then, iterate. Tweak subject lines, adjust delays, A/B test content.
The most effective automated workflows are living systems, constantly evolving with your business and market. So don’t just sit back, but actively look for ways to improve.
Your workflows are about more than just saving time: they are about creating a repeatable, scalable engine for growth. By translating your business requirements into structured, intelligent workflows, you empower your team to do more with less and deliver consistent results across the funnel.
If you’re ready to move from reactive campaigns to proactive growth systems, automation is your next frontier. Give us a call if you would like some help and expertise to help you build it.
Getting started with automation? Or are you looking for ways to get your automation to the next level?
