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Automating Your Goal Pipelines in Sales Nexus

Caleb Ferguson
Updated

This guide explains how to automatically move leads from marketing to sales in the new Sales Nexus system using:

  • Lookups (who should enter your flows)

  • Marketing goals & pipelines (automated nurture)

  • Sales goals & pipelines (one-to-one selling)

  • Stages & triggers (emails, SMS, and opportunities)

Before building any automated pipeline, you must first set up and validate your sending domain. Domains are required for email authentication, deliverability, tracking, and automation features to function correctly.

If you have not yet configured your domain, follow this guide first: 
How to Add and Validate a Sending Domain in SalesNexus (Nexi)

For deeper, step-by-step instructions on specific features, see the linked help articles throughout this guide.

1. Start With a Lookup for New Leads

A lookup tells the system which contacts should go into your marketing pipeline (for example, new website form submissions).

Steps

  1. Go to the Contacts page (Contacts View or Table View).

  2. Open the Lookups section.

  3. Click Lookup → New Lookup.

  4. Name it (e.g. “New Form Submissions”).

  5. Add conditions, such as:

    • Lead Source → Contains → your form name (e.g. “Website Contact Form”).

  6. Choose which fields you want to see in the table (Name, Email, Lead Source, etc.) and click Save.

For more detailed steps:

2. Build a Marketing Pipeline (Top of Funnel)

A Marketing Goal is where you design your automated marketing pipeline. It replaces “Campaigns” from the old system.

2.1 Create a Marketing Goal

  1. Go to the Goals page.

  2. Click the + icon → Add New Goal.

  3. Enter:

    • Name (e.g. “New Web Form Leads – Nurture”).

    • Description (e.g. “Automatic follow-up to people who fill out our website form.”)

  4. You’ll see:

    1. Sales goals (for sales pipelines).

    2. Marketing goals (for marketing pipelines).

  5. Set Goal Type to Marketing.

  6. Click Create Goal.

Learn more about configuring marketing goals and pipelines:

3. Configure Sales Pipelines (Bottom of Funnel)

Sales Goals and their pipelines represent your one‑to‑one sales process (e.g. New Opportunity → Demo → Proposal → Closed Won).

Steps (High Level)

  1. On the Goals page, open or create a Sales Goal for your product or service.

  2. Define your sales stages (e.g. New Opportunity, Evaluation, Proposal, Closed Won/Lost).

For a full walkthrough of sales goals and pipelines:

4. Automate Emails and Texts in Marketing Stages

You now decide what happens when a contact enters or stays in each stage.

4.1 Use Stage Triggers

Stage triggers control the logic of when things happen:

  • When functions (e.g. when a contact moves to a stage, when stalled for X time).

  • Then functions (what the system does next—send email, send SMS, move stage, create opportunity, etc.).

Learn how stage triggers work in detail:

4.2 Example: First Stage – Send a Welcome Email

  1. Open your first marketing stage (e.g. New Leads).

  2. Go to Triggers.

  3. Add a When condition:

    • When contact is moved to this stage.

  4. Add a Then action:

    • Send Email.

  5. Choose an existing template or create a new one.

To build and manage email templates:

Configure avoid rules as needed.

4.3 Example: Next Stage – Follow-Up SMS

  1. Open the next stage (e.g. Initial Outreach).

  2. Add a When condition:

    • When contact is moved to this stage.

  3. Add a Then action:

    • Send SMS.

  4. Choose or create an SMS template.

To create SMS templates:

You can stack multiple sends in a stage (e.g. one email immediately, another 24 hours later, and a text the following day).

5. Automatically Enroll Contacts into the Marketing Pipeline

Connect your lookup to your marketing goal so contacts enter the pipeline automatically.

  1. Open your Marketing Goal.

  2. Click Enroll contacts into this marketing pipeline (label may vary).

  3. Select:

    • The start stage (e.g. New Leads).

    • The lookup (e.g. New Form Submissions).

Snapshot vs Sync

  • Snapshot

    • Immediately enrolls all existing contacts that currently match the lookup.

  • Sync

    • Automatically enrolls new contacts going forward when they meet the lookup conditions.

This replaces traditional “automation plans” by letting lookups + stage triggers drive your automation.

6. Move Leads Automatically Between Stages

Use timing‑based stage triggers so leads keep flowing.

Example:

  1. In New Leads, add a When condition:

    • When stalled in this stage for 24 hours.

  2. Add a Then action:

    • Move to next stage.

Result:

  • They get a welcome email on entering New Leads.

  • After 24 hours, they automatically move to Initial Outreach, which can send a follow‑up email or SMS.

(See the Stage Triggers – When/Then articles linked above for detailed configuration options.)

7. Transition from Marketing to Sales (Qualified Leads)

Once a lead is qualified, you can automatically create a Sales Opportunity and move them into your sales pipeline.

7.1 Auto‑Create Opportunities

  1. In your Marketing Goal, open the stage where leads are considered qualified (e.g. Qualified Lead).

  2. In Triggers, add:

    • When the contact reaches this stage or meets your qualification conditions.

    • Then → Create Opportunity in a Sales Goal.

  3. Configure:

    • Sales Goal and Sales Pipeline (e.g. “Product A Sales”).

    • Starting Sales Stage (e.g. “New Opportunity”).

    • Optional Title, Amount, and Currency.

    • Owner (assigned salesperson).

For working with opportunities directly:

Once this trigger fires:

  • The contact is effectively moved out of the broad marketing pipeline.

  • A new opportunity appears in the appropriate sales pipeline, where the sales team manages it through the remaining stages.

8. End‑to‑End Example Flow

  1. A visitor fills out your website form.

  2. The contact’s Lead Source matches your “New Form Submissions” lookup.

  3. Your Sync enrollment adds them to your Marketing Goal in New Leads.

  4. A stage trigger sends a welcome email.

  5. After 24 hours, another trigger moves them to Initial Outreach, which sends a follow‑up email and/or SMS.

  6. Once they meet your qualification criteria, a trigger creates an Opportunity in your Sales Goal and assigns it to a salesperson.

  7. The salesperson advances the opportunity through the sales pipeline stages (Demo, Proposal, Closed Won, etc.), guided by your sales process.

9. Need Help or Want to Suggest Improvements?

If you need assistance with any part of this setup:

  1. Click the Give Feedback button in Sales Nexus.

  2. Choose Support.

  3. Enter a subject and description, and attach any files or screenshots.

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