Add people to a flow in Engage

Who can use this: Any team member

Available on: Gong Engage

Ideal for: Sales rep, Sales manager

Add contacts and leads to a flow one at a time or several at once, and decide how the flow starts for each of them before the first step runs. Contacts and leads sync from your CRM into Gong automatically, and you do not need to own a record to add that person to a flow.

Note:

Flow rules and company settings can block an add, so a person cannot always be added. Learn more about troubleshooting when people cannot be added to flows.

Add one person or several people to a flow

Adding someone opens their flow settings, where you choose one or more flows and set everything about the start before the first step is due. A bulk add puts the same flow settings on everyone you selected, and Gong checks the whole selection for missing contact details before anything is saved. You can also take people out of a flow they are already in at the same time.

To add people to a flow:

1. From the left sidebar, click Engagement, and select People.

   Tip: You can also add a person from their person view, from the Contacts tab inside an account, or from a flow's People tab.

2. Open the add to flow window:

   • One person: Click the person's flow status, which reads Not in flow, In flow, or Paused.

   • Several people: Select the checkboxes next to the people you want to add, and click Add to flow in the bulk actions bar.

3. Choose one or more flows.

4. (Optional) Remove the people you selected from the flows they are currently in.

5. (Optional) Choose which step the flow starts from. The flow starts at step 1 by default.

   Note: Starting from a later step covers mid-flow re-engagement, including cases where the earlier steps already happened manually or elsewhere.

6. (Optional) Set a delay before the first step is due.

7. (Optional) Click Link flow to deal, and select the deal you want each person's flow linked to.

   Tip: Learn more about linking a flow to a deal.

8. Click Save.

Gong schedules the first step according to the step timing and any delay you set, so the to-do appears or the auto email sends at that point rather than straight away.

Note:

There is no one-action change of flow. Depending on your company's setup you may need to remove a person from their current flow first and then add them to the new one, and Gong does not move people between flows for you.

Note:

When anyone in your selection is missing an email address or a phone number that the flow's steps need, a validation window opens before the flow starts.

What Gong checks before someone is added to a flow

Gong checks whether each contact or lead has the details the flow's steps need, and the check runs on its own every time a flow is about to start.

What Gong looks for depends on what the flow contains:

• A flow with an email step needs at least one valid email address for every contact or lead.

• A flow with a call step needs at least one valid phone number for every contact or lead.

When anyone in the selection is missing required information, a validation window opens before the flow starts. From there you can proceed without an email address or phone number, or select a different flow instead.

Choosing to proceed does not lock the gap in place. Add the missing details to a contact afterwards, and Gong includes that person in the relevant steps the next time the flow runs.

Work in the validation window during a bulk add

The validation window lists the people you selected alongside the details Gong flagged, so you can clear the problems before saving. A selection that contains both contacts and leads opens two tabs, one for each.

You cannot edit an email address or a phone number inside the window. Correct the details in Gong or in your CRM first, because Refresh list rechecks the records you have already updated in one of those two places.

To clear missing details in the validation window:

1. Review the people listed and the detail Gong flagged as missing or invalid for each one.

2. Open the person's record in Gong or in your CRM, and add the missing email address or phone number.

3. Return to the validation window, and click Refresh list.

4. (Optional) Remove the people who are still missing an email address or phone number from the selection.

5. (Optional) Remove the selected people from the flows they are currently in.

6. Click Save.

Tip:

Open the list of selected people in a new tab on the People page to work through several records at once.

Note:

Taking people out of their current flows happens only when you click Save.

Personalize a step as you add someone

Every step's content is open for editing while you are adding people, before the flow begins. Research and write the outreach now and each to-do arrives ready to work on, rather than waiting for the step to come due and personalizing it then.

To personalize a step as you add someone:

1. In the add to flow window, choose the flow you want to add the person to.

2. Review the flow's steps in the order they run.

3. Open the step you want to change, and edit its recipients, subject, and content in the text editor.

4. Repeat for any other step you want to personalize.

5. Click Save.

Note:

Gong detects when someone else edits the same flow while you are working in it and tells you, so you can manage the overlapping changes.

Set a delay before the first step

A flow starts as soon as you save it unless you tell it to wait. The delay is measured in hours or in business days, and the two behave differently: Business days let you aim for the recipient's morning or afternoon, while hourly delays have no time-of-day choice.

To set a delay before the first step:

1. In the add to flow window, choose the flow you want to add the person to.

2. Click the delay field. It reads Delay from flow start when the flow starts at its first step, and Delay from previous step when it starts at a later one.

3. Under Delay by, choose how to measure the delay:

   • Hours: Enter the number of hours to wait.

   • Business days: Enter the number of business days to wait.

4. (Optional) With business days, click Add a preferred time of day, and select Recipient's morning, which is 9 AM to 12 PM, or Recipient's afternoon, which is 12 PM to 6 PM.

5. Click Set timing.

6. Click Save.

Business days skip weekends. For a contact added to a flow on Wednesday with the delay set to three business days, Thursday is the first business day, Friday is the second, the weekend does not count, and Monday is the third, so the flow starts on Monday.

Hourly delays count from the flow start or from the previous step. A delay that lands outside business hours moves the step to the next business day.

Add people on behalf of another rep

Add a contact or lead to a flow and hand the resulting to-dos to someone else in your company, for example to get a new rep started or to cover outreach while a teammate is away.

Required permissions:

Assign flows and to-dos to others (non-managers only)

Managers can assign on behalf of another team member without this permission.

To add a person to a flow on behalf of another rep:

1. In the add to flow window, choose the flow you want to add the person to.

2. Choose the flow assignee.

3. Click Save.

Find people who finished a flow and add them to a new one

Filter the People page down to the people who were in a particular flow and left it, which gives you a ready-made group for follow-up outreach. The Engage flow status filter is what separates someone who completed the flow from someone who was taken out of it after replying.

To find people who finished a flow and add them to a new one:

1. From the left sidebar, click Engagement, and select People.

2. Click + Add filter, and choose a field that identifies the flow the contacts and leads were previously in.

3. Search for or select that flow.

4. Click + Add filter again, and select Engage flow status.

5. Select the status values you want.

   Tip: To see only the people taken out of the flow because they replied, select the Removed and Response values.

6. Select the checkboxes next to the people you want to add to a new flow.

7. At the top right, click the Actions menu, and select Add to flow.

8. Choose the new flow, and click Save.

Note:

Both the flow field and Engage flow status have to be mapped from your CRM to Gong before they appear as filters. Ask your admin to map them on the CRM integration page.

Frequently asked questions