Lead Routing Workbook

Lead routing decides who gets a new lead and how fast. This workbook breaks the design into parts you can fill in one at a time: where leads come from, what data is available when they arrive, who can receive them, the rules in priority order, and what happens when nothing matches. It finishes with a test plan, because routing that hasn’t been tested against edge cases usually fails on the first one.

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How to use the workbook

Fill in Parts 1 to 3 before writing any rules. Most routing problems come from rules that depend on data the lead doesn’t have yet, or on a team structure that changed last quarter. Then write the rules in Part 4 in the exact order they should be evaluated. Order matters: the first rule that matches wins.

Keep the finished workbook next to the CRM configuration and update it whenever someone joins, leaves or changes territory. The lead routing guide explains the common routing models (territory, round-robin, account-based, capacity-weighted) if you’re still choosing one.

Part 1: Lead source inventory

Copy once per source.

• Source: demo form, contact form, free trial signup, chat, inbound call, event list import, partner referral, outbound reply, content download.
• Entry point: how it reaches the CRM (native form, integration, import, API, manual entry).
• Volume: approximate leads per week.
• Intent level: high (asked to talk to sales), medium (trial, pricing interest), low (content, newsletter).
• Data captured at entry: the fields reliably present when the lead arrives.
• Should it be routed to a person? Yes, no (goes to nurture), or conditional.

Part 2: Routing data

List every field a rule might depend on.

• Field: label and internal name.
• Available at entry? Always, sometimes (from which sources), or only after enrichment.
• Enrichment delay: if filled by an enrichment tool or integration, how long after creation.
• Reliability: how often it’s blank or wrong, based on a sample of recent leads.
• Values used in rules: for example country lists per region, size bands, product lines.

A rule built on a field that’s only filled 60% of the time will misroute 40% of leads. Either add the field to the form, wait for enrichment with a defined timeout, or route on something else.

Part 3: Team roster

Copy once per person or queue.

• Name or queue: person, team inbox or round-robin group.
• Role: SDR, AE, account manager, partner manager, support.
• Territory or segment: regions, company size bands, industries, product lines.
• Working hours and time zone.
• Capacity: maximum new leads per day or week, if capped.
• Status: active, on leave (with dates), leaving (with date).
• Backup: who covers when unavailable.

Part 4: Routing rules (in priority order)

Copy once per rule, numbered in evaluation order.

• Rule number.
• Rule name: short and descriptive.
• Applies to sources: which entries from Part 1.
• Conditions: field, operator and values. Combine with AND or OR explicitly.
• Assign to: person, queue or round-robin group.
• Assignment method: direct, round-robin, weighted round-robin, or to the existing account owner.
• Also set: lead status, lifecycle stage, priority, or other fields on assignment.
• Notify: who is notified, by which channel.
• Response-time target: for example first touch within 1 business hour.

Worked example rule set

This is a typical order for a B2B company selling to North America and Europe with a separate enterprise team.

1. Existing customer. Conditions: company lifecycle stage is Customer. Assign to: existing company owner (account manager). Lead status: “Existing customer – expansion”. Notify: owner by email and task. Target: same business day.
2. Open deal. Conditions: associated company has an open deal. Assign to: deal owner. Do not change lifecycle stage. Notify: deal owner. Target: same business day.
3. Named account. Conditions: company domain is on the target account list. Assign to: named AE for that account. Target: 1 business hour.
4. Partner referral. Conditions: source is partner referral form. Assign to: partner manager. Target: 1 business day.
5. Enterprise. Conditions: employee count is 1,000 or more. Assign to: enterprise AE round-robin for the region. Target: 1 business hour.
6. EMEA mid-market and SMB. Conditions: country in the EMEA list AND employee count under 1,000. Assign to: EMEA SDR round-robin. Target: 1 business hour within EMEA working hours.
7. North America mid-market and SMB. Conditions: country is United States or Canada AND employee count under 1,000. Assign to: NA SDR round-robin. Target: 1 business hour.
8. Low intent. Conditions: source is content download or newsletter AND no high-intent activity. Do not assign to sales; enroll in nurture. Lead status: “Nurture”.
9. Fallback. Conditions: none of the above matched. Assign to: SDR manager. Lead status: “Needs review”. Target: review daily.

Rules 1 and 2 come first on purpose. Routing an existing customer to a new-business SDR is one of the most common and most visible routing mistakes.

Part 5: Fallbacks and missing data

• No rule matched: owner or queue, and how often it’s reviewed.
• Routing field blank: wait for enrichment (maximum wait), route to default, or route to review queue.
• Assigned owner unavailable: backup from Part 3, or skip to next in round-robin.
• Out of hours: route immediately but set response target from next business hour, or route to an on-call queue.
• Duplicate lead: if the contact already exists with an owner, keep the owner or re-route (state the rule).

Part 6: Service levels and escalation

• First-touch target per rule: from Part 4.
• How first touch is measured: first logged call, email or meeting, and the property that records it.
• Escalation: what happens when the target is missed (reminder task, manager notification, reassignment), and after how long.
• Reassignment rule: whether untouched leads move to another rep, and when.

Part 7: Test cases

Create a test record for each case and record the result.

1. A lead from each source in Part 1 with complete data.
2. A lead from an existing customer company.
3. A lead from a company with an open deal.
4. A lead on the named account list.
5. A lead with a blank country.
6. A lead with a blank employee count, before and after enrichment completes.
7. A lead submitted outside working hours.
8. A lead that should go to a rep who is marked on leave.
9. A duplicate submission from a contact who already has an owner.
10. A lead from a free-mail domain.
11. A lead that matches two rules (confirm the higher-priority rule wins).
12. A low-intent lead (confirm it is not assigned to sales).

For each test, record: expected owner, actual owner, fields set, notification received (yes/no), time to assignment, pass or fail.

Part 8: Change log

• Date.
• Change: rule added, territory changed, person added or removed.
• Reason.
• Changed by.
• Retested: which test cases were rerun.

Monthly routing review

1. Count leads that hit the fallback rule last month. If it’s rising, a rule or field is broken.
2. Compare leads assigned per rep against capacity.
3. Check median time to first touch per rule against target.
4. Confirm the roster in Part 3 matches the people actually configured in the CRM.
5. Look for leads with no owner at all, which usually means a source bypasses routing entirely.

If you’re on HubSpot, the guide to HubSpot lead routing covers how these rules map to its workflows and rotate actions.