Pipelines and Automations in Alivo

A pipeline is just a visual way to track where each lead stands in your sales process, from first contact to a signed job or a closed-lost outcome. Automations are the rules that react to what happens in Alivo and do the next step for you, like moving a lead to a new stage, assigning an agent, or creating a task. Together they give your team a clear picture of every lead and cut down on the manual clicking that slows you down. This guide explains what each one is, how they work together, and how to think about building automations that match the way your shop actually runs.

What Is a Pipeline?

A pipeline is a board made up of stages, each one a column that represents a step in your process. Every lead sits in one stage at a time. You can see the whole funnel at a glance on the pipeline view in your Audience list, drag leads between columns, and sort by last activity or how long someone has been in a stage.

Stages and Outcomes

Stages are the building blocks. You order them left to right the way work flows through your shop: New Lead, Contacted, Inspection Booked, Estimate Sent, and so on. Each stage has a color so your board is easy to scan.

At the end of the funnel you have terminal stages, which close the lead out. A Won stage (often labeled Done) means you got the job. A Lost stage (like Not Interested or Disqualified) means the lead is closed without a sale. Everything before those is still open.

One Board, Your Whole Funnel

Your company can have more than one pipeline, but most shops run a single default pipeline for sales. New leads land there unless something else sends them somewhere specific. Alivo also tracks how long each lead spends in each stage, which helps you spot bottlenecks later in reporting.

Good to know: A pipeline is structure only. It tells you where a lead is. It does not, by itself, move leads or assign work. That is what automations are for.

What Are Automations?

An automation is a simple rule: when this happens, do that. Every automation has a trigger (the event that starts it) and one or more actions (what Alivo does in response). You can turn automations on and off individually, and Alivo keeps a log of what fired so you can troubleshoot when something does not behave the way you expected.

Triggers: What Starts an Automation

Triggers are events inside Alivo or connected tools. Common ones include:

• New lead created. A fresh contact enters Alivo from a form, call, integration, or manual entry.
• Stage entered. A lead moves into a specific pipeline stage.
• Time in stage. A lead has sat in a stage for a set amount of time (hours, days, or weeks) without moving.
• Agent assigned. One of your AI agents (Lilly, Evan, Alex, or Jenna) gets assigned to the lead.
• Appointment booked, rescheduled, or canceled. Something changes on the calendar.
• Goal met. An agent finishes its job (for example, a signed estimate or a submitted review).
• Follow-up sequence complete. An agent ran through its follow-ups without hitting a goal.
• Custom field changed. A field you track (like lead type or priority) gets a new value.
• CRM or webhook event. Something happens in JobNimbus, AccuLynx, Housecall Pro, Jobber, RoofLink, or another system that sends data to Alivo.

Many triggers can be narrowed further. For example, "agent assigned" can be scoped to a specific agent, and several triggers support optional filters on lead source, current stage, or custom field values so the rule only fires for the leads you care about.

Actions: What an Automation Does

When a trigger matches, Alivo runs the action (or a chain of actions, in order). Common actions include:

• Move to stage. Slide the lead to a different column on the pipeline board.
• Assign an agent. Hand the lead to Lilly, Evan, Alex, Jenna, or a custom agent to start outreach or follow-up.
• Assign an owner. Put a human team member on the lead.
• Create a task. Drop a to-do on someone's list (for example, "appointment canceled, needs reassignment").
• Send a notification. Alert admins or the lead owner inside Alivo, with optional email or text.
• Cancel follow-ups. Stop an agent's follow-up sequence for that lead, either for one agent or all agents.
• Send a webhook. Push lead data out to another system.
• Create a lead. Useful when an inbound webhook brings in someone who is not already in Alivo.

A single automation can run multiple actions in sequence. For example, move a canceled appointment to a "Needs Reassignment" stage and create a task for your office manager in the same breath.

How Pipelines and Automations Work Together

Think of the pipeline as the map and automations as the traffic rules. The board shows everyone where things stand. Automations keep the board accurate without someone updating every card by hand.

A typical roofing workflow might look like this:

• New lead comes in → automation places them on New Lead.
• Evan reaches them → automation moves them to Contacted.
• Inspection gets booked → automation moves them to Inspection Booked.
• Alex picks up the estimate → automation moves them to Estimate Sent.
• Homeowner signs → automation moves them to Estimate Signed.
• Jenna requests a review after the job → automation moves them to Review Requested, then to Done when the review comes in.

That is the idea: real events in Alivo drive stage changes, and your team always sees an up-to-date board. When something goes sideways (a canceled appointment, a follow-up sequence that ran out without a result), a thoughtful automation moves the lead to a stage like Needs Reassignment and creates a task so a human steps in.

Designing Thoughtful Automations

The best automations mirror how your shop already works. They remove repetitive steps without creating surprises. A few principles that tend to work well:

Match Your Stages to Reality

Before you automate anything, make sure your pipeline stages reflect steps your team actually talks about. If your reps say "inspection booked" and "estimate out," your columns should use that language. Automations are easier to reason about when a stage name already means something to everyone on the crew.

Let Real Events Drive Stage Moves

Resist the urge to move leads by hand when Alivo already knows what happened. Agent assignments, booked appointments, and completed goals are reliable signals. Tie stage changes to those events and your board stays honest without extra data entry.

Automate the Exceptions, Not Just the Happy Path

The happy path (new lead → contacted → booked → signed → done) is only half the story. Some of the highest-value automations handle the messy cases: a canceled inspection, a lead that went cold after follow-ups ran out, or a referral flagged as high priority. Move those leads to a visible stage and create a task or notification so nothing slips through.

Start Simple, Then Layer On

One trigger and one action is a solid starting point. Add filters (like "only leads from Google" or "only when lead type is referral") before you add more automations. Too many overlapping rules firing on the same event can make debugging harder than it needs to be.

Use Time-Based Rules for Stale Leads

The "time in stage" trigger is built for nurture and cleanup. If a lead sits in Estimate Sent for two weeks with no movement, an automation can nudge an agent, notify an owner, or move them to a long-term nurture stage. The timer cancels automatically if the lead leaves the stage before it fires, so you are not chasing ghosts.

Connect Your Other Tools Where It Helps

If you run JobNimbus, AccuLynx, Housecall Pro, Jobber, or RoofLink alongside Alivo, CRM event triggers let automations react to job milestones, estimate status changes, and other updates from those systems. Inbound and outbound webhooks go further when you need a custom connection Alivo does not ship out of the box.

Rule of thumb: If you cannot explain an automation in one sentence ("When X happens, do Y"), it is probably doing too much. Split it into two simpler rules.

Check the Logs When Something Feels Off

Every automation run is logged. If a lead did not move when you expected, the log tells you whether the trigger matched, which actions ran, and whether anything failed. That beats guessing which rule stepped on another.

Pre-Built Recipes for Roofing Teams

Alivo ships a set of recommended automations tailored to a standard roofing sales pipeline. These recipes cover the full funnel: placing new leads on the board, advancing stages when agents engage or appointments book, handling canceled inspections, stopping follow-ups when a phone agent reaches its goal, flagging hot leads when a custom field changes, and closing out review requests.

You can add the whole playbook at once or pick individual recipes. Already-applied recipes show as disabled so you can run the list again safely without creating duplicates. This is a practical starting point if you want a working board and sensible automations before you customize anything.

Common Questions

Do I have to use a pipeline?

No, but most teams find it worth it once lead volume picks up. The board gives everyone the same picture of the funnel, and automations depend on stages to know when to act.

Can I move a lead manually and still use automations?

Yes. Dragging a card on the pipeline board updates the lead's stage just like an automation would. Manual moves can also fire stage-based triggers, so think about what should happen when someone drags a card versus when Alivo moves it automatically.

What is the difference between moving a lead to a stage and assigning an agent?

Moving to a stage updates where the lead sits on your board. Assigning an agent starts (or switches) automated outreach and follow-up for that lead. Many shops use both: an automation moves the lead to Contacted and separately assigns Evan to handle the first touch.

Can one event trigger more than one automation?

Yes. Multiple automations can listen for the same trigger. That is powerful, but it is another reason to keep each rule focused and check the logs if results look unexpected.

The pipeline gives you visibility. Automations give you momentum. Start with stages that match how you sell, wire up the obvious event-to-stage moves, and add exception handling for the cases that used to fall through the cracks. Your board stays current, your agents get the right leads at the right time, and your team spends less time on admin.

Still have a question this didn't answer? Reach out to our support team support@alivo.ai and we'll be glad to help.