Playbooks

Playbooks define the step-by-step process your team follows when working a lead, contact, deal, or any other record. They combine manual checklists (tasks your team checks off) with automated actions (emails, texts, and notifications that send themselves) into a single, repeatable process.

What Is a Playbook?

A playbook is a structured guide that tells your team exactly what to do — and when — as a record moves through your pipeline. Think of it as a recipe for handling a specific type of record.

For example, a "New Lead Follow-Up" playbook might look like this:

• Immediately: Send the assigned rep a notification that a new lead arrived
• Immediately: Rep calls the lead (manual checklist item)
• 30 minutes later: If no contact was made, automatically send the lead a text message
• 4 hours later: If still no reply, automatically send a follow-up email
• Next day: Rep checks in and updates the lead status (manual checklist item)

Some of these steps happen automatically; others are tasks for your team to complete by hand. That is the power of a playbook — it combines both.

Getting There

• Log in to Ambivo
• Navigate to Playbooks (usually under Settings or Automation in the sidebar)
• You will see a list of all playbooks with their names, entity types, and automation status

Playbook Types

Creating a Playbook

1. 1

   Create playbook

   Click + New Playbook or Create Playbook. Enter Name, Description, and Entity Type (Lead, Contact, Account, Opportunity, or Order).

2. 2

   Configure enrollment and exit

   Configure Enrollment Triggers — which statuses automatically enroll records. Configure Exit Criteria — which statuses automatically remove records.

3. 3

   Add steps and save

   Add your Steps — the sequence of activities. Click Save.

Playbook Steps

Each step in a playbook is one of two types:

Manual Steps (Checklist Items)

These are tasks your team completes by hand. They appear as a checklist in the record's detail view.

• The rep sees the step name and instructions
• They check it off when completed
• Required steps must be completed before the record can advance
• "Call the lead within 5 minutes of assignment"
• "Confirm the prospect's budget and timeline"
• "Update the lead status based on the call outcome"

Automated Steps (Workflow Actions)

These are actions that execute automatically without anyone needing to do anything.

Step Timing

• Immediate (no delay) — Runs the moment the record enters the stage
• Delayed — Runs after a specified wait time (e.g., 30 minutes, 4 hours, 1 day)
• All delayed steps for a stage are scheduled at the same time, based on when the record entered that stage. They do not wait for each other — they run independently at their scheduled times.

Enrollment: How Records Enter a Playbook

Records can be enrolled in a playbook in two ways:

Automatic Enrollment (Status-Based)

When you configure trigger statuses on a playbook, any record whose status changes to one of those values is automatically enrolled. Example: If trigger statuses are "Assigned" and "Attempted," a lead whose status changes to either value is enrolled; a lead whose status changes to "Qualified" is not.

Manual Enrollment

A user can manually enroll any record in a playbook from the record's detail view. This is useful for one-off situations or records that do not match the automatic trigger criteria.

Enrollment Limits

You can set a maximum number of concurrent enrollments per rep. For example, if you set the limit to 20, each rep can have at most 20 records actively running through this playbook at any time. Set to unlimited (0) if you do not want a cap.

Exit Criteria: How Records Leave a Playbook

Records can exit a playbook in two ways:

Automatic Exit (Status-Based)

When you configure exit statuses on a playbook, any enrolled record whose status changes to one of those values is automatically removed from the playbook. All pending scheduled steps are cancelled immediately. Example: If exit statuses are "Contacted," "Meeting Set Up," and "Disqualified," the playbook stops as soon as the record reaches any of those statuses.

Manual Exit

A user can manually remove a record from a playbook at any time. All pending steps are cancelled.

Smart Guards

Playbooks include built-in safeguards to prevent over-communication:

Skip If Replied

Individual steps can be configured to skip automatically if the contact has replied since enrollment. Example: You have a 30-minute SMS step. If the lead replied to your initial call before the 30 minutes are up, the SMS is skipped.

Send As Owner

By default, automated emails and texts are sent from the record's assigned owner, not from a generic company address. This makes outreach feel personal and ensures replies go to the right person.

Calendar Reminders

Automated steps can create calendar events for the record's owner. Example: When a notification step fires to alert a rep about a new lead, it also creates a 15-minute calendar event titled "Call {{first_name}} {{last_name}} — New Lead." Calendar reminders sync with Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook.

Personalization

Automated messages support merge fields — placeholders that are replaced with real data when the message is sent.

This ensures every automated message feels personal, even at scale.

Monitoring and Execution Logs

What You Can See

• Which steps have been completed for a record
• Whether each step was sent, skipped, or failed
• The reason if a step was skipped (e.g., "contact replied since enrollment")
• Calendar events that were created
• Timestamps for every action

Where to Find Logs

• On the record: Open a lead, contact, or deal and check the Playbook section to see enrollment status and step history
• In the Playbook settings: View execution logs across all records enrolled in a specific playbook

Example: Lead Follow-Up Playbook

Here is a real-world example of a hybrid playbook for new leads — "New Lead Outreach" for Lead entity type with trigger statuses Assigned and Attempted, and exit statuses Contacted, Meeting Set Up, Disqualified, and Incorrect:

If the lead's status changes to "Contacted" at any point, they exit the playbook and all remaining scheduled steps are cancelled.

Common Questions

Tips and Best Practices

• Start with a hybrid playbook — Combine automated outreach with manual checkpoints so reps stay engaged while the system handles routine follow-ups
• Use exit statuses aggressively — Make sure records leave the playbook as soon as they are contacted or disqualified to prevent unnecessary messages
• Enable skip-if-replied — On follow-up steps, always turn this on to avoid messaging people who already responded
• Space out your automated steps — A message every 30 minutes feels aggressive; space them out with delays of hours or days
• Keep manual steps clear and actionable — "Call the lead and ask about their timeline" is better than "Follow up"
• Set enrollment limits — If your team has capacity constraints, use max concurrent enrollments to prevent overload
• Review execution logs weekly — Look for patterns: Are steps being skipped frequently? Are emails failing? Adjust your playbook accordingly
• Personalize everything — Use merge fields so automated messages feel human

Related Guides

• CRM-014 — Workflows
• CRM-001 — Leads Management
• CRM-002 — Contacts Management
• CRM-011 — Tasks and Task Projects
• CRM-013 — Calendar
• CRM-012 — Email Management
• CRM-016 — AI Assistant