Skip to main content
The Automation Builder gives you complete, step-by-step control over your outreach cadence. You decide who enters, exactly what happens at each step and when, how Sally writes each message for each persona, when a lead exits, and what happens to other contacts at the same account. Unlike the AI SDR Builder’s guided wizard, the Automation Builder is a blank canvas — build anything from a simple three-step email sequence to a complex multi-channel, branch-driven cadence. When you’re done, activate it as a live agent.
The Automation Builder and the AI SDR Builder are two views of the same underlying page. The AI SDR Builder walks you through a guided wizard; the Automation Builder puts the full cadence editor in your hands. Switch between them using the tabs at the top of the builder page.

​
How to build and launch an automation

Open AI Agents, click + New agent, and select Automation. The builder opens in Flow mode by default.
1

Choose your view: Plain English or Flow

The builder header shows two view modes. Select the one that suits your current task:
Plain English renders your cadence as readable, numbered “When / And / Then / Wait / If…” sentences. Use this view to read back your cadence at a glance, share it with a colleague for review, or get a quick sanity check on the overall logic — without navigating individual step cards.Plain English is a read-only overview. To make changes, switch back to Flow.
2

Set who enters the cadence (Audience)

At the top of the Flow sits the Enter when card. Click Configure to open the trigger inspector and select an audience source:For Find Leads, My Leads, My Companies, and Intent signals sources, the Audience tab previews the real matching people grouped into four personas — Decision Maker, Champion, Influencer, End User — with a live match count. Leave everyone selected to enroll all matches, or check specific people to enroll only them. Other sources (Website visitors, LinkedIn URL list) resolve their audience at run time.
Both the Enter when card and the Cadence summary rail show a live audience line — for example, “120 prospects match · all enrolled.” If it reads “0 prospects match,” widen your filters before activating.
3

Add and order your steps

Click Add a step (or the + between any two rows) to insert a new touch. Choose from the following step types:Outreach steps:
  • LinkedIn invite — sends a connection request with an optional note
  • LinkedIn message — sends a direct message to a 1st-degree connection
  • LinkedIn InMail — sends a paid InMail to any LinkedIn member
  • LinkedIn auto-visit — automatically views a prospect’s profile (triggers their visibility notification)
  • Email — AI-drafted message sent from your connected mailbox
  • Call — queues a call task in your power dialer
  • WhatsApp — sends a WhatsApp message
  • SMS — sends an SMS
Intelligence steps:
  • Company Deep Research — Sally researches the prospect’s company and uses the findings to personalize later steps. Can be added once.
  • Persona Deep Research — Sally researches the individual contact. Can be added once.
Logic steps:
  • Condition — creates a branch in the cadence based on whether the lead replied, connected on LinkedIn, didn’t connect, visited your site, opened an email, or clicked a link.
Reorder any step at any time using the ↑ / ↓ arrows on its card.
4

Set the delay for each step

Every step has its own delay before it fires. Open a step and set the wait time as a number plus a unit: minutes, hours, or days. Set the delay to 0 to fire the step immediately after the previous one completes.
Always set an explicit delay on each step — even if it’s 0 for “send now” — so the cadence runs at the exact pace you intend and there are no surprises.
5

Configure each step's message and prompts

Click any messaging step to open its inspector panel. Across the top is a persona row — Decision Maker, Champion, Influencer, End User — above four tabs:
  • Preview — generates the real AI message for the selected persona using a sample or researched lead. Use this to confirm how your prompt actually reads before launch.
  • Prompt — write a free-text AI direction. Type / to insert dynamic variables (lead first name, company name, title, and more). Alternatively, select a saved prompt from your AI Library.
  • Personas — write a distinct prompt for a specific persona. Click a persona in the row above to switch to it and write its prompt. A dot appears on any persona that already has its own prompt. Personas without a custom prompt fall back to the step’s base prompt automatically.
  • Rules — set the subject line (for email steps), fine-tune the delay, add an optional internal note, and configure runtime guards.
Research steps (Company Deep Research, Persona Deep Research) show a Research tab instead, where you set the research prompt, depth, and breadth.
If you leave a step without any prompt, Sally writes the message per lead with no template — that’s valid and often works well. Use the Preview tab to confirm what will actually be sent before you activate.
6

Set exit rules, account focus, and CRM sync

Configure global behavior in the right rail of the builder:Exit rules — control when a lead automatically leaves the cadence:
  • On email reply (within N days)
  • On LinkedIn reply
  • On meeting booked
  • On no reply after N days
  • When already enrolled in another active cadence
Unsubscribe is always honored, regardless of your exit rule configuration. Any lead who unsubscribes is immediately removed from the cadence and will never receive further outreach. This cannot be disabled.
Account focus — when one contact at a company replies positively, automatically pause all other contacts at that account. Set the sentiment threshold, behavior, and pause window to match your sales motion. This prevents your team from emailing a deal that’s already in motion.CRM sync — push the agent’s activity to your connected integrations: HubSpot, Salesforce, or Slack. Activity syncs automatically once you activate if the integration is connected.
7

Test the cadence before activating

Click Test run in the builder header to open a dry preview. Pick a lead from your audience and the builder renders every step with real variables filled in, exactly as Sally would execute them.From the test run panel, click Send a real test to your email address to deliver the first step’s actual message to yourself via a connected mailbox. This lets you see the full rendered email — including formatting, variables, and subject line — before any prospect sees it.
“Send a real test to your email address” only ever emails the signed-in user. It never sends to a prospect. Use it freely to validate your output before activating.
8

Activate the agent

Click 🚀 Activate to deploy. The builder creates the agent, enrolls your selected audience, and navigates you to the agent’s detail page. From there, Sally begins working the cadence for every enrolled lead.
Activating deploys a live agent that sends real outreach immediately. Double-check your audience count, all step prompts, and delays in the Test run before clicking Activate.

​
Audience sources at a glance

Search for net-new prospects by job title, industry, location, company size, and technologies, with optional ICP and persona filters from your AI Library. The Audience tab shows a live count of matching people grouped by persona. Widen or narrow filters until the count looks right, then enroll all or pin specific individuals.
Pull from contacts and accounts already in your Salestools workspace. Filter by tag to target a specific segment — for example, “Cold Q3 pipeline” or “Conference attendees.” These sources are ideal for re-engagement or follow-up cadences.
Enroll people identified by the Salestools Visitor Tracker as they arrive on your site. Apply industry and company-size filters to focus on your ICP. The audience resolves at run time as new visitors are identified.
Target companies surging on research topics relevant to your product, actively hiring for roles that indicate a buying need, or using specific technologies. Intent-based enrollment means every prospect enters the cadence when they’re most likely to be receptive.
Paste a list of LinkedIn profile URLs to enroll those exact people. Use this for event follow-up, targeted account lists, or any scenario where you’ve already identified the exact individuals you want to reach.

AI SDR Builder

Prefer a guided setup? Build an AI SDR with the seven-step wizard — persona, voice, channels, and playbook.

Managing Agents

Monitor, pause, resume, and review the agents you’ve launched.

AI Agents Overview

Understand how AI Agents work in Salestools and where to start.
Last modified on June 20, 2026