Summary

• Flowchart
• Basic Settings
• How to Add New Agent Lead Routing Rules
• How to Edit / Pause / Reorder / Delete Agent Lead Routing Rules
• Agent Lead Routing Rule Specifics
  • Rule Name
  • Location
  • Source
  • Tags & Groups
  • Phone
  • Pricing
  • Lead Type
  • Active Hours
  • Assign Rule
    • (1) Round Robin & (2) Next Up Assignment Methods
    • (3) Blast Alert Assignment Method
    • (4) Lead Pond Assignment Method
• Lead Routing Notifications 
• Working Hours & Vacation Mode
• Default Rule
• Lead Routing Rule Order
• Lead Routing to Different Roles
• Lead Routing and Auto Emails
• Personal Lead Routing Rules

 

Flowchart

Use the below flowchart to get a general idea of what happens to leads as they enter the Chime platform and are passed through rules. This process will make more sense as you review the rest of the content in the article.

 

Basic Settings

Only leads that come in as "Team Leads" will be routed through agent lead routing rules. Private Leads will not (see Lead Privacy: Team Leads vs. Private Leads).

There is also a setting to control whether the Team Owner/Admin's leads or all team members' leads (brought in from their corresponding lead capture settings) will be sent through agent lead routing or not.

Here is where that is edited:

1. Navigate to Settings
2. Click on Lead Routing under Lead Distribution
3. Click the blue Lead Options button

Here, you may decide if leads are routing via Team/Company/Group lead routing rules, or via your personal lead routing rules:

Team Source

• Team Website. Leads that register on the Team Owner/Admin's website including Chime Paid Leads, etc.

 

Personal Source

• Zillow. Refers to leads that come in via the Zillow integration. See Zillow Integration. If you want to route by rules set up at Zillow, be sure to toggle this OFF
• Third-party Providers. Refers to all lead capture sources that are done via email parsing. See Lead Capture/Email Parsing
• Open House. Leads that sign up on an Open House form. See Open House Forms for more information.
• Zapier. Leads that enter the system for the Team Owner/Admin via Zapier. See Zapier Integration for more information.
• Facebook Ads-Lead Form. Leads that enter the system via the Facebook Lead Form integration. Learn more in this article: Facebook Lead Form Ads + Chime Integration.

A key setting to be aware of is found under "Team Owner's Leads" and allows for leads that enter Chime on the Team Website to be automatically assigned to the listing agent for that specific listing. This will only work if that agent is a user of this specific team and has their MLS Agent ID set up (see the "MLS Agent ID" section under Complete your Chime Profile).

 

How to Add New Lead Routing Rules

1. Navigate to Settings
2. Click on Lead Routing under Lead Distribution
3. Choose the tab for the role you want to set up rules for (Agent, Lender, Assistant, Custom Roles, etc. You can add/edit/delete these roles under Settings > Agent > Agent Roles)
4. Click on the + Add New button to create a new rule

 

How to Edit / Pause / Reorder / Delete Agent Lead Routing Rules

1. Navigate to Settings

2. Click on Lead Routing under Lead Distribution

3. Choose the tab for the role you want to set up rules for (Agent, Lender, Assistant, Custom Roles, etc. You can add/edit/delete these roles under Settings > Agent > Agent Roles).

4. Adjust the rule by doing any of the following: 

(a) Pause / Resume an agent lead routing rule

(b) Edit an agent lead routing rule

(c) Copy an agent lead routing rule

(d) Delete an agent lead routing rule

(e) Drag and drop to reorder agent lead routing rules (order is important with agent lead routing rules)

 

Lead Routing Rule Specifics

These are the instructions on how to actually build out a lead routing rule. This can get complex because there is a lot of built-in logic that you may need to consider, but if you take it a piece at a time it should make sense.

 

Rule Name

Give your agent lead routing rule a name that you will recognize it by so that you can easily access the right rule for future adjustments as necessary.

 

Location

If you want to route leads by specific locations, use these fields:

The following location fields will update, based on if Canada or United States is selected as the Country:

 

After filling in a specific location you must choose from one of two available options:

• Match Exactly. A lead will only be routed by this rule if the lead’s location criteria are an exact match for the location data above. For example, if I add a city, county, address, and zip code, ALL of them will have to match in order for this rule to apply. If one is empty, this rule would not apply to the lead.
• Empty or Match Exactly. This option is fairly complex in how it works. Every incoming lead will be compared against the location fields in this order: (a) street address, (b) zip code, (c) city, (d) county, and (e) state. Depending on the result, the lead will either Pass one field and move to the next or will Fail and skip the entire lead routing rule. Here are the different scenarios that can occur:
  • (a) Street Address 

    Rule has an address?	No	Yes	Yes	No
    Lead has an address?	No	Yes	No	Yes
    -- Result	Field (a) Passed. Compare to field (b).	1. If the addresses match, field (a) is Passed. Compare to field (b). 2. If addresses do not match, field (a) Failed. The lead will not be routed by this rule.	Field (a) Failed. Lead will not be routed by this rule.	Field (a) Passed. Compare to field (b).

  • (b) Zip Code

    Rule has a zip code?	No	Yes	Yes	No
    Lead has a zip code?	No	Yes	No	Yes
    -- Result	Field (b) Passed. Compare to field (c).	1. If the zip codes match, field (b) is Passed. Compare to field (c). 2. If zip codes do not match, field (b) Failed. The lead will not be routed by this rule.	1. If the previous comparison (a) Passed, field (b) also Passed. Compare to field (c). 2. If the previous comparison (a) Failed, field (b) also Failed. The lead will not be routed by this rule.	Field (b) Passed. Compare to field (c).

  • (c) City

    Rule has a city?	No	Yes	Yes	No
    Lead has a city?	No	Yes	No	Yes
    -- Result	Field (c) Passed. Compare to field (d).	1. If the cities matched, field (c) is Passed. Compare to field (d). 2. If cities do not match, field (c) Failed. The lead will not be routed by this rule.	1. If the previous comparisons (a) and (b) both Passed, field (c) also Passed. Compare to field (d). 2. If the previous comparison (b) Failed, field (c) also Failed. The lead will not be routed by this rule.	Field (c) Passed. Compare to field (d).

  • (d) County

    Rule has county?	No	Yes	Yes	No
    Lead has county?	No	Yes	No	Yes
    -- Result	Field (d) Passed. Compare to field (e).	1. If the counties matched, field (d) is Passed. Compare to field (e). 2. If counties do not match, field (d) Failed. The lead will not be routed by this rule.	1. If the previous comparisons (a), (b), and (c) all Passed, field (d) also Passed. Compare to field (e). 2. If the previous comparisons (a), (b), or (c) Failed, field (d) also Failed. The lead will not be routed by this rule.	Field (d) Passed. Compare to field (e).

  • (e) State

    Rule has state?	No	Yes	Yes	No
    Lead has state?	No	Yes	No	Yes
    -- Result	Field (e) Passed. Lead will be routed according to this rule.	1. If the states matched, field (e) is Passed. Lead will be routed according to this rule. 2. If states do not match, field (e) Failed. The lead will not be routed by this rule.	1. If the previous comparisons (a), (b), (c) and (d) all Passed, comparison (e) also Passed. Lead will be routed according to this rule. 2. If the previous comparisons (a), (b), (c) or (d) Failed, field (e) also Failed. The lead will not be routed by this rule.	1. If the previous comparisons (a), (b), (c) and (d) all Passed, comparison (e) also Passed. Lead will be routed according to this rule. 2. If the previous comparisons (a), (b), (c) or (d) Failed, field (e) also Failed. The lead will not be routed by this rule.

 

Source

After selecting source(s) from the list, you must choose from one of the two available options:

1. Match Exactly. A lead will have to be a match for the “source” field. This means that if a lead comes in that matches the “location” criteria but that has a source that does not match the source setting, it will not be routed in this rule.
2. Empty or Match Exactly. A lead will be routed by this rule if the lead has no source specified or it matches the source. It does not have to have a defined source to match the rule with this option selected.

 

Tags & Groups

For lead routing by tags or groups. . .

• if a lead comes in with even one of the tags/groups that is on the list, it will be captured by the rule. It's not a requirement for the lead to have all of them.
• you can only choose a maximum of 500 tags

 

Phone

For lead routing by phone, there are only two options:

1. with phone number and
2. without phone number

Use this option if you want to filter out leads that have (or do not have) phone numbers.

 

Pricing

If you want to lead route a lead based on the price associated with any inquiries that they have associated with their lead record when they enter the CRM, you can use the min/max fields to define a price range. If the inquiry price falls within that range, the lead will match this rule assuming all other criteria has been met as well.

 

Lead Type

If you would like to route your leads based on the type of lead they are, you can use this drop-down menu. If the lead type does not matter, be sure to select All. 

 

Active Hours

Applies to. . .

• Agent Lead Routing (this article)
• Lender Lead Routing
• Custom Role Lead Routing

Does not apply to. . .

• Enterprise Lead Routing
• Re-Routing Groups

Use this setting to set a specific schedule for a lead routing rule. With a schedule set, if a lead enters the CRM at a time/day that is outside of a rule's "Active Hours," that rule will not apply to the new lead. In other words, if a lead matches all the above criteria (location, price, source, etc.) but comes in at a time that is outside of the "Active Hours," it will skip that rule. 

Here is what that setting looks like inside of an individual lead routing rule:

• Active Hours
• Active Days
• If outside of active hours and days, then. . .
  • Go to the next rule (currently the only option)

 

Once established, the active hours are listed to the top-right of each rule when looking at the lead routing rules summary page:

 

Assign Rule

At this point in building an agent lead routing rule, you will select a method to be used to assign leads to agents on the team. Chime provides four methods for actually distributing the leads to your team.

1. Round Robin. Leads are assigned directly to the agents according to the rule.
2. Next Up. Similar to Round Robin, leads are assigned directly to the agents according to the rule. However, the agent has to claim the lead within a certain time period or it moves to the next person in the rule. See below for specifics. 
3. Blast Alert. The lead is "blasted" out to everyone and the first one to claim it gets it. See below for specifics.
4. Lead Pond. The lead is added directly to the indicated lead pond. See below for specifics.

You will first choose the assignment method you want to use and then you will select the assignees:

 

*IMPORTANT:

• Not every Chime package has all four assigned rule options. If you do not see one of the four options available in your lead routing settings it is because you do not have access to that option without upgrading to a higher package.
• Adding users to a rule that already exists will reset the order of lead distribution. 
• Removing users from a rule that already exists will reset the order of lead distribution. 

 

(1) Round Robin & (2) Next-Up Assignment Methods

As mentioned above, these two methods are very similar to each other. Here are the differences:

• Round Robin
  Directly assign incoming leads to assignees one by one as listed in the assignee's section of the rule. With this option, the receiving agent does not have to “claim” the lead within a specific period of time. Instead, the lead is directly assigned to them.
• Next Up
  Just like Round Robin with the exception of the receiving agent does have to "claim" the lead by making contact with them (start making a call through Chime, sending a text/email, adding a note, or changing a pipeline status, group, or tag) within the defined amount of time in the setting. If the receiving agent does not "claim" the lead within the given time, the lead will be sent to the next person who should receive it. 

If you want to get in the weeds and understand the exact logic in place behind the scenes, we will do our best to give you that context in the following article: In-Depth: Round Robin & Next Up. Keep in mind that it can be a bit confusing so you might need to re-read that content multiple times to get there.

 

(3) Blast Alert Assignment Method

With Blast Alert, an email, web, and app push notification will go out to all those mentioned in the “Assign To” section of the rule. The notification will say there is a new lead to a claim. The first recipient to claim the lead by clicking the “Claim” button from a notification will be the one to receive it. The time period will require that lead to being claimed by someone in this rule within the designated time before it will move to the next rule (or the default rule as the catch-all). As this is sent to everyone at once, there is no percentage (%) to determine who would get more.

 

(4) Lead Pond Assignment Method

With this option, you can assign leads that apply to this lead routing rule directly to a lead pond. You can give certain users on your team access to specific lead ponds, those with access to a pond will all receive notifications of a new lead being added, and anyone with access to that pond can claim the lead at any time. For more information regarding lead ponds, please see Lead Pond.

 

Lead Routing Notifications 

If you would like to see what lead notifications look like when received by the agents on your team, please see the following article: Lead Routing Notifications.

 

Working Hours & Vacation Mode

A Team Owner/Admin can set “Working Hours” or toggle “Vacation Mode” for every user under Settings > Agent > Agent List > Working Hours. Agent lead routing rules will not distribute leads to agents who are not in their working hours or have “Vacation Mode” toggled on. If all agents in a rule are not in their working hours, the next applicable rule would grab the lead, or it would end up at the Default Rule.

Individual agents can also control their “Working Hours” or “Vacation Mode” in Settings > Preferences > Working Hours.

Along with working hours, be sure to make sure everyone has the same time zone in order for lead distribution to be accurate:

 

Default Rule

The Default Rule is the “catch-all” rule that will take effect if the lead matches no other criteria from the previous rules on the list. If no rules are created, the default rule will route the incoming leads. Click the edit button to update the default rule. The default rule is found at the very bottom of the “Agent Routing” page and includes the following rules to distribute:

• Assign Directly
  • You can choose to assign directly to a specific user or to a specific lead pond (see Lead Pond)
• Next Up or Blast Alert
  • If either of these two options is selected, leads can be distributed by these two methods but only to those who are not added in any of the previous lead routing rules that come before the Default Rule.

 

Lead Routing Rule Order

All lead routing rules are listed under Settings > Lead Routing. The order of these rules does matter. This means that a lead will be compared against rule #1 first. If it matches, it will follow that criterion. If not, it will move to rules #2, #3, etc. With that in mind, you can prioritize the rule by putting it at the top (see How to Edit / Pause / Reorder / Delete Agent Lead Routing Rules).

 

Lead Routing to Different Roles

Chime also has the feature to lead routes to any of the different roles available on a lead. The default roles are the following:

• Agent
• Assistant
• Lender

Up to ten additional roles can be created by the Team Owner/Admin under Settings > Agent > Agent Roles (see Custom Roles). Any additional role that is listed here will appear in the lead profile page under the “Assigned To” section and a lead routing rule can be set up to assign a use to that slot. The same options are available under each role (lender must be sent to a lender-type account) and can be adjusted by selecting the name of the role and setting up the rule. These are optional and do not have to be set up.

*Please note that currently there is no way for a husband/wife or another duo (or more) relationship to be automatically assigned to every lead together. The lead routing rules for the assistant or other custom roles can be used to automatically add users to those slots, but it will not take into consideration what is happening in the other rules. 

 

Lead Routing and Auto Emails

The following are only sent after lead routing is complete and a person is in the primary "Agent" role of a lead profile. The emails will be sent by the individual in the "Agent" role of a lead profile. You will want to keep this in mind when setting up lead routing rules because any delays in the lead routing to distribute leads will keep these from being sent.

• Welcome Email
• Welcome Text
• Smart Plan Emails / Texts
• Property Alerts
• AI Assistant Engagement

Personal Lead Routing Rules

All Chime users have the ability to set up their own personal lead routing rules. These are rules that will only apply to their personal leads. By default, these leads will be assigned to the agent who owns the lead source, but rules could be set up to assign these leads to other members on the Chime account. 

To set up a personal lead routing rule, select "Personal Routing" in the lead routing rules scope.

Note: If you do not have permission to set up Team/Company/Group lead routing rules, the only scope available will be Personal Routing.

The process for setting up personal lead routing rules is exactly the same as described above. 

 

Questions?

If you have any questions regarding this topic or any others, please reach out to our Support Team via email at <support@chimeinc.com>, by phone at 1 (855) 981-7557, or by a chat with us through your Chime CRM.