Your step-by-step operating playbook.
Proposed client-review template, not approved internal policy. Support a healthier pipeline through lead qualification, accurate CRM stages, appointments and approved follow-ups. Keep opportunities visible without making sales commitments or promising outcomes.
The complete SOP is visible below—no download or extra click required. Tailor the selected duties, training, tools and approval limits with your team before work starts.
Complete task & responsibility scope.
Keep the pipeline current, communicate approved offers and escalate qualified opportunities to the sales owner.
Support approved prospect outreach, qualification, appointment setting and pipeline administration with documented contact permissions and human sales handoffs.
Select the duties relevant to your business at kickoff. Extended duties require suitable training, supervisor approval and scoped access; this list does not automatically authorize clinical, legal, licensed or financial decisions.
- Qualify leads using approved criteria
- Maintain accurate CRM stages
- Schedule sales appointments
- Send approved follow-ups and record outcomes
- Conduct outbound calls from client-approved lists and scripts.
- Qualify leads and identify decision-makers using agreed criteria.
- Schedule sales appointments for authorized closers.
- Follow up with prospects and maintain contact records.
- Update the CRM with prospect information and interaction notes.
- Nurture leads through approved communication and cadence.
- Provide approved product information and answer basic questions.
- Assist with sales pipeline management.
- Generate sales reports and activity metrics.
- Support approved sales email campaigns and follow-ups.
01 / Deliverables, ownership & kickoff
What you receive
- Qualification notes with criteria, evidence and unresolved questions
- Updated CRM records with stage reasons, ownership and next actions
- Qualified-opportunity handoffs for sales-owner review
- Confirmed appointments with timezone and sales owner
- Follow-up outcomes and pipeline exception summary
Who owns what
Assistant
- Assess assigned leads using approved questions and qualification criteria.
- Maintain authorized CRM fields, book permitted appointments and send approved follow-ups.
- Record evidence and outcomes; escalate uncertain stages, offer questions and blocked opportunities.
Client owner
- Approve qualification criteria, stages, offers, scripts, contact permissions and booking rules.
- Review qualified opportunities and decide negotiation, pricing, commitments and sales strategy.
- Authorize access and exceptions; retain budgets, purchases, payments and professional decisions.
VSI coordinator or agreed Team Lead
- Confirm assignment boundaries and route access or workload blockers to the client.
- Review agreed record samples and coach qualification or logging gaps.
- Track unresolved escalations without substituting for client sales approvals.
Confirm before work starts
- Agree assigned lead queues, sales owner and escalation contact.
- Document qualification criteria, required questions and treatment of incomplete answers.
- Define CRM stages, transition evidence, required fields and duplicate-handling permissions.
- Approve offer wording, follow-up templates, contact permissions and opt-out handling.
- Confirm appointment types, owner availability, timezones, buffers and rescheduling authority.
- Provide individual accounts with permitted fields and approved communication channels.
- Agree review samples, reporting cadence, quality targets and approval evidence location.
Role-specific readiness checklist
- Confirm list provenance, contact permissions, suppression rules and outreach hours.
- Review the approved script, qualification criteria and escalation owner.
- Respect opt-outs and required recording disclosures immediately.
- Log call outcome, lead stage, consent status and next follow-up.
- Handoff qualified prospects and report activity and exceptions.
02 / Skills, systems & approved access
Skills and qualifications
- Customer communication
- CRM fluency
- Lead qualification and reporting
- Professional phone manner and verbal communication
- Sales experience or consultative selling aptitude
- Resilience and a positive response to rejection
- Active listening to identify customer needs
- Natural delivery of approved sales scripts
- Experience with CRM and sales tracking
- Goal-oriented mindset
- Understanding of sales metrics and KPIs
Verify the capability—not just the résumé
- Customer communication
- Role-play an unclear inquiry; ask approved questions without pressure or unsupported promises.
- Approved offer communication
- Explain a sample offer accurately; route a discount request to the owner.
- CRM fluency
- Update a training record with stage evidence, owner, activity and next-action date.
- Lead qualification
- Score three sample leads against the rubric; distinguish confirmed facts from missing answers.
- Lead reporting
- Reconcile sample stage totals and identify overdue actions without counting duplicates.
Tools and systems
Use client-approved tools and individual role-based accounts. Examples are options, not claims that an integration or subscription is included. Never share credentials in chat.
- Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho or Pipedrive
- Approved business phone platform
- Shared scheduling tools
- CRM software: Salesforce, HubSpot or Pipedrive
- VoIP phone systems
- Call tracking and recording software, with required permissions
- Email automation tools for approved follow-up
- Lead management systems
- Sales script management
- Performance tracking and reporting tools
How access supports the procedure
Client-approved Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho or Pipedrive
Use: Maintain assigned leads, qualification evidence, stages, activities and handoffs.
Access: Individual account limited to approved records and fields; no unapproved bulk changes.
Approved business phone platform
Use: Conduct permitted qualification conversations and follow-ups; log outcomes in CRM.
Access: Client-provisioned account and approved scripts; recording only if expressly authorized.
Shared scheduling tools
Use: Check sales-owner availability and arrange authorized appointments.
Access: Booking permissions for designated calendars only; integrations require separate client approval.
03 / Qualify an assigned lead
Start when: A lead enters the agreed qualification queue.
What you need
- Assigned lead record and contact permissions
- Approved criteria and questions
- Current offer wording
How to complete the work
- Check identity, duplicates, source, owner and contact restrictions before contacting the lead.
- Review existing answers; identify missing criteria without inferring interest or purchasing authority.
- Use the approved channel and questions; communicate only authorized offer details.
- Record answers, source and conversation outcome; label unknowns rather than guessing.
- Apply the rubric and prepare a qualification recommendation with supporting evidence.
- Route qualified opportunities to the sales owner; request review for ambiguous criteria before progressing.
Evidence, recommendation, owner and next action are recorded; qualified leads have a documented handoff.
If something is missing or outside scope: Stop contact on an opt-out; flag missing permission or disputed answers for client direction.
04 / Maintain CRM stages and opportunity handoffs
Start when: Qualification, owner feedback or an interaction changes the lead's status.
What you need
- Existing CRM record
- Interaction evidence or owner decision
- Approved stage definitions
How to complete the work
- Compare new evidence with current stage, owner and open activities.
- Check required fields and transition criteria; flag contradictions or duplicates.
- Prepare the stage change and reason; obtain owner authorization wherever stage rules require it.
- Update only permitted fields after authorization; retain source and change history.
- Attach qualification notes, questions and next-action date to the sales-owner handoff.
- Recheck saved values and track owner acknowledgment; escalate unacknowledged handoffs at the agreed review point.
Stage evidence, ownership and next action agree; required approvals are traceable.
If something is missing or outside scope: Do not merge disputed records or mark won/lost without required evidence and authority.
05 / Schedule appointments and complete approved follow-ups
Start when: An authorized booking request arrives or an agreed follow-up becomes due.
What you need
- Lead record and permitted follow-up
- Sales-owner calendar and booking rules
- Approved template and prior outcome
How to complete the work
- Check contact permission, opt-outs, previous response and whether the next action remains appropriate.
- Verify purpose, attendee details, timezone and sales-owner availability; resolve conflicts before offering slots.
- Prepare the approved follow-up or slot choices; obtain required message or booking approval.
- Send through the authorized channel; book within delegated rules after the lead confirms.
- Record wording or template version, response, appointment details and next-action date in CRM.
- Check calendar and CRM agreement; route offer changes, declined appointments or unresolved availability to the owner.
Confirmed bookings match CRM; follow-ups have an outcome or pending-response status and next review date.
If something is missing or outside scope: Do not promise availability, pricing exceptions or repeated contact beyond approved follow-up rules.
06 / Daily rhythm, quality & reporting
Daily routine for this role
- Review assigned qualification and follow-up queues.
- Check appointments for conflicts and missing confirmations.
- Reconcile today's interactions with CRM stages and next actions.
- Flag blocked handoffs, opt-outs and approval requests.
Weekly review
- Review sampled qualification decisions and stage changes with the coordinator.
- Reconcile pipeline counts and overdue actions with the sales owner.
- Confirm updated offers, criteria and templates before using revisions.
Quality checks and measures
Agree review standards with the client. Example measures are not guaranteed service levels.
Qualification completeness
Review standard: Agree a target percentage with required criteria answered or marked unknown.
Evidence: Sampled rubrics and source notes.
Stage accuracy
Review standard: Agree a target percentage of transitions supported by evidence and required approval.
Evidence: CRM change history and approval references.
Booking accuracy
Review standard: Agree a target percentage matching attendee, owner, timezone and confirmed slot.
Evidence: Calendar-to-CRM comparison.
Follow-up traceability
Review standard: Agree a target percentage with permission check, outcome and next action recorded.
Evidence: Activity logs and exception register; targets are not guarantees.
Reporting and handoff
Cadence: Propose a daily summary and weekly pipeline review; confirm with the client.
- Leads reviewed
- Qualification outcomes
- Stage changes
- Qualified handoffs awaiting owner review
- Appointments confirmed or changed
- Follow-up outcomes and opt-outs
- Blockers, approval requests and next actions
07 / Approval limits & escalation
Decisions that need approval
- Use only client-approved offers, criteria, contact permissions, scripts and follow-up limits.
- Respect opt-outs; pause unclear permissions rather than inventing contact rules.
- Keep access individual; do not share credentials or enable integrations without approval.
- Client retains pricing, negotiations, commitments, budgets, purchases, payments, filings and licensed or legal decisions.
- This template authorizes no live messages or account operations; execution requires client-approved assignment and access.
Role-specific control requirements
- Client must approve outreach rules, consent requirements and applicable calling/email restrictions before contact.
- No unapproved claims, offers, contracts or recording; do not contact suppressed recipients.
- Review CRM completeness, opt-out handling and appointment quality weekly; no sales outcome is guaranteed.
What to do when work cannot proceed
Missing contact permission or opt-out
Action: Pause follow-up, record restriction and request direction.
Owner: Client owner
Unclear qualification or conflicting stage evidence
Action: Keep disputed status unchanged and submit evidence for decision.
Owner: Client owner
Discount, negotiation or unsupported offer request
Action: Record the request without committing; hand off to sales owner.
Owner: Client owner
Access failure or unresolved handoff backlog
Action: Log affected records and coordinate client review without bypassing permissions.
Owner: VSI coordinator or agreed Team Lead
Name the owner and backup, agree response windows and permissions, and record client sign-off at kickoff. Revisit the SOP whenever scope or access changes.