How to Handle Rep PTO

How to Handle Rep PTO

Outreach is a crucial part of many reps' day-to-day workflow so when a rep goes on a holiday there are a few things to keep in mind. Below we list a few suggestions on how to best manage Outreach when a rep is out. We split things out between a short absence of a few days versus a longer absence (family leave). 

Short Absence 

Option 1: Pause prospects 

• Instruct your rep to pause all their prospects active in sequence so that no activity happens while they are out.

  • As a manager or as a rep, navigate to Settings > Sequence states and then select all prospects marked as ʻActiveʼ 

  • Open the Sort & Filter panel, and select You under the Owner field
    If your rep does not own the prospect they sequence, you can filter by Sequencer

  • Add a tag to all these prospects labeled 'OOO date'.

  • Now select 'Pause' to pause all selected prospects.

  • Here is a quick video showcasing these steps.

•  Reactivate your paused prospects once the rep returns 

  • Navigate to Settings > Sequence states, and then select all prospects marked as paused 

  • Open the Sort & Filter panel, and search for your tag you applied before heading OOO 

  • Select ʻResumeʼ to restart them into the sequence, Check out this video here for more visual instruction.

• Pro Tip: Tagging is important here in case the rep has prospects that were previously paused and should not be resumed. Do not forget to remove the OOO tag once resumed! 

Option 2: Manage on Behalf of Users 

• Instead of pausing prospects in a sequence, a manager or colleague monitors active tasks of the absent rep and completes, reschedules or skips any manual sequence tasks. This way the prospect moves forward in the sequence. 
  • Beware of skipping tasks that might be references in a follow-up action. For example, skipping an email task when the next email is a reply thread.
• Here is how to find your rep's tasks and skip them. Check out this video here for more visual instruction. 
  • Find the tasks that are past due.
    • Navigate to Tasks > Under Assigned, select the appropriate User > Under Type, select the Options Sequence Email, Sequence Call and Sequence Task > Under Due at Date Date Range, select 'Until Today'.
  • Now skip the past due tasks (do not delete them):
    • Select all tasks past due > Select the 3 dots at the top of the page for more actions > Select 'Skip Step'
• What happens if someone replies?
  • If a response is received, the rep will follow up within a few days once they have returned.
  • Or alternatively, the manager monitors the inbox and follows up on replies. 
• Pro Tip: Ensure the rep does have an OOO email reply enabled. 

Long Absence or Departure

When a rep is absent for a longer time frame due to family leave (for example), it is often best to fully reassign prospect ownership and all corresponding tasks to a new user. The new rep can simply pick up the tasks where the other rep left off. Luckily this is a quick and easy process within Outreach. 

• Ensure you have the setting “Propagate Prospect Ownership” enabled (support article). Navigate to settings > sequence states and select all active Prospects of the user that is leaving (prospects not in sequence do not need to be changed). 
• Select the new owner to which you want to assign the Prospects. This video here will provide further instruction on how to complete these applicable steps.  
• This will reassign the sequence actor to the new rep. So all current and future tasks and mailings will be on behalf of the new owner. 
• You may consider leaving this setting disabled until you intend to reassign all tasks and mailboxes to prevent accidental reassignment and/or confusion for reps. 

Note: If you do not want to enable the Propagate Prospect Ownership feature you can still change ownership manually by following the steps described here.

Resources

• How to Enable Propagate Prospect Ownership 

• How to Transfer Sequenced Prospects