Automating Follow-Up with Sequences

A sequence is a reusable follow‑up playbook: an ordered set of steps — emails and tasks — spaced out over a number of days. Instead of remembering to follow up manually, you enroll a contact or a deal into a sequence and StretchCRM lays out the steps for you.

How sequences work

Each sequence has:

• A title and description.
• A target type — either contact or deal. A contact sequence enrolls people; a deal sequence enrolls opportunities.
• A set of steps, each with a type (email or task), a day offset (day 0 is the day of enrollment, day 2 is two days later, and so on), and a title.

StretchCRM ships with example sequences you can use right away:

• Intro follow‑up (targets contacts) — a three‑touch play: send an intro email on day 0, review the response on day 2, and send a value follow‑up on day 5.
• Deal mutual action plan (targets deals) — confirm the buying process on day 0, send a recap and next steps on day 1, and check for decision blockers on day 4.

Enrolling a contact or deal

1. Open the contact or deal you want to follow up with.
2. Choose Enroll in sequence.
3. Pick a sequence whose target type matches the record — a contact sequence for a contact, a deal sequence for a deal.
4. Confirm the owner (defaults to the sequence's owner).
5. Enroll. StretchCRM creates an enrollment, schedules the first step based on its day offset, and logs an enrolled event on the record's timeline.

The enrollment tracks which step is next and when it's due, so you always know where each contact or deal is in the play.

Viewing enrollments

Open the Sequences view to see your sequences and how many contacts or deals are actively enrolled in each. You can also filter enrollments by a specific contact or deal to see exactly which plays a given record is in and what step comes next. Every enrollment and its events also appear on the record's unified timeline.

A worked example

You just added Miles Carter at Prairie Commerce as a new lead and want a consistent follow‑up:

1. Open Miles's contact record.
2. Choose Enroll in sequence and select Intro follow‑up (a contact sequence).
3. On enrollment, StretchCRM schedules "Send intro email" for today (day 0), with "Review response" queued for day 2 and "Send value follow‑up" for day 5.
4. Miles's timeline immediately shows an Enrolled in Intro follow‑up event with the next step noted.

Separately, once Prairie's deal is active you can enroll the deal into Deal mutual action plan so the opportunity gets its own structured cadence.

Tips

• Match the target type. Contact sequences only accept contacts; deal sequences only accept deals. Choosing the wrong pairing won't enroll.
• Enroll early. The value of a sequence is consistency — enroll a new lead the moment you create it so the first touch goes out on time.
• Use deal sequences for complex opportunities. A mutual action plan keeps both you and the buyer aligned on next steps through the close.
• Watch the enrollment count. The Sequences view's active‑enrollment counts tell you how much follow‑up is in flight and where.

Troubleshooting

"A contact or deal is required." Enrollment needs a target. Enroll from a specific contact or deal record.

"Sequence was not found." The sequence you selected isn't available to your organization. Refresh the Sequences list and choose one that appears there.

"Contact was not found" / "Deal was not found." The record you're enrolling doesn't exist in your organization, or you're pairing a contact with a deal sequence (or vice versa). Confirm the record and that its type matches the sequence's target type.

A step didn't advance. Enrollments track the next step and its due date; they aren't a fully autonomous send engine in the current release. Use the enrollment to know what to do next and log the step's activity when you complete it.