Automatically Create Tasks for New Prospects

The 'Automatically Create Tasks for New Prospects' setting allows your team to automatically generate CRM tasks when a new prospect is created. This helps ensure timely follow-up with new inquiries and supports consistent outreach workflows for sales teams.

About Auto-Creating Tasks

Communities commonly use this feature to support speed-to-lead outreach by automatically generating follow-up tasks when a new inquiry is received. 

Task examples include: 

• Call Outreach

• Initial Follow-Up Email

• Tour Scheduling Outreach

This helps ensure every new lead receives timely follow-up and reduces the risk of missed inquiries. 

Tour Tracking Considerations

When using automated outreach tasks as part of the sales process, keep the following in mind:

• Sales performance is typically measured from Inquiry → First Tour.
• Each prospect can have only one Initial Tour.
• Any additional tours are considered Subsequent Tours (Retours).
• Multiple family members touring still counts as one Initial Tour for that prospect.

Enable Automatic Task Creation

Follow these steps to configure a CRM task type to automatically generate when a new prospect is created.

1. Navigate to Settings > CRM.
2. Scroll to CRM Task Types.
3. Choose one of the following:
   • Click + Add Task to create a new task type.
   • Click Edit next to an existing task type.
   • Select multiple tasks using the checkboxes and use Bulk Edit.
4. In the panel that opens on the right, locate Automatically create for new prospects? and change the toggle to Yes.
5. Update any additional task details if needed (see below for details on Due date for auto-created tasks).
6. Click Submit to save. 

Once enabled, the selected task type will automatically generate when a new prospect is created. 

Set the Due Date for Auto-Created Tasks

You can set how soon an auto-created task is due, per task type, so an urgent task like a first-contact call can be due sooner than a tour follow-up.

On the Add or Edit Prospect Task Type pane, the Due date for auto-created tasks field appears whenever Automatically create for new prospects? is set to Yes. Enter a number and choose a unit:

• Minutes or Hours set both the due date and due time.
• Days sets the due date only.
• Leave the field blank for a due date of the next day (24 hours).  

A few things to know:

• The setting applies per community, including on shared or default task types. One community can set "Phone Call" to 2 hours while another sets it to 3 days.
• The due time counts forward literally from the moment the lead is created, with no adjustment for business hours or weekends. For example, a lead created at 11:00 PM with a "2 Hours" setting produces a task due at 1:00 AM.
• The minimum value is 1, with no upper limit. A blank, zero, or invalid entry results in a due date of the next day.
• The task types list shows each type's configured due time (for example, "2 hours," "3 days," or "1 day (default)" when unset), so you can see it at a glance.
• Copying a task type to other communities carries its due-date setting along.
• The setting applies to new tasks created after the setting is saved. Previous tasks keep their due dates.

How Auto-Created Tasks Works

When a new prospect is created:

1. ALIS detects the prospect creation event.
2. Any CRM Task Types with Auto-Create enabled are triggered.
3. A task activity is created using that task type. Its due date pre-fills based on that task type's configured due date. If the task type has no due date configured, the task is due the next day and may display as "Due in 2 Days" to include the current and subsequent days.
4. The task is assigned to the sales agent listed on the Prospect Profile for follow-up.

Task types without Auto-Create enabled will not generate tasks automatically.

Auditing Auto-Created Tasks

Audit in Settings:

The CRM Task Types grid includes a Properties column that displays Auto-Create when the setting is enabled for a task type. This allows administrators to quickly identify which tasks will automatically generate for new prospects. 

Audit in ALIS: 

• Review generated tasks by printing the task list (PDF table format) from the Tasks tab

• Navigate to Reports > CRM Reports > Tasks. Filter by Task Type, Assignee, Person Type (Prospect), and more for quick identification. 

Contact your Account Manager for questions regarding reporting labels for ALIS HQ Dashboards. 

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