sales-skills/sales-smartlead

Smartlead Platform Help

Help the user with Smartlead platform questions — from campaign setup and SmartSenders through SmartInfra, SmartAgents, SmartDialer, SmartProspect, SmartDelivery, agency/white-label, API, and integrations.

Step 1 — Gather context

If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated knowledge.

Ask the user:

1. What area of Smartlead do you need help with?

   • A) Campaigns — creating, managing, or optimizing email campaigns (for strategy, hand off: /sales-cadence {your question})
   • B) SmartSenders — automated mailbox provisioning, rotation, daily limits
   • C) SmartInfra — dedicated-tenant infrastructure, private IPs, DNS config
   • D) SmartAgents — no-code AI agents for research and personalization
   • E) SmartDialer — parallel dialing, local presence, call recording
   • F) SmartProspect — verified leads with intent signals
   • G) SmartDelivery — inbox placement testing, spam test reports
   • H) Agency & White-label — master inbox, client workspaces, unified reporting
   • I) Integrations — HubSpot, Salesforce (via OutboundSync), Clay, Zapier
   • J) API — automation, lead import, campaign management
   • K) Admin — billing, plan features, account settings
   • L) Something else — describe it

2. What's your role?

   • A) Sales rep / AE / BDR
   • B) Sales manager / team lead
   • C) RevOps / Sales Ops
   • D) Agency owner / account manager
   • E) Admin / IT
   • F) Founder / solo seller
   • G) Other

3. What are you trying to accomplish? (describe your specific goal or question)

If the user's request already provides most of this context, skip directly to the relevant step. Lead with your best-effort answer using reasonable assumptions (stated explicitly), then ask only the most critical 1-2 clarifying questions at the end — don't gate your response behind gathering complete context.

Note: If the user needs a specialized skill, route them there with a brief explanation of why that skill is a better fit.

Step 2 — Route or answer directly

If the request maps to a specialized skill, route:

• List building / prospecting → /sales-prospect-list
• Contact enrichment / data hygiene → /sales-enrich
• Cadence strategy / sequence design → /sales-cadence
• Cross-platform deliverability → /sales-deliverability
• Tool integration architecture → /sales-integration
• Multi-client agency architecture → /sales-agency-outbound

Otherwise, answer directly from platform knowledge using the reference below.

Step 3 — Smartlead platform reference

Read references/platform-guide.md for the full module-by-module reference — Campaigns, SmartSenders, SmartInfra, SmartAgents, SmartDialer, SmartProspect, SmartDelivery, Agency & White-label, the Smartlead data model, API & Integrations, and native integrations. For the full API endpoint catalog, auth, rate limits, and webhook payloads, see references/smartlead-api-reference.md.

Answer using only the relevant section — don't dump the full reference.

Step 4 — Actionable guidance

Based on the user's specific question:

1. Step-by-step instructions — numbered steps to accomplish their goal in Smartlead
2. Configuration recommendations — specific settings to change, with navigation paths
3. Common pitfalls — what can go wrong and how to avoid it
4. Verification — how to confirm the change worked
5. For API questions — always include a pointer: "For the full endpoint catalog, request/response schemas, and rate limits, see references/smartlead-api-reference.md."

Gotchas

• Don't skip SmartInfra evaluation for high-volume. Shared infrastructure has IP neighbor risk at scale. If you're sending 1,000+ emails/day or managing multiple clients, evaluate SmartInfra's dedicated IPs. One bad neighbor on a shared IP can tank your deliverability overnight.

• Don't conflate Smartlead campaigns with Salesloft cadences. Smartlead campaigns are email-only by default. Phone steps require SmartDialer, and LinkedIn touchpoints need external tools. Don't promise multi-channel capabilities that require add-ons.

• Don't use SmartAgents for simple merge-field personalization. SmartAgents are for research-grade personalization — finding company news, analyzing LinkedIn profiles, generating custom talking points. For simple {{first_name}} and {{company}} merge fields, just use standard campaign variables. SmartAgents add cost and latency for no benefit on simple personalization.

• Don't assume Salesforce integration is native. Smartlead connects to Salesforce via OutboundSync, a paid third-party connector. It's not built-in like the HubSpot integration. Users need an OutboundSync subscription or can use Zapier as an alternative.

• Don't skip warmup. Ultra Premium Warmup must run 2-3 weeks on new mailboxes before they're added to campaign rotation. Sending cold emails from unwarmmed mailboxes will land in spam. This applies even if the domain is established — new mailboxes need their own warmup.

• Self-improving: If you discover something not covered here, append it to references/learnings.md with today's date.

Step 5 — Related skills

• /sales-cadence — Design outbound cadence strategy (platform-agnostic, works with Smartlead campaigns)
• /sales-deliverability — Cross-platform email deliverability — SPF/DKIM/DMARC, warmup, inbox placement
• /sales-prospect-list — Build prospect lists to import into Smartlead
• /sales-enrich — Enrich contacts with emails/phones before importing
• /sales-integration — Connect Smartlead to other tools via webhooks, Zapier, or API
• /sales-agency-outbound — Multi-client agency architecture — infrastructure, client isolation, onboarding
• /sales-mailshake — Mailshake platform help (if using Mailshake instead of Smartlead)
• /sales-apollo — Apollo.io platform help (if using Apollo instead of Smartlead)
• /sales-salesloft — Salesloft platform help (if using Salesloft instead of Smartlead)
• /sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill.

Examples

Example 1: Campaign setup with warmup

User says: "How do I set up a new campaign in Smartlead with 10 mailboxes?" Skill does:

1. Walks through creating a campaign with email steps and time delays
2. Explains connecting 10 sender accounts via SmartSenders (OAuth or SMTP)
3. Stresses enabling Ultra Premium Warmup on all 10 mailboxes immediately — minimum 2-3 weeks before campaign launch
4. Configures daily limits (30-50/mailbox), rotation, and scheduling
5. Recommends running SmartDelivery inbox placement test before going live Result: User has a campaign ready to launch after warmup period with proper mailbox rotation

Example 2: SmartSenders provisioning 20 mailboxes

User says: "I need to set up 20 new mailboxes for outbound in Smartlead" Skill does:

1. Recommends domain strategy — 1 domain per 3-5 mailboxes, dedicated outbound domains
2. Walks through bulk Gmail/Outlook OAuth connection via SmartSenders
3. Configures per-mailbox daily limits (30-50 each = 600-1,000 total daily capacity)
4. Enables Ultra Premium Warmup on all 20 with staggered start dates
5. Advises on SmartInfra evaluation at this volume — 20 mailboxes may benefit from dedicated IPs Result: User has 20 mailboxes provisioned with warmup plan and capacity planning

Example 3: API lead import

User says: "I want to use the Smartlead API to add leads from our CRM to a campaign" Skill does:

1. Points to references/smartlead-api-reference.md for full API docs
2. Explains the POST /campaigns/{campaign_id}/leads endpoint — email required, custom_fields for merge variables, lead_list array (max 400 leads per request)
3. Shows authentication method (api_key query parameter)
4. Recommends batching (≤400/request) for large imports and monitoring rate limits (60 req/min default)
5. Suggests setting up campaign webhooks (POST /campaigns/{campaign_id}/webhooks) for EMAIL_REPLY and LEAD_CATEGORY_UPDATED (filtered on the Interested category) to sync back to CRM Result: User knows the endpoint, auth method, required fields, and how to build a bidirectional sync

Troubleshooting

Low open rates

Symptom: Campaign open rates below 30% Cause: Insufficient warmup, missing domain authentication, poor sender reputation, or weak subject lines Solution: Check warmup status on all sender accounts — reputation should be 80+ before campaign sends. Verify SPF/DKIM/DMARC (SmartInfra auto-configures these, but verify in DNS). Run SmartDelivery inbox placement test. A/B test subject lines across variants. See /sales-deliverability for a full diagnosis framework.

SmartAgent personalization quality

Symptom: SmartAgent-generated content is generic or inaccurate Cause: Poorly configured prompts, insufficient data sources, or using SmartAgents for simple personalization Solution: Refine the SmartAgent prompt with specific instructions (what to research, what angles to find). Add more data sources (LinkedIn, company website, news). Review a sample of 10 outputs before launching at scale. If personalization needs are simple (name, company), skip SmartAgents and use standard merge fields.

Warmup stalling

Symptom: Sender reputation not increasing after 2+ weeks of warmup Cause: DNS misconfiguration, mailbox connectivity issues, or daily volume set too low Solution: Verify DNS records (SPF/DKIM/DMARC) are correct. Check mailbox connectivity — re-authenticate OAuth if needed. Ensure warmup daily volume is at least 20-30 emails. Check if the mailbox is also being used for non-warmup sends that could hurt reputation.