Follow-ups · Role-based

Follow-up management CRM: follow-ups that know whose job it is

Xale is a follow-up management CRM for counselling teams, and in Xale a follow-up belongs to a role on a lead or deal, not to whoever touched the lead last. The telecaller, the counsellor and the visa or admissions role on the same student each keep their own next date, get their own reminder and appear in their own Overdue, Today and Later lists. Managers don’t carry follow-ups of their own. They see their team’s total.

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Updated September 2026 · By the Xale team

What you get

Lead follow-up software built for teams, not one salesperson

In a counselling team, one student is worked by several people at once. A generic CRM gives the student one “next follow-up”, and whoever saves last wins. Xale gives each role its own.

One follow-up per role, per lead or deal

Each role assigned to a student keeps its own next follow-up. Rescheduling replaces that role’s date and leaves the others alone, so two people on one student never overwrite each other.

Overdue, Today and Later you can trust

Buckets follow India calendar days. A lapsed follow-up keeps its last date, so it shows as Overdue instead of looking new, and rejected or finished students drop out of the counts.

Reminders that reach the right person

When a follow-up comes due, the person who holds it gets a popup in the web app, a push on the Android app and an inbox entry. Managers aren’t pinged for every counsellor’s call.

Hand-offs, step by step

One student, four teams: how hand-offs run in Xale

A common consultancy flow: a Meta or Wati lead goes to a counsellor, then an Application team, an Application officer and a Visa team, with a manager watching for slips. Here is who owns each step, how it is set up in Xale, and which parts Xale can't do yet. Hand-offs run on assignments, role-based follow-ups, stage requirements and deadlines; there is no separate task list.

Meta or Wati lead
Counsellor
Application team
Application officer
Visa team
Manager

Automatic: Happens on its own. Nobody clicks anything.
Set up once: You configure it once, as an automation, a stage setting or a role, and it keeps running.
Manual today: A person does it in Xale, and Xale records it.
Not yet: Xale can’t do this today.

1
Meta or Wati leadStatus: Automatic
Step 1: A Meta or Wati enquiry becomes a lead
The goal: A student fills in a Meta lead form or messages your Wati number.
How it is set up in Xale
- SetupStatus: Set up once
  Connect your Facebook Page lead forms and your Wati account as lead sources. Gallabox, UrbanChat, the WhatsApp Cloud API and website forms work the same way.
- TriggerStatus: Automatic
  Each enquiry is saved as a lead and fires the “Lead created” automation trigger.
Note: Meta leads are fetched about every 15 minutes. Wati enquiries arrive through Wati’s webhook.
2
CounsellorStatus: Set up onceNot yet
Step 2: The counsellor is assigned and reminded to call
The goal: A counsellor calls every new lead within 5 minutes.
How it is set up in Xale
- ActionStatus: Set up once
  On “Lead created”, “Auto-distribute to role” picks the Counsellor with the fewest assignments today in the lead’s branch, optionally balanced per Country.
- AlertStatus: Set up once
  An in-app assignment notification, plus a ring and an Android push if you set a notification tone for the Counsellor role on the intake status.
- Follow-upStatus: Set up once
  A follow-up action (“Set / update follow-up”, “Create follow-up” in older builds), placed after the assign action, at 0 days and 1 hour. When it falls due, the counsellor gets a web popup, an Android push and an inbox entry within about a minute.
- GapStatus: Not yet
  A 5-minute call deadline. The shortest automated follow-up is 1 hour, and time-based rules run every 15 minutes.
- ReportStatus: Automatic
  The first-response report shows the time to the first outbound WhatsApp, email or TeleCMI call, and the share of leads reached within 1 hour. It doesn’t measure a 5-minute target.
3
CounsellorStatus: Set up onceManual todayNot yet
Step 3: Follow-ups on day 2 and day 7
The goal: If the student hasn’t converted, the counsellor follows up after 2 days and again after 7.
How it is set up in Xale
- By handStatus: Manual today
  After each attempt, the counsellor sets the next date in the lead drawer: day 2, then day 7. Each one rings when due.
- RequirementStatus: Set up once
  A follow-up requirement on a status such as “Attempt 1” stops a person’s move until the next follow-up is scheduled. In the web app, Xale asks for the date in a popup.
- GapStatus: Not yet
  Queueing both dates at once. Each role holds one live follow-up per lead or application, so the day-7 date replaces the day-2 date.
4
CounsellorStatus: Manual today
Step 4: The counsellor qualifies the student
The goal: The counsellor decides the student is a fit and moves them on.
How it is set up in Xale
- By handStatus: Manual today
  The counsellor moves the lead to Qualify from the lead drawer or the board. The judgement stays with a person.
- RequirementStatus: Set up once
  Stage requirements can hold the move until documents or required fields are in place.
- RequirementStatus: Set up once
  Or require a note explaining the move.
5
Application teamStatus: Set up onceManual today
Step 5: The Application team verifies documents within 24 hours
The goal: As soon as the student reaches Application, the Application team checks their documents within a day.
How it is set up in Xale
- TriggerStatus: Set up once
  “Status changed” (it fires for the lead and for each university application), or “Deal sub-status changed”, with a condition such as status = Document collection.
- ActionStatus: Set up once
  “Auto-distribute to role” = Application team, one owner per application, optionally balanced per Country. Optionally, a WhatsApp template asks the student for documents through Wati, Gallabox or UrbanChat.
- Follow-upStatus: Automatic
  Their own follow-up opens when they’re assigned, separate from the counsellor’s. The role must work that stage at a personal level, with follow-ups not set to Deny.
- ToneStatus: Set up once
  A tone on Document collection for the Application team role rings for them, with an Android push, when an application lands there.
- RequirementStatus: Set up once
  Document requirements (passport, marksheets, SOP, LOR) block the next stage until uploaded.
- RequirementStatus: Set up once
  Or list them as an info-only checklist in the Attachments tab, which never blocks a move.
- DeadlineStatus: Manual today
  For a hard 24-hour target, a user with deadline permission sets a Document collection → Documents verified deadline for the next day, with warning days. It closes itself when the target status is reached.
6
Application officerStatus: Set up onceManual todayNot yet
Step 6: The Application officer submits within 2 days and chases the university at 7
The goal: Once documents are verified, the officer submits to the university within 2 days and follows up with the university after 7.
How it is set up in Xale
- TriggerStatus: Set up once
  “Deal sub-status changed” to Documents verified, which the Application team sets when they finish.
- ActionStatus: Set up once
  “Auto-distribute to role” = Application officer: one officer per application, or all of a student’s applications with one officer.
- Follow-upStatus: Automatic
  The officer’s own follow-up opens when they’re assigned.
- By handStatus: Manual today
  After submitting, the officer moves the application to Application submitted and sets the day-7 university follow-up.
- DeadlineStatus: Manual today
  A Documents verified → Application submitted deadline, set by a user with deadline permission, closes itself on submission.
- GapStatus: Not yet
  Keeping the 2-day and 7-day items open together. The officer holds one live follow-up per application.
7
Visa teamStatus: Set up onceManual todayNot yet
Step 7: The Visa team takes over when an offer arrives
The goal: When an offer comes in, the Visa team checks the CAS within 24 hours, completes a visa-document checklist within 3 days and is reminded of the appointment.
How it is set up in Xale
- TriggerStatus: Set up once
  “Deal sub-status changed” to Offer received (conditional or unconditional).
- ActionStatus: Set up once
  “Auto-distribute to role” = Visa team, plus an optional WhatsApp template to the student.
- Follow-upStatus: Automatic
  The Visa team member’s own follow-up opens when they’re assigned.
- RequirementStatus: Set up once
  Visa-document requirements on the Visa stage block the move until uploaded.
- RequirementStatus: Set up once
  Or list them as an info-only checklist in the Attachments tab, which never blocks a move.
- By handStatus: Manual today
  The steps run in sequence: the visa officer sets each timed follow-up (the checklist on day 3, then the appointment time), and each rings when due. The appointment can also be a deadline.
- GapStatus: Not yet
  Three timed items open at once for the Visa team on one application.
Note: “CAS” is an example status that you create. Xale ships one generic Visa stage, not per-country visa workflows.
8
ManagerStatus: Set up onceNot yet
Step 8: The manager steps in when something slips
The goal: If any of these targets is missed, the manager hears about it.
How it is set up in Xale
- Time ruleStatus: Set up once
  A “Lead idle” or “Lead has no follow-up” rule, optionally only where the follow-up is overdue, is checked every 15 minutes. It can reassign the lead with “Shuffle to a role”, or add a Manager with “Auto-distribute to role” (if no Manager is on the lead already); the manager then gets the usual assignment notification.
- DashboardStatus: Automatic
  Managers see their team’s Overdue, Today and Later follow-ups on the dashboard, by user and by branch.
- GapStatus: Not yet
  A per-lead alert when a follow-up or deadline is missed. Reminders go to the owner only, deadline warnings show on screen only, and there is no “Follow-up missed” trigger.
Note: Time-based rules look at the lead, not each application. Rules limited to business hours skip anything outside them rather than queueing it.

Across every stepSet up once

Every team sees only what it should

The goal: Counselling, application, visa and branch teams each see only their own part of the student.

AccessStatus: Set up once
Give each role a lead-access level on every stage: admin, manage, edit, view or deny. Manage covers the user’s branches; edit and view cover only the leads and applications assigned to them.
AccessStatus: Set up once
Set follow-up and deadline permissions per stage (edit, view or deny), limit a country manager to their countries, hide custom fields from a role and mask phone numbers on lists.

Note: Enforced on the server, not only in the screens. Admins see everything.

Not yet

What's not automatic yet

If your process depends on any of these, plan for a person to cover it, or ask us before you buy.

Minute-level SLA timers
Automated follow-ups are 1 hour at the shortest, and time-based rules run every 15 minutes.
Several open timed items per team on one application
Each role holds one live follow-up per lead or application.
Per-lead escalation to a manager
Reminders reach the owner only, and there is no “follow-up missed” trigger. The closest is a 15-minute time rule that reassigns the lead or adds a manager.
Deadlines set by automations
A person with deadline permission sets each one.
A wait or delay step in automations
Delays come from time-based rules on the lead, or from follow-up dates.
Queueing out-of-hours leads
Business-hours rules skip events outside the window.
Automation WhatsApp to staff, or through the Cloud API
Automated messages go to the student’s own number, through Wati, Gallabox or UrbanChat.
Repeat reminders
Each follow-up rings its owner once. Postpone it to be reminded again.
Calendar sync
Follow-ups don’t sync to Google Calendar or other calendars.
Reminders away from the Android app
Push reminders come through the Xale Android app; in the browser, a due follow-up shows as a popup and in the in-app inbox.

Trigger and action names are as they appear in Xale's automation builder. Application team, Application officer and Visa team are example roles you create; a new study-abroad workspace starts with Super Admin, Admin, Manager, Counsellor and Telecaller roles.

How ownership works

Role-based follow-ups: each role keeps its own

A follow-up in Xale belongs to a lead or deal plus a role, so follow-up work divides along the same role lines as your team (telecaller, counsellor, or a visa or admissions role you create). Who holds which role on a student comes from your role and branch setup.

Only roles doing hands-on work get one

A role owns follow-ups on a stage when it works leads there at a personal level and its Follow-ups permission for that stage isn’t Deny. Roles supervising a stage at manage or admin level hold none there.

Follow-ups sit where the assignment sits

A role assigned on the lead keeps its follow-up on the lead; a role assigned on a deal keeps it on that deal. Each university application carries its own follow-ups.

View-only when you want it

Set Follow-ups to View on a stage and holders still see their follow-up and get reminded, but only a manager or admin can move the date.

Stage moves open and close follow-ups

Entering a stage where an assigned role takes follow-ups creates that role’s follow-up. Entering one where it doesn’t closes it.

Reassigning hands the follow-up over

When a role changes hands, its follow-up moves to the new holder, so it always sits with whoever now holds that role on the lead or deal.

Role changes and re-enquiries

Change a user’s role and their open follow-ups move with them, dates intact. A re-enquiry through a website form or Meta lead ad restarts the lead’s follow-ups as if newly assigned.

Worked example

One student, two university applications: who owns which follow-up

A student has applied to a university in the UK and another in Canada. The student is the lead, and each application is a deal with its own stage and owners, as on the study abroad CRM pipeline.

Which role owns which follow-up on a student with two university applications
Record	Stage	Role	Follow-up	Why
Lead: the student	Qualify	Telecaller	Own follow-up on the lead	Assigned on the lead, and works Qualify at a personal level.
Deal 1: UK application	Application	Counsellor (first)	Own follow-up on deal 1	Assigned on this deal, so the follow-up lives on the deal.
Deal 2: Canada application	Deposit	Counsellor (second)	Own follow-up on deal 2	The same role can hold different deals of one student.
Deal 2: Canada application	Deposit	Visa officer (custom role)	None yet	Follow-ups for this role are set to Deny on Deposit.
Deal 2 moves to Visa	Visa	Visa officer (custom role)	Created on entry	Visa allows the role, so entering the stage creates the role’s follow-up.
Deal 1 reaches Enrolled	Enrolled (last stage)	Counsellor (first)	Stops counting	The last stage never counts. The date is kept and returns if the deal is rolled back.
Whole student	All of the above	Branch manager (manage level)	None of their own	Sees every row above in the team view, with the student counted once at the most urgent date.

Role names are examples. The study-abroad workspace starts with Super Admin, Admin, Manager, Counsellor and Telecaller roles; add visa or admissions roles yourself.

Follow-up policy

Decide where follow-ups are expected

Two settings decide which follow-ups exist: the role’s Follow-ups permission on each stage, and whether a status needs follow-ups at all.

Follow-ups permission per role and stage

In the role editor, set Follow-ups to Edit, View or Deny on each pipeline stage. Edit lets the holder move their date, View shows it without letting them move it, and Deny means the role holds no follow-up there.

Follow-up needed on a status

Switch Follow-up needed off on a status such as Not interested, and leads or deals sitting in it drop out of Overdue, Today and Later.

Counting

Overdue, Today and Later on India calendar days

Overdue follow-ups CRM counts are only useful if the buckets mean the same thing everywhere. In Xale they follow India midnight: Overdue is anything scheduled before today, Today is anything scheduled today, including a 9 AM call that is now past, and Later is anything after today.

A role with no open follow-up is counted on its last follow-up date, or today if it never had one, so a follow-up that lapsed last week shows as overdue since last week.
The pipeline’s last stage, rejection statuses and sub-statuses, archived leads and buckets with follow-ups switched off are never counted. Their dates are kept, so reversing a rejection brings them back.
The dashboard, the leads-page follow-up filter and the reports all use one shared definition of Overdue, Today and Later, with the same exclusions, so a follow-up never means one thing on one screen and something else on another.

Due reminders

CRM follow-up reminders on three channels

A background job checks every minute for follow-ups whose date and time have passed and rings each one once, for the person who holds that role on the lead or deal. Managers and admins aren’t pinged for their team’s follow-ups.

Web popup

A Follow-up Due popup with the note, one-tap call and WhatsApp, View Lead and Postpone: +1 hour, +2 hours or tomorrow, or day-sized options when follow-ups are date-only.

Android push

Reminders use their own Follow-up reminders channel in the Xale Android app, separate from chat. Tapping one opens the lead.

Notification inbox

Every reminder is also saved to the inbox, for anyone who was offline when it rang.

Teams that work by day can have a Super Admin switch off Use a time on follow-ups in Settings. Follow-ups then carry only a date, and reminders for a later day ring at 10 AM India time on that day.

For managers

The manager and branch-head view: your team’s follow-ups, summed

A counsellor’s dashboard shows only their own follow-ups, with no role pickers in the way. A manager’s dashboard shows the team.

The sum of your team

Managers and branch heads who supervise a stage at manage or admin level hold no follow-ups there. Their Overdue, Today and Later, and those of territory roles such as a country manager, show their team’s total.

Role hierarchy respected

Roles ranked above you are left out, and so are roles your role excludes in its settings. A branch head who excludes the loan team sees the counsellors’ follow-ups without theirs.

Follow-ups rail

Today, Overdue and Later tabs, a role picker for managers, user and branch pickers, search and a WhatsApp shortcut per row. With times on, a Now line marks what has passed.

Follow-ups by user and by branch

Overdue first, Today and Later a click away. Follow-ups on leads nobody holds get their own line that opens those leads. The branch view hides if you manage one branch.

Reports add a per-user daily grid of missed follow-ups. See CRM reports and analytics for education teams.

Leads page and lead drawer

Follow-up filters, saved views and the lead drawer

Filter the lead list by follow-up date with presets for All, Overdue, Today, Tomorrow, This Week, Next 7 Days and This Month, or pick a range. Add one or more roles alongside a follow-up date and the list shows those roles’ follow-ups rather than their assignments.

Save the result as a favourite view. Follow-up presets are saved as relative dates, so an Overdue view shows what is overdue on the day you open it. More on the list itself in lead management software.

Inside a lead, the Follow-ups tab groups follow-ups by role and shows who each one is for and who set it. Managers choose which role’s follow-up they are setting, while counsellors always write their own.

Frequently asked questions

Follow-up management CRM: common questions

What is a follow-up management CRM?

A CRM that tracks the next planned contact with every lead, reminds the right person when it is due and shows managers what is overdue. In Xale each follow-up also belongs to a role on a lead or deal, so a counsellor’s and a telecaller’s follow-ups on one student never overwrite each other.

Can two people have follow-ups on the same student?

Yes, if they hold different roles. Xale keeps one open follow-up per role per lead or deal, so a telecaller on the lead and a counsellor on each university application each keep their own date. Two people in the same role can’t both hold the same lead or deal.

Can one role have several follow-ups on the same student at once?

No. Xale keeps exactly one live follow-up per role on each lead and on each deal (one deal per university application), and the database enforces it. Different roles on the same student each keep their own, so the counsellor, an application role and a visa role never overwrite each other. What one role can’t do is hold a 2-day and a 7-day follow-up together: the second date replaces the first. Teams run them in sequence instead, by rescheduling after each contact or with an automation that sets the next date.

Can Xale hand a student from the counsellor to application and visa teams automatically?

Partly. When a lead or application reaches a stage, automations can assign the next team by role. Each role on the student keeps its own follow-up, and once someone or an automation sets a date, it rings that owner when due. Document requirements can hold a stage move until the files are in. Xale has no minute-level SLA timers, keeps one live follow-up per role per lead or application, and doesn’t yet alert a manager about each missed follow-up or deadline.

What happens when a follow-up or deadline is missed?

A follow-up still open at the end of its day moves to Overdue from the next India calendar day, for its holder and on their manager’s dashboard. If a person or an automation set the date, the holder was reminded once when it fell due, by web popup, Android push and inbox; follow-ups Xale opens on its own when someone is assigned or a stage is entered don’t ring. Deadlines show an early-warning nudge on the lead, but the nudge is visual and notifies no one. Xale doesn’t send managers a per-lead escalation today. The closest option is a time-based automation (Lead idle or Lead has no follow-up) that reassigns the lead or assigns a manager, who then gets the assignment notification.

How does Xale decide what is Overdue, Today and Later?

By India calendar days. Overdue is anything scheduled before today, Today is anything scheduled today even if its time has passed, and Later is anything after today. A role with no open follow-up is counted on its last follow-up date, or today if it never had one.

Who gets the reminder when a follow-up is due?

The person holding that role on the lead or deal. They get a popup in the web app, a push notification on the Xale Android app and an inbox entry, once per follow-up. Managers and admins aren’t reminded about their team’s follow-ups; they see them on the dashboard.

Do managers and branch heads have their own follow-ups?

No. Roles that supervise a stage at manage or admin level don’t hold follow-ups there. Their follow-up view is the sum of the roles under them, leaving out roles ranked above them and roles their role settings exclude.

What happens to follow-ups when a lead is reassigned?

The role’s follow-up moves to the new holder, so it stays with whoever now holds that role on the lead or deal. This applies to manual, bulk and automated assignments.

What happens when a student is rejected or enrols?

Leads and deals in a rejection status or sub-status, or in the last stage of the pipeline, stop counting in Overdue, Today and Later. Their dates are kept, so if you reverse the rejection or roll the stage back, the follow-ups return.

Can a stage move require a follow-up?

Yes. Add a follow-up requirement to a status, and moving a lead or deal into it needs a follow-up that a person scheduled since its last status change; automated moves skip the check. If there isn’t one, the web app asks for the date in a popup and then completes the move. It is one kind of stage requirement, alongside required documents and fields.

Do follow-ups need a time of day?

Only if you want them to. A Super Admin can switch off Use a time on follow-ups in Settings. Follow-ups then carry only a date, reminders for a later day ring at 10 AM India time on that day, and Postpone offers day-sized options.

Give every follow-up an owner.

Set follow-up permissions per role and stage, and let reminders reach the person who holds each one.