Restflow.io

## Introduction

For sales teams, timely and accurate segmentation of leads based on geographic region is critical for targeted outreach, personalized messaging, and ultimately improving conversion rates. Manually sorting leads by region is not only time-consuming but also error-prone, especially as lead volume grows.

This tutorial demonstrates how to build an automated workflow using **n8n**, an open-source workflow automation tool, to segment inbound leads by region (e.g., country, state, or city) and route them accordingly. The sales department benefits from receiving properly assigned leads instantly, allowing faster response times and better customer engagement.

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## Tools and Services Integrated

– **n8n**: To build and run the automation workflow.
– **Google Sheets**: As the source where new leads are input by marketing or collected from web forms.
– **Google Sheets (Output)**: To store segmented leads by region.
– **Slack**: For real-time notifications to regional sales teams.

This tutorial assumes you have:
– An n8n instance running (self-hosted or cloud).
– Google account with access to Google Sheets.
– Slack workspace with channels for sales teams.

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## Use Case Overview

– Marketing uploads or submits new leads to a centralized Google Sheet.
– The n8n workflow triggers on new rows added.
– The workflow processes lead data, determines the region based on the “Location” field.
– Leads are then appended to region-specific Google Sheets tabs or separate sheets.
– Sales teams receive Slack notifications about new leads assigned to their region.

This automation:
– Eliminates manual lead sorting
– Ensures leads go to the right regional sales rep without delay
– Enables quick follow-up and tailored sales strategies

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## Step-by-Step Technical Tutorial

### Step 1: Prepare Your Lead Input Google Sheet

Create a Google Sheet named `Incoming Leads` with columns like:
– Timestamp
– Lead Name
– Email
– Phone
– Location (e.g., city, state, or country)
– Product Interest

Make sure new leads are consistently added as new rows.

### Step 2: Setup Region-Specific Google Sheets

You can either:
– Create separate Google Sheets for each region; or
– Create one Google Sheet with separate tabs named by region (e.g., “US”, “Europe”, “Asia”).

For this tutorial, we use separate tabs in the same sheet called `Segmented Leads`.

Tabs example:
– US
– Europe
– Asia
– Other (for uncategorized leads)

### Step 3: Connect Google Sheets to n8n

1. In n8n, create new credentials for Google Sheets (use OAuth2 authentication).
2. Test the connection by setting up a ‘Google Sheets’ node to read the `Incoming Leads` sheet.

### Step 4: Build the n8n Workflow

Open n8n editor and follow the nodes setup below:

#### Node 1: Trigger – Google Sheets Trigger

– Type: **Google Sheets Trigger**
– Configure to monitor new rows added in the `Incoming Leads` sheet.
– This node triggers workflow execution whenever a new lead is added.

#### Node 2: Set – Extract & Normalize Location

– Type: **Set**
– Extract the `Location` field from incoming data.
– Optionally normalize location names (capitalize, trim spaces).

Example: `{{ $json[“Location”].toLowerCase().trim() }}`

Optional: You can use additional n8n functions or the Function node to standardize names.

#### Node 3: Function – Map Location to Region

– Type: **Function** node to translate location into region category.
– Example code:
“`javascript
const location = $json[“Location”].toLowerCase();
let region = “Other”;

if (location.includes(“us”) || location.includes(“usa”) || location.includes(“america”)) {
region = “US”;
} else if (location.includes(“europe”) || location.match(/france|germany|uk|italy/)) {
region = “Europe”;
} else if (location.includes(“asia”) || location.match(/china|india|japan|korea/)) {
region = “Asia”;
}

return [{ json: { …$json, region } }];
“`

– Adjust keywords and matching as per your geography.

#### Node 4: Google Sheets – Append Lead to Region Tab

– Type: **Google Sheets** node
– Operation: Append
– Parameters:
– Spreadsheet ID: your `Segmented Leads` sheet
– Sheet Name: use the `region` property from the previous function dynamically

Set values to include the lead details (Name, Email, Phone, Location, etc.).

#### Node 5: Slack – Notify Regional Sales Channel

– Type: **Slack** node
– Operation: Send Message
– Channel: map region to Slack sales channel (`#sales-us`, `#sales-europe`, `#sales-asia`)
– Message example:
“`
New lead arrived for region *{{ $json.region }}*:
Name: {{ $json[“Lead Name”] }}
Email: {{ $json.Email }}
Location: {{ $json.Location }}
“`

– Set up Slack credentials and test message sending.

### Step 5: Connect Nodes and Activate Workflow

– Connect nodes in this order:
Google Sheets Trigger → Set → Function → Google Sheets Append → Slack Send Message

– Save and activate the workflow.

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## Common Errors and Tips for Robustness

– **Google Sheets API limits:**
– Avoid polling too frequently; use webhooks/trigger nodes.
– Batch updates if volume is high.

– **Data inconsistencies**
– Standardize location names rigorously.
– Add error handling in the Function node to classify unknown locations as “Other.”

– **Slack rate limits:**
– If lead volume is high, batch notifications or summarize multiple leads per message.

– **Authentication Issues:**
– Ensure OAuth tokens for Google and Slack are refreshed/valid.

– **Testing:**
– Use test leads for each region.
– Log outputs at each stage using n8n’s Execute Node feature.

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## Scaling and Adaptation

– **Add more granular segmentation:**
– Introduce additional Function nodes to segment by state or city.

– **Add CRM integration:**
– Extend the workflow to push leads into your CRM like HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive.

– **Multi-language support:**
– Normalize different country name formats and transliterations.

– **Error notifications:**
– Add error trigger nodes and Slack or email alerts if the workflow fails.

– **Advanced geolocation:**
– Integrate IP-to-location APIs or Google Maps API for precise region detection.

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## Summary and Bonus Tips

By automating lead segmentation by region with n8n, sales teams can act faster and more precisely on new leads, improving customer engagement and conversion rates. This example using Google Sheets and Slack illustrates how flexible n8n is for integrating commonly used tools and orchestrating data flows.

**Bonus Tip:** If you collect leads from multiple platforms (e.g., web forms, CRM, spreadsheets), aggregate them into a staging area and use conditional logic in n8n to process them in one unified workflow. This centralization simplifies management and scaling.

This workflow can be set up in under an hour, yet deliver immediate operational efficiencies and a solid foundation for more complex sales automation.

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Feel free to customize the mapping logic and integrated services according to your organization’s specific needs.