lead-routing

name	lead-routing
description	Assign or reassign lead/account ownership — MQL routing, round-robin, territory disputes, speed-to-lead. Trigger: 'route this lead', 'who owns this', 'who gets it'.
origin	ESCC

Lead Routing

Operationalizes the lead and account assignment policy for ESCC. This skill reads the assignment rules, determines the correct owner for a record, logs the rationale, and routes the ownership write to crm-operator. It never silently reassigns ownership and never discards a lead or account — disqualified/recycled records follow rules/lifecycle-stages.md, not silent deletion.

Governing rules (DEFER — this skill operationalizes; it does not own the policy): rules/routing-rules.md — the sole source of truth for the assignment model (named-account / territory / round-robin) and the inbound speed-to-lead SLA. rules/segments/* (enterprise.md, mid-market.md, smb.md) — territory boundaries and segment definitions that drive routing decisions. rules/targets.md — capacity figures used to balance round-robin assignments.

Ownership conflicts and duplicate records are resolved by dedupe-merge before routing is finalized. Do not route a record with an unresolved duplicate.

All ownership changes are crm-operator writes, logged with the prior owner and the routing reason. Ownership is never silently stolen.

When to Activate

Activate this skill when:

• An inbound MQL arrives and needs to be routed to the right rep within the speed-to-lead SLA.
• A new account or contact is created and needs an ownership assignment.
• An existing record needs to be reassigned — rep left the team, territory changed, deal closed and the account re-enters nurture.
• There is an ownership conflict — two reps claim the same account, or a round-robin assignment overlaps a named-account rule.
• A manager asks "who owns this?" and needs the routing rationale, not just the current owner field.
• A lead is disqualified or recycled and needs to be routed to the appropriate status and re-engage workflow per rules/lifecycle-stages.md.

Do not activate for ICP scoring or MQL qualification (that is icp-profile), for duplicate detection and merge (that is dedupe-merge), or for outbound sequences to the routed lead (that is outbound-sequences / inbound-lead-response).

Assignment model (from rules/routing-rules.md)

Read rules/routing-rules.md for the authoritative policy. The shape is:

1. Named-account rule — if the account is on a named-account list, it routes to the designated owner regardless of source, segment, or inbound channel. Named-account ownership takes priority over all other rules.
2. Territory rule — if no named-account rule applies, route by territory (geo / segment / vertical). Territory boundaries live in rules/segments/enterprise.md, rules/segments/mid-market.md, and rules/segments/smb.md. The territory owner is the assigned rep or team for that boundary.
3. Round-robin — fills only where neither named-account nor territory rule applies. Balance by capacity from rules/targets.md; the rep with the most remaining capacity receives the next assignment.
4. Inbound-to-open-opportunity match — an inbound lead that matches a company with an existing open opportunity routes to that deal's owner, not round-robin. This rule runs before round-robin and after territory check.

Apply these rules in order. Stop at the first match. If multiple rules could apply (e.g. a named account also has an open opportunity), named-account takes precedence.

Workflow

A. Route an inbound MQL

1. Pull the record. Retrieve the lead/contact from HubSpot via crm-operator (read). Check ICP score and MQL status — routing decisions are made on qualified records; a raw lead that has not hit MQL criteria is not ready to route.
2. Check for a named-account match. Does the lead's company appear on the named-account list? If yes: route to the named-account owner. Proceed to step 5.
3. Check for an open opportunity match. Does the lead's company have an existing open deal in HubSpot? If yes: route to that deal's owner. Proceed to step 5.
4. Apply territory rule. Determine the lead's segment and territory from rules/segments/*. Identify the territory owner. If a territory owner is found: route to that rep. Proceed to step 5.
5. Fall through to round-robin if no named-account, open-opportunity, or territory match. Read capacity data from rules/targets.md. Select the rep with the highest remaining capacity (or the rep next in rotation if equal).
6. Check the response SLA. Per rules/routing-rules.md, inbound MQLs must be routed and touched within the speed-to-lead SLA. Record the routed-at timestamp so stop:sla-check can surface breaches.
7. Write the assignment. Route to crm-operator:
   • hubspot_owner_id: the assigned rep's HubSpot user ID
   • Activity log entry: routing reason (named-account / open-opp / territory / round-robin), prior owner (if any), timestamp
   • crm-operator reads back the record to confirm the write landed
8. Report. State the assigned owner, the routing rule that applied, and the rationale. If the assignment required a judgment call (e.g. capacity tie), explain it.

B. Reassign an existing record

1. Read the current record via crm-operator. Note the current owner, the reason for reassignment, and whether any open deals are attached.
2. Check for open opportunities. An account with active deals should not be reassigned without the deal owner context. Surface the conflict; the manager resolves whether the deal moves with the account or stays with the current rep.
3. Determine the new owner using the same priority order as workflow A (named-account → open-opp → territory → round-robin).
4. Check for conflicts. If the new owner would create a named-account conflict or a territory dispute with another rep, surface the conflict before writing. Route conflicts to dedupe-merge if duplicate records are involved.
5. Write with prior-owner log. Route to crm-operator:
   • hubspot_owner_id: new owner
   • Activity log: prior owner name, new owner name, reassignment reason, timestamp
   • This log is required by rules/routing-rules.md; ownership is never silently transferred
6. Confirm the write landed (crm-operator reads back). Report who owns it now and why.

C. Resolve an ownership conflict

1. Pull both records (or the contested record) via crm-operator. Identify the two ownership claims and the conflicting rule applications.
2. Check for a duplicate. If both reps are claiming different HubSpot records for the same real company, this is a merge problem — route to dedupe-merge before routing ownership.
3. Apply rule priority. Named-account beats territory beats round-robin. State which rule governs and why. If both claims cite the same tier (e.g. two reps each assigned by a territory rule after a territory split), escalate to a manager for a deterministic decision.
4. Write the resolution. Route to crm-operator with the winning owner and a conflict-resolution note in the activity log. The losing rep receives a written explanation; do not silently remove their claim without notifying them.

D. Disqualify or recycle a lead

Per rules/routing-rules.md and rules/lifecycle-stages.md: a disqualified or recycled lead is a status + reason, never a silent deletion.

1. Record the disqualify/recycle reason. Required: reason code (not ICP fit / bad timing / no budget / wrong persona / etc.) and, for recycle, a re-engage date.
2. Set the lifecycle status. Route to crm-operator:
   • Lead status: disqualified or recycled
   • disqualify_reason or recycle_reason: the reason code
   • re_engage_date (recycle only)
   • Activity log entry: who made the call, timestamp
3. Do not delete. The record stays in HubSpot. Marketing nurture or a future re-engage trigger will pick it up.

Examples

Inbound MQL: named-account match

Inbound: [e-mail] fills out a demo form.
Step 2: Sample Co Corp is on the named-account list -> owner: Jane Kim (Enterprise AE).
Step 6: Routed at 09:14; SLA requires first touch by 09:44 (30-min SLA, routing-rules.md).
Step 7: crm-operator writes hubspot_owner_id = Jane Kim. Activity log: "Inbound MQL routed
  via named-account rule. Prior owner: none. Timestamp: 09:14."
Output: Routed to Jane Kim (named-account rule). Speed-to-lead SLA: touch by 09:44.

Inbound MQL: open-opportunity match

Inbound: [e-mail] signs up for a trial.
Named-account check: Demo Co not on named list.
Open-opp check: Demo Co has an open deal (stage: Qualification) owned by Marcus Patel.
Step 7: crm-operator writes owner = Marcus Patel. Log: "Inbound routed to open-opp owner.
  Deal: Demo Co / Q3 expansion / stage: Qualification."
Output: Routed to Marcus Patel (open-opportunity match). Marcus should reach out
  within SLA and tie this contact to the existing deal record.

Inbound MQL: territory routing (no named account, no open opp)

Inbound: [e-mail] fills a form.
Named-account: no match.
Open-opp: no match.
Territory: rules/segments/mid-market.md + geo = Midwest territory -> owner: Dana Lee.
crm-operator writes owner = Dana Lee. Log: "Inbound MQL routed via territory rule.
  Segment: Mid-Market. Territory: Midwest. Prior owner: none."
Output: Routed to Dana Lee (territory rule, Mid-Market / Midwest).

Reassignment with conflict flagged

Manager: "Reassign TechCorp from Jordan to the enterprise team after Jordan's departure."
Step 1: Current owner: Jordan (departed). TechCorp has 2 open deals.
Step 2: Open deals attached. Flagging: do the deals move with the account?
  [Manager confirms: yes, all assets move to the enterprise team AE, Riley Chang.]
Step 3: Named-account check: TechCorp not on named list.
  Territory: Enterprise / West Coast -> Riley Chang.
Step 5: crm-operator writes:
  Account owner: Riley Chang.
  Deal owners (both): Riley Chang.
  Activity log: "Reassigned from Jordan (departed) to Riley Chang. Reason: rep departure,
    territory rule applied. All associated deals moved. Manager-confirmed 2026-06-16."
Output: TechCorp and both open deals are now owned by Riley Chang.

Disqualify a recycled lead

Rep: "This lead is a student, not a buyer — disqualify."
Step 1: reason code: wrong persona.
Step 2: crm-operator writes lead_status = disqualified, disqualify_reason = "wrong persona
  — student, not a decision-maker", by rep, timestamp.
Output: Lead disqualified and reason logged. Record retained in HubSpot;
  not deleted. Marketing nurture remains paused until re-engage criteria are met.

Anti-patterns

• Silently stealing ownership. Every ownership change is logged with the prior owner and a reason. An undocumented reassignment is a data-quality defect and creates rep conflict.
• Routing before deduplication. If the record has a known duplicate, route to dedupe-merge first. Routing a duplicate creates two owned records for the same company, which is worse than no assignment.
• Applying round-robin when a higher-priority rule applies. Named-account and open-opp matches are checked first. Skipping these and falling straight to round-robin bypasses the policy in rules/routing-rules.md.
• Deleting a disqualified lead. Disqualify/recycle is always a status + reason. A deleted lead cannot be re-engaged or audited. Refer to rules/lifecycle-stages.md.
• Routing an unqualified lead. An inbound that has not hit MQL criteria is not ready to route to a rep. Routing raw leads creates rep noise and degrades speed-to-lead metrics for genuine MQLs.
• Ignoring SLA on inbound routing. Inbound MQL response SLA is tracked by stop:sla-check. Routing a lead but not flagging the SLA start time defeats the SLA measurement.
• Treating a prospect's stated account name as authoritative for named-account matching. Search HubSpot for the record; do not match on self-reported text alone.

Related

• Assignment policy: rules/routing-rules.md (sole source — operationalize, defer).
• Territory boundaries: rules/segments/enterprise.md, rules/segments/mid-market.md, rules/segments/smb.md.
• Capacity and round-robin balance: rules/targets.md.
• ICP scoring and MQL qualification: icp-profile.
• Duplicate resolution before routing: dedupe-merge.
• CRM ownership write and activity log: crm-operator (sole write path).
• Disqualify/recycle status: rules/lifecycle-stages.md.
• Speed-to-lead SLA surfacing: stop:sla-check hook.
• Inbound response execution: inbound-lead-response.