Setting up your Distributions

Chili Piper offers a powerful way to effectively manage and distribute various types of records among your team members. With Round Robin Distributions, you can evenly distribute meetings, conversations, and record assignments. This ensures fairness and maximizes efficiency. Let's delve into the different types of distributions available and their setup and customization.

Table of Contents

• What is the Purpose of This Feature?
• Meeting vs. Prospect/Record vs. Conversation Distributions
• How to Create a Meeting Distribution
• How to Customize a Meeting Distribution
• How to Create a Prospect/Record Distribution
• How to Customize a Prospect/Record Distribution
• How to Create a Conversation Distribution
• How to Customize a Conversation Distribution
• Distribution Grouping
• Meeting or Record Limit
• Why do I see an uneven distribution among my Team Members?

What is the Purpose of This Feature?

To summarize, the Distribution feature is primarily used to set the behavior during meetings, record, or Conversation Distribution among Team Members. Let's explore this in more detail per product below:

• Meeting Distribution
  • Usage: Primarily used within Concierge, Chat, ChiliCal & Handoff.
  • Purpose: Distribute incoming meetings to your Team Members.
     
• Prospect/Record Distribution
  • Usage: Utilized in Distro, Chat, and Concierge.
  • Purpose: Allocate prospects or records (e.g., Leads, Contacts) among the Team.

• Conversation Distribution
  • Usage: Used in Chat.
  • Purpose: Distribute live chat conversations to different Team Members.

Each Distribution type supports customization, such as assigning weights, skipping reps, or crediting reps in the Team. Additionally, all Distributions feature a dedicated reporting page to monitor performance and make necessary adjustments.

Meeting vs. Prospect/Record vs. Conversation Distributions

During the Distribution creation process and in the next sections, you will notice three types of Distribution: Meeting, Prospect/Record, and Conversation. As the names suggest, the main difference is the type of object being distributed: the meeting itself, the prospect/record (Lead, Contact, etc.), or a live chat conversation.

Depending on your use case, consider which option to choose and enjoy the benefits of those features:

• Meeting Distribution: Concierge, Chat, Handoff, ChiliCal

• Prospect/Record Distribution: Distro, Concierge

• Conversation Distribution: Chat

How to Create a Meeting Distribution

If you are an Admin or a Workspace Manager, you can create a new meeting Distribution from the "Assets" option in the left-hand menu list or within a Concierge Router or Chat Journey to facilitate your setup process.

Let's check each below:

From the Asset List:

•  
  1. Navigate to the Distributions option in the left-side menu:
     
      
  2. Click "Create Distribution" > "Meeting Distribution".

From a Concierge or Handoff Router

•  
  1. In the Display Calendar node, select "Team or Team Member via Round Robin".
     
      
  2. Click "Select Distribution", and then "Create New Distribution" to create a new Distribution.
     

From Round-Robin Scheduling Links:

1. While configuring a Round-Robin Link, in the Distribute To setting, click Select Meeting Distribution
   
    
2. And then Create New Meeting Distribution:
   
    

From Ownership Scheduling Links:

1. While configuring an Ownership Link, in the Team Member(s) via Round Robin setting, click Select Meeting Distribution
   
    
2. And then Create New Meeting Distribution:
   

From a Chat Journey:

•  
  1. In the Route for Meeting node, select "Team or Team Member via Round Robin".
     
      
  2. Click "Select Distribution", and then "Create New Distribution" to create a new Distribution.
     

How to Customize a Meeting Distribution

As an Admin or Workspace Manager, you can customize your meeting Distributions to ensure they match your Team's goals.

 

Choose the Distribution Algorithm

You can choose between two options within this setting:

• Strict Round Robin: Chili Piper will display the rep's calendar with the fewest meetings. This type of Round Robin ensures the most equal distribution of meetings. However, due to showing only one calendar, the number of slots available to the prospect might be very limited.
   
• Flexible Round Robin: Chili Piper will display the combined availability of all team members included in this Distribution. If the prospect picks a time when more than one team member is available, Chili Piper will pick the rep with the fewest meetings scheduled.
  
  

Prevent Cherry-picking

This option is only available for Strict Round-Robin Distributions and for ChiliCal and Handoff products.

If enabled, this setting hides the assigned rep in the Scheduler to prevent selection based on preference.

Here's one example of what it looks like in Handoff's Scheduler:

Allow Booker to Pick any Team Member

This option is only available for Flexible Round-Robin Distributions.

When booking meetings via ChiliCal's Scheduler and/or Handoff's Scheduler, you can define if Bookers can have the flexibility to choose another Team Member rather than the next one assigned in line.

When disabled, users can only select the next rep in line. While using Availability for All, bookers will choose a date/time, and we will pick the assignee based on the booker's choice; it would be a "blind pick" for the booker. 

When enabled, we will see the opposite as described above: users will be able to skip the next in line and navigate between Team Members' calendars while using Availability for All.

Note: this setting is applied only to ChiliCal and Handoff

Reschedule with any team members

This option will be enabled if you are working with a Meeting Distribution. 

Chili Piper will still prioritize the original Assignee, but if enabled, this setting allows prospects to reschedule with any team member, meaning that we will show the Team Member's combined slots if the prospect reschedules.

If disabled, we will only show the original Assignee's availability slots.

Team Setup

Add team members to the Distribution by clicking the "Add a Team" button.

Calibration

Scrolling down, you will notice the Calibration section with more details and updatable features (Credit/Skip and Weight) for each Team Member:

Current Level

The result of the number of meetings scheduled in the Distribution or across multiple Distributions (if they are in a group) plus the vacation adjustment (if Vacation Calibration is enabled).

Credit/Skip and Weight can also impact the Current Level; for more details, please refer to the next sections.

Meetings Scheduled

The number of scheduled meetings per Team Member. It does not include qualified prospects who haven't finished the booking process.

No Shows and Canceled

Number of meetings marked as No Show and canceled meetings, respectively.

 

Credit/Skip

Here, you can manually credit or skip a meeting for anyone on your team.

While crediting a record to a user, use a positive number (1, 2, 3), and this user will have one (or more) meeting(s) to their Current Level. In the example below, notice how Byron had the Current Level equal to 1, and after we credited one more meeting, it updated to 2:

To skip a user in a Distribution, use a negative number (-1, -2, -3), and the user will have their Current Level decreased. In the example below, we did the opposite as above: notice how Byron had the Current Level equal to 1, and after we credited one more meeting, it updated to 0:

Weight

The Weight can impact the frequency at which your Team Member will be next in your Distribution.
To allocate a greater Distribution of meetings to specific reps, set their weight percentage higher than that of other users in the Team. Uneven weights are likely why some reps may receive more or fewer prospects than others.

For example:

• Mary, Joe, and Stacy are members of a Team and have the following weights for the current month: 50%, 100%, and 100%.
   
• Suppose 30 prospects were distributed across them during the same month in this Path;
   
• The Distribution would be 6 for Mary, 12 for Joe, and 12 for Stacy. Mary received fewer prospects due to the 50% weighting.

Let's also use the previous example to have a better idea:

• We gave 50% weighting to Farha, and Farha's Current Level went from 2 to 4, meaning that Farha will likely get fewer meetings than others due to the 50% weighting, which makes one meeting count as two.
   
• Weightings above 100% are not available at the moment.

Once you have customized your Distribution, publish it. You can now add it to Concierge Routers and Chat Journeys.

How to Create a Prospect/Record Distribution

If you are an Admin or a Workspace Manager, you can create a new meeting Distribution from the "Assets" option in the left-hand menu list or within a Concierge Router or Chat Journey to facilitate your setup process.

Let's check each below:

From the Assets list:

•  
  1. Navigate to the Distributions option in the left-side menu:
     
      
  2. Click on "Create Distribution > Record Distribution"

From a Concierge Router:

•  
  1. Within an "Assign to Node", select "Team via Round Robin"
     
      
  2. Click on "Create New Distribution"
     

From a Distro Router:

1.  
   1. In the Assign & Update Ownership node, select "Team via Round Robin"
      
      
       
   2. Click "Select Distribution", and then "Create New Distribution" to create a new Distribution.

How to Customize a Prospect/Record Distribution

As an Admin or Workspace Manager, you can customize your record Distributions to ensure they match your Team's goals.

Choose the Distribution Algorithm

You can choose between two options within this setting:

• Strict Round Robin: Chili Piper will display the rep's calendar with the fewest meetings. This type of Round Robin ensures the most equal distribution of meetings. However, since only one calendar is shown, the number of available slots for the prospect may be very limited.
• Working Hours Round Robin: Prioritizes team members who are currently working based on their Default Schedule in ChiliCal. If no team members are available, Chili Piper will revert to a Strict Round-Robin. This can be affected by custom weightage and calibration.

Team Setup

Add team members to the Distribution by clicking the "Add a Team" button.

Calibration

Scrolling down, you will notice the Calibration section with more details and updatable features (Credit/Skip and Weight) for each Team Member:

Current Level

The result of the number of Records distributed to each Team Member. Credit/Skip and Weight may also impact the Current Level; for more details, please refer to the next sections.

 

Records

The number of records distributed per Team Member.

 

Credit/Skip

This is where you can manually credit or skip a meeting for anyone from your team.

To credit a record to a user, use a positive number (1, 2, 3), and this user will have one (or more) meeting(s) to their Current Level. In the example below, notice how Byron had the Current Level equal to 1, and after we credited one more meeting, it updated to 2. That means Byron's Current Level increases, and Byron may not be prioritized as Next after the update.

To remove (Skip) a record in a Distribution, use a negative number (-1, -2, -3), and the user will have their Current Level decreased. In the example below, we did the opposite as above: notice how Byron had the Current Level equal to 1, and after we credited one more meeting, it updated to 0. This may help the user who got the negative number to be prioritized as Next in the queue again.

Weights

The Weight can impact the frequency at which your Team Member will be next in your Distribution.
To allocate a greater Distribution of meetings to specific reps, set their weight percentage higher than that of other users in the Team. Uneven weights are likely why some reps may receive more or fewer prospects than others.

For example:

• Mary, Joe, and Stacy are members of a Team and have the following weights for the current month: 50%, 100%, and 100%.
   
• Suppose 60 prospects were distributed across them during the same month in this Path.
   
• The Distribution would be 10 for Mary, 15 for Joe, and 15 for Stacy. Mary received fewer prospects due to the 50% weighting.

Let's also use the previous example to have a better idea:

• We gave 50% weighting to Byron, and Byron's Current Level went from 1 to 2, meaning that Byron will likely get fewer meetings than others due to the 59% weighting.
   
• Weightings above 100% are currently unavailable.

Once you have customized your Distribution, publish it. You can now add it to Concierge Routers.

How to Create a Conversation Distribution

If you are an Admin or a Workspace Manager, you can create a new Distribution from the Assets option in the left-hand menu list or directly within the product you are setting up (e.g., Concierge Router, Distro Router, or Chat Journey).

Let's check each below:

From the Assets list:

• Navigate to the Distributions option in the left-side menu.

• Click on Create Distribution > Record Distribution or Create Distribution > Conversation Distribution, depending on your needs.

From a Chat Journey (for Conversation Distribution):

• In the Route For Live Chat Node, select Team Member via Round Robin and select Conversation Distribution 

• Click on Create New Distribution to create a Conversation Distribution.

How to Customize a Conversation Distribution

As an Admin or Workspace Manager, you can customize your Conversation Distributions to ensure they match your Team's goals.

Distribution Algorithm

Uses Strict Round-Robin to ensure conversations are distributed evenly across available reps in real time.

Team Setup

Add team members to the Distribution by clicking the Add a Team button.

Calibration

Scrolling down, you will notice the Calibration section with more details and updatable features (Credit/Skip and Weight) for each Team Member:

Current Level

Based on the Conversations assigned. It also considers automatic adjustments during vacations and the date the User is added to the Team.

Conversations

Shows how many live conversations (for Chat) have been distributed.

Credit/Skip

Manually adjust a rep’s Current Level to prioritize or deprioritize them in the Distribution.

Weights

Adjust the percentage weight to give some reps more or fewer assignments compared to others.

For example:
Mary, Joe, and Stacy are members of a Team and have the following weights: 50%, 100%, and 100%.
If 60 conversations were distributed across them during the same period, the result would be 10 for Mary, 15 for Joe, and 15 for Stacy. Mary received fewer because of her 50% weighting.

Distribution Grouping

Distribution Groups allow you to combine Round Robin counters across several Distributions, ensuring fairness across the combined Distributions.

For instance, if you have a round-robin Distribution of "North American—Enterprise accounts" with Mary, Joe, and Stacy and "Canada—Enterprise accounts" with Mary, Joe, and Mike, but you want the Distribution to be fair across the two groupings, you can create a Distribution group. 

As an Admin or a Workspace Manager, you can create Distribution group(s) from the "Groups" tab in the workspace Distribution assets and select the type of group to be created. See screenshot below:

For this example, we select the "Group Record Distributions" option. You will need to enter a group name, select the Distributions or Teams to be grouped, and click the "Create Group" button. 

Adding Teams to the grouping allows you to update a user's level when they receive a meeting, record, or chat through an ownership path.

That's all! Your grouping is active, ensuring fairness across the grouped Distribution. 

Meeting or Record Limit

Within your Calibration Settings, you will notice the Meeting Limit or Record Limit button, depending on your Distribution type.

 

This setting helps limit the number of meetings or records that Distribution Team members should receive within a given timeframe. Once the defined limit is reached, the Team Member will not receive more meetings or records until the limit is reset.

After clicking the button, you will be prompted with a pop-up to set the Time Period and the Reset Times. Click Save & Close once ready.

In this example, we set a Daily limit to be reset at 12:00 AM UTC:

A few considerations, still using the example above:

• The Limit will not allow more meetings to be booked if there are 2 occurrences for the same day. It does not matter when the meetings were booked; what matters is how many are scheduled for the same day.
   
• Practical example: The rep starts their day and receives 2 meetings for July 27th straight away. During the day, the rep can still have more meetings assigned and booked for other days, but July 27th will not be an available option since they already have 2 meetings in their calendar booked for that day.

Use the Custom option to set any specific timeframe that is not covered in the pre-defined options in-app.

Once done, the Limit column will be enabled so you can set the limit per user. In the example below, we set a Daily limit of 10 meetings for Madonna:

This means that, after receiving the tenth meeting for the day, Madonna will not be available until the limit is reset.

You can set the same Limit for everyone like this:

Also, note that the limits are set individually per Team member. This means you can have a scenario like the one below, where one user has a daily limit of 10 meetings, and another has 20.

Why do I see an uneven Distribution among my Team Members?

Chili Piper tries to keep the Round Robin Distribution as close to equal as possible by default, but you might see that some team members have more meetings and/or records distributed than others. Here are a few common reasons for that:

• You have the flexible Round Robin type enabled on this Distribution. While it allows for more slots to be displayed to the prospect, it means that sometimes the time the prospect is picked does not coincide with the time the next person in the queue is available, so they are skipped. Ensure your reps have as many open slots as possible on their calendars when using a Flexible Round-Robin.
   
• Reps on vacation: If a rep is out of the office for vacation or a day, the Distribution will not happen during those days. Click here to learn more about Vacation and Distribution Settings.
   
• Credit/Skip and Weighting: As noticed in the sections above, manually crediting/skipping an assignee and/or adjusting their Weight impacts their Current Level and, consequently, may cause reps to receive fewer meetings than others.
   
• Allow Booker to Pick any Team Member: When enabled, this setting gives more flexibility to Bookers while selecting the assignee for the meetings they are booking.