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.

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Table of Contents

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

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What is the Purpose of This Feature?

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

• Meeting Distribution

  • Usage: Primarily used within Concierge and Chat.
  • 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.

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.

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Meeting vs. Prospect/Record Distribution

During the distribution creation process and in the next sections, you will notice two types of distribution: Meeting and Prospect/Record. As the name suggests, the main difference is the type of object we will distribute: the meeting itself or the prospect/record (Lead, Contact, etc.).

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

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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 one from there.
     

 

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 one from there.
     

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 one from there.

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How do I 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 least amount of 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 from Meetings Scheduled minus No Shows minus Canceled will be shown if your workspace settings are set to credit back for No Shows and Cancelation. If not, it will show just the number of Meetings Scheduled.

Credit/Skip and Weight can also impact the Current Level - check more details about them in 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 to 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 that your Team Member will be Next on your distribution.
To allocate a greater distribution of meetings to specific reps, make their weight percentage more than the 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 got fewer prospects distributed to her 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.

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How do I 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"
     

 

How do I 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.

Distribution Algorithm

For Prospect/Record distribution, the distribution algorithm will always be Strict Round-Robin.

 

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 from the number of Records distributed to each Team Member. Credit/Skip and Weight may also impact the Current Level - check more details about these in 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 to 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 that your Team Member will be Next on your distribution.
To allocate a greater distribution of meetings to specific reps, make their weight percentage more than the 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 got fewer prospects distributed to her 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 not available at the moment.

 

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

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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 how many meetings or records the Distribution Team members should receive in a given timeframe. Once the defined limit is reached, the Team Member will not receive more meetings or records until the limit's reset happens.

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:

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

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Distribution Grouping

Distribution Groups allow you to combine Round Robin counters across several Distributions, i.e., you want 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, and fairness will be across the grouped distribution. 

 

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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 does mean 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. Check that your reps have as many open slots as possible on their calendars if you are 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 understand Vacation and Distribution Settings better for Concierge and here for Distro.
  
  
• 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.