Stop Unfair Scheduling For Your AEs and SDRs

Stop Unfair Scheduling For Your AEs and SDRs

Post by   Thomas Cornelius   on  
April 21, 2025
One public link → pooled calendars → smart host selection → faster pipeline, happier team.

Why Round‑Robin Matters in 2025

Speed‑to‑lead is the most direct lever on revenue you control:

  • Leads contacted within 5 minutes convert 21× better than those contacted after 30 minutes.
  • Yet the average B2B response time is 42 hours.

Owners‑only links break the moment you add rep #2. Prospects face “no times available,” and RevOps staff drown in manual routing. graph8’s Sales Round‑Robin fixes the bottleneck with pooled availability plus a sophisticated host‑assignment engine—so the right rep gets booked instantly and fairly.


Feature Deep‑Dive—How Graph8 Picks the Perfect Host

Graph8’s algorithm layers four mechanisms. You can mix‑and‑match to match your GTM strategy.

What What It Does When to Use It
Priority Ranking Every host has Low, Medium, or High priority. For a given slot, the highest‑priority available host wins. Route enterprise leads to senior AEs first, keep SMB leads for mid‑market reps.
Weights Define a target share (e.g., 200 %, 50 %). graph8 continuously compares actual bookings to weight ratios and steers the next meetings toward under‑quota reps until balance is hit. Keep top performers busy, ramp new hires gracefully, or give part‑time specialists lighter loads.
Least Recently Booked (LRB) Fallback that chooses the host with the oldest booking timestamp. Ties are broken at random. Ensures fairness when priorities and weights are equal.
Fixed Hosts Name one or more “always attend” members (e.g., Solutions Engineer) and then apply round‑robin logic to the rotating pool for the second seat. Complex demos that always need a SE + a rotating AE.

How the Layers Work Together

  1. Calendar Union — graph8 merges every host’s free/busy slots to build a master availability grid.
  2. Invitee Picks a Time — The prospect selects any open slot (no dead ends).
  3. Priority Check — If multiple hosts are free, graph8 sorts by Priority.
  4. Weight Check — Among hosts with equal priority, the algorithm checks whether anyone is behind their weight quota.
  5. Least Recently Booked — If quotas are in line, the host booked least recently wins.
  6. Fixed Hosts — If the event type includes one or more fixed hosts, they are added to the invite along with the selected round‑robin host.
Example:
Jane (High priority, 100 % weight, 8 bookings) and John (Medium priority, 200 % weight, 12 bookings) are both free. Priority crowns Jane unless another High‑priority host is available and behind quota. If Alice (High, 100 %, 5 bookings) is also free, Graph8 books Alice until she catches up to 8, then re‑evaluates.

Configuring Round‑Robin in graph8 (5‑Step Setup)

  1. Create a Team Event
    Appointments → New Event → Round Robin
  2. Choose Distribution Logic
    Max‑Availability (convert every lead) vs. Load‑Balancing (equalize bookings).
  3. Set Priorities & Weights
    Click the host list → pick High/Medium/Low → enable Weights if needed.
  4. Add Fixed Hosts (optional)
    Perfect for demos needing an SE, or CSM check‑ins with an AE present.
  5. Publish One Link
    Drop in demo forms, outbound sequences, chatbot CTAs—same URL everywhere.

graph8 handles calendar invites, CRM logging, pipeline stage updates, voice‑AI tasks, and event streaming to Jitsu/ClickHouse. Total install time: ≈ 45 minutes for a five‑rep team.


4. Real‑World Benefits—Role by Role

🎯 Account Executives (AEs)

Friction graph8 Fix
Empty pipeline weeks Pooled calendars lift inbound demo volume.
“Poaching” drama Priority + weight rules codify fairness.
Manual CRM updates Automatic booking payload enriches opportunity records.

Outcome: AEs spend <2 % of their day on admin and >98 % on revenue work.


📞 Sales Development Reps / BDRs

Friction graph8 Fix
Double‑handling leads SDR schedules AE & prospect before the call ends.
Lost attribution Origin UTMs auto‑persist from click → booking → closed‑won.
Show‑rate headaches Confirmation email + SMS reminders fire instantly.

Outcome: SDRs hit meeting‑set quotas up to 18 % faster.


📈 Sales Leaders & RevOps

Question graph8 Answers
Who’s overloaded? Dashboard shows bookings vs. quotas vs. weights.
Are SLAs met? Speed‑to‑lead by channel, rep, and territory—live.
How do we ramp new hires? Give them Low priority + 50 % weight for week 1–2, then raise gradually.

Outcome: Predictable pipeline coverage; no more “lead roulette” arguments.


🤝 Customer Success & Solutions Engineering

Fixed Hosts guarantee your SE or CSM is in every onboarding call, while the rotating seat scales capacity. NPS climbs, CSat tickets fall.


Five Use‑Case Templates

  1. Inbound Demo Form
    Max‑Availability, Equal Weights.
    Route every prospect to the first free AE; speed‑to‑lead wins the deal.
  2. Enterprise Territory Split
    High Priority + 200 % Weight
    for senior AEs who handle >$100k ACV, Low Priority for SMB reps.
  3. New‑Hire Ramp
    Week 1 – Low Priority, 25 % Weight → Week 3 – Medium, 50 % → Week 6 – Medium, 100 %. Quota automatically follows weight.
  4. Demo + SE
    Fixed Host: Solutions Engineer + Round‑Robin AE. Ensures technical depth without burning SE calendars.
  5. Customer QBRs
    Load‑Balancing to keep CSM workloads even, plus weights so strategic accounts go to Senior CSMs first.

Best‑Practice Playbook

Tip Impact
Reset Queues Monthly Prevents “queue memory” from locking in last month’s leader.
Keep Weight Deltas ≤ 2× Larger gaps feel unfair and hurt morale.
Auto‑requeue No‑Shows Graph8 can push no‑shows to the back of the line and email a self‑service reschedule link.
Sync to Both Lead & Opportunity Guarantees correct forecasting when SDR and AE both touch the record.
Track Speed‑to‑Lead Display SLA breach alerts in Slack or email using Graph8’s Jitsu event stream.

Quantifiable Gains

KPI Before After Delta
Demo → Opportunity Conversion 31 % 42 % + 11 pp
Average Lead‑to‑Meeting Time 2.7 days 0.5 days ‑ 2.2 days
Monthly Meetings per AE 22 29 + 32 %
SDR Admin Time 12 h/week 5 h/week ‑ 58 %
Pipeline Forecast Accuracy 71 % 86 % + 15 pp

Frequently Asked

Is Round‑Robin really free?
Yes. Included on every Graph8 tier—Free, Growth, Enterprise.

What calendars are supported?
Google Workspace, Microsoft 365/Outlook, any Apple Calendar.

Can I pause a rep on PTO?
Toggle them off; graph8 re‑balances instantly.

Do weights override priorities?
Priorities are checked first within a slot; weights then nudge distribution over multiple bookings.

How do Fixed Hosts affect capacity?
They always attend and therefore count against their own availability—perfect for SEs who must be present.


Implementation Checklist (Half‑Day Sprint)

  1. Connect calendars & CRM.
  2. Create Round‑Robin event type.
  3. Define priorities, weights, and fixed hosts.
  4. Replace old demo link on website & sequences.
  5. Test end‑to‑end with a sandbox lead.
  6. Monitor first‑week dashboards; tweak rules.

Conclusion—Fairness Meets Speed, Wrapped in graph8

Round‑robin isn’t merely a “nice‑to‑have.” Done right, it:

  • Accelerates revenue by pooling availability for near‑instant booking.
  • Drives fairness through priority and weight logic visible to every rep.
  • Shrinks admin overhead thanks to automatic CRM, dialer, and analytics integration.

graph8’s implementation goes further with:

  • Fixed Hosts for hybrid collective + round‑robin teams.
  • Auto weight‑adjustment when you add hires mid‑quarter.
  • Native voice‑AI follow‑ups, SDR tasks, and Jitsu event streaming—no Zapier spaghetti required.

Ready to see it live?
Book a demo (via our own round‑robin link) → https://graph8.com/meetings/
Need deeper docs? https://help.graph8.com/

Fair. Fast. Fully integrated. That’s graph8 Sales Round‑Robin.