Published 23 October 2026
START WITH THE GAPS IN THE BUYING JOURNEY
Rep churn, bought lists and a brutal cost per meeting. Merchants are locked into contracts you can't see the end of, and switching conversations happen months too early or too late.
This guide describes the workflow design published in Xiilio’s industry playbook. It is not a case study or a claim of achieved results. Access, permissions and the connected systems determine what can be deployed.
- Cold calling with high rep churn and a brutal cost per meeting
- Contract end dates are invisible, so conversations happen months early or too late
- Bought lists are stale and duplicated across the team
- Reps burn time qualifying merchants far below viable turnover
MAP THE HANDOVERS BEFORE ADDING AUTOMATION
Write down the decision at each stage, who owns it and what information the next person needs. Qualification is not a substitute for a regulated or commercial decision.
- Trigger: Contract end approaching, a rate rise, a terminal failure, or a new site opening.
- Comparison: Merchant collects two or three quotes; rates, terms and settlement speed compared.
- Decision: Owner or finance lead decides, often quickly once the contract window opens.
- Onboarding: Underwriting, KYC and terminal deployment.
CONTRACT-END CAPTURE
Agree these steps with the owning team, test the handovers and review exceptions before enabling the workflow.
- Contract end date captured on any conversation, even a rejection
- Merchant parked into a dated nurture rather than discarded
- Sequence reopens ahead of the window you set
- ARIA re-qualifies and books the rep
TERRITORY BUILD
Agree these steps with the owning team, test the handovers and review exceptions before enabling the workflow.
- NOVA compiles merchants by sector and postcode with site counts
- Duplicate and existing-customer suppression against the CRM
- Approved multichannel sequence runs at capped volume
- Booked demos land in rep diaries with qualification notes
BOARDING FOLLOW-THROUGH
Agree these steps with the owning team, test the handovers and review exceptions before enabling the workflow.
- Signed merchant enters the onboarding sequence
- Outstanding KYC documents chased automatically
- Stalls escalated to a human after your defined threshold
- Boarded and live status written back to the CRM
CONNECT THE EXISTING STACK, WITH EXPLICIT BOUNDARIES
No rip-and-replace is the starting point. Confirm API availability, permissions, record mapping and failure handling with the system owner. Product names in the playbook describe systems commonly used in this sector; they do not imply a partnership or a prebuilt connector for every installation.
- CRM
- Rep calendars
- Telephony
- E-signature and KYC document collection
- EPOS and partner referral feeds
KEEP THE APPROVAL GATES VISIBLE
Automation should stop at the boundaries agreed with your team. Record escalations and approval decisions alongside the workflow activity.
- Pricing and rate discussion reserved for reps
- Outbound sequences approved before launch
- Boarding decisions and underwriting remain human
- Suppression lists confirmed before each campaign
MEASURE OUTCOMES, NOT ACTIVITY ALONE
Agree the baseline, reporting period and source of each metric before launch. Reconcile CRM outcomes with your own records; do not treat a modelled return or an advertising dashboard as independently audited revenue.
- Cost per booked demo
- Demo attendance rate
- Demo to boarded merchant rate
- Average card turnover of boarded merchants
- Contract end dates captured per month