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Choosing a trigger to start your workflow

Pick the event that enrolls a contact, then choose the right trigger from the workflow builder's grouped list.

Open in SAMI OS

Every workflow starts with a trigger — the event that enrolls a contact and kicks off your automation. This article explains how to open the trigger picker and choose the right one for the job.

What a trigger does

A trigger is the "when this happens" half of an automation. When the event you pick fires for a contact, that contact is enrolled and the steps you've built run in order. Each workflow needs at least one trigger, and you can't publish until one is set.

Open the builder from Workflows, then open any workflow to edit it. A new workflow opens with a placeholder trigger node at the top reading Select a trigger — that's your starting point.

Open the trigger picker

  1. Open your workflow

    Go to Workflows and open the workflow you want to edit, or create a new one.

  2. Select the trigger node

    Click the placeholder node at the top of the canvas. The side panel reads "Choose the app or SAMI event that starts this workflow."

  3. Open the picker

    Click Select trigger to open the picker, where triggers are organized into groups.

  4. Choose your event

    Pick the trigger that matches the moment you want to automate. The panel updates so you can configure and test it.

Already have a trigger and want to swap it? Open the trigger node and use Change the app or trigger from the app picker to reopen the picker without rebuilding your steps.

The trigger groups

The picker organizes every event into groups so you can find the right one fast:

  • Inbound — Lead Received (Webhook) for leads pushed in from portals like Zillow, and Contact Created when a new contact is added in SAMI OS.
  • Contact Events — Tag Added and Stage Changed, for when a contact's tags or stage move.
  • Communication — Call Ended, SMS Created, and SMS Received, for activity on a contact's calls and texts.
  • Activity — Task Created, Appointment Created, Note Added, and Deal Created, tied to your Pipeline, Tasks, and Appointments.
  • SAMI OS — Sami Bot, which fires when one of your SAMI Bots is assigned, and Call Analyzed for when a bot call has been transcribed and scored.
  • CINC — events from a connected CINC account, including CINC New Lead, CINC New Inquiry, CINC Agent Assigned, and CINC Label Applied.
  • Advanced — Poll External API, which checks an outside service on a schedule and enrolls contacts from the results.

Not sure which trigger gives you the data you need? After selecting one, use the test panel to fetch sample data and see exactly which fields — like the contact's name, phone, or stage — are available to your steps.

There's also Workflow Completed, which enrolls a contact when they finish another workflow — handy for chaining sequences together. Pick the trigger that matches the real-world moment you're automating, and the rest of the builder follows from there.

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Last updated 2026-06-21

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