Deals enrolling in a workflow if created by the same workflow

[AnnaKellett]

I've just created a workflow to create renewal deals when a customer signs up to our services.

Deal (1) closed as won > workflow creates renewal deal (2)

I want the workflow to continue creating deals year on year, but when deal (2) enrolls the second time, it says

'The enrolled deal was created by this workflow, so this action was skipped to prevent an infinite loop.'

I sthere a way to get around this?

[HubSpot_Corey]

Hi all,

For those who want the short answer skip to Steps, for those want the explanation, keep reading.

Essentially, it seems as though your workflow will create a secondary deal but when it comes to the secondary deal enrolling in the workflow in an attempt to create a third deal, it's erroring with ‘The enrolled deal was created by this workflow, so this action was skipped to prevent an infinite loop’. This is due to the fact that it registers the creation of a new deal as having been through the same workflow and won't allow re-enrolment due to a security net that is trying to prevent infinite loops. To get around this without the use of apps please follow the steps below:

Steps

1. Add a numeric property field on the object you are running through the workflow, for this example, let's say it's the deal level. Title this new field as you like. In this case, lets call it ‘Workflow Switcher’.
2. At the start of the workflow add an enrolment filter condition that is ‘Workflow Switcher’ is not equal to 2. Select 'Include records where "Workflow Switcher" is empty'
3. On your ‘Create record’ action, select ‘Add more properties’ choose ‘Workflow Switcher’ and have it set the value to 2.
4. Duplicate the workflow.
5. Change the Workflow 2 enrollment filter value for ‘Workflow Switcher’ to is equal to 2 and then select the Create record step and change it to set the ‘Workflow Switcher’ value to 1.

The reason on Step 2 we set it to is not equal to 2 and include empty is because new deals will be created with no value in the field, by choosing this it will include both empty values and any that have the value of 1. This filter then causes the deal enrolment to swap between the workflow each time and as it was created in the alternate workflow, it won’t register this as an infinite loop.

Please be careful: As this is a work around for the infinite loop safety net, if your trigger conditions instantly enrol the deal in the alternate workflow, it will cause it to create an infinite number of the object you are creating. Please double check your filters before publishing your workflow.

[TPage3]

I have this exact same issue as Anna, if there are any updated ideas that would allow this to work that would be fantastic.  Deals could renew year over year, and the workflow will only process on the original deal not created in the workflow, it indicates it is a preventing an infinite loop (which it really isn't an infinte loop, but a repetative condition until an opt out is met (which would be it gets put to Not Renewed or Closed.)

[warrendavey]

@AnnaKellett - I created a video answering your question.  I hope it helps.

https://youtu.be/9iJu_Ln3xRY

Also, The best way to overcome infinite loop challenges is to add additional differentiating criteria.  As I show in the video date stamps are a great way to do this.  That way the workflow will trigger the new deal because it has a changed property that meets the criteria. This no longer makes it a loop but a continuation.  Otherwise, your other deals would keep creating more deals and it would never end. Always check re-enrollment and walk through the process of how it is different from the original.

[AnnaKellett]

Hi @warrendavey 

Thank you so much for going through the trouble of creating that video!

However, this doesn't fix the problem unfortunately. I want deal 2 to go through the same workflow that created it in the first place and subsequently create deal 3/4/5/6 etc (provided it meets the criteria ie closed as won) which doesn't happen. I have a horrible feeling I'm going to have to clone the workflow and have one for each year the customer renews.

[warrendavey]

@AnnaKellett -We can solve this.  It may just need a change in processes to get the desired result. I think I need to understand what the end goal here is for reporting.

So do you need a new deal to be created after it closes or just before renewal time? I guess what I am trying to say is what is the limiter? What causes the deal to not be created? Why does it immediately move to close won and look exactly the same? What is the new deal Closed Won date?  Doesn't the close date or renewal data change for each new deal?  

If I wanted a new deal to be created for renewal then I would create a trigger that hits 30-60 days before renewal to create a new renewal deal.  It wouldn't be closed won because I haven't determined that yet with the client. Then when it closes the next workflow would trigger based on the renewal date again. The loop continues but from some event occurring that makes it unique.  Therefore not a loop but a delay to see if things change.

If in your case you are creating renewals because the contract is already for 5 years then you could just add renewal dates to the deal that trigger deals to be created based on a time frame before those dates.  In that same assumption, if you are trying to create a deal for each year so you can run accounting numbers because the contract is already set for 5 years then I would look into MRR/ARR for HubSpot.  It can help with annualizing the revenue in the same deal.

If the purpose is to have a renewal call reminder then we probably need to look at tasks instead.

A lot of assumptions here to consider. Let me know the details and I promise you we can solve this. You can always book time with me here. 

[AnnaKellett]

I want the new deal to be created whenever a deal is closed as won with a due date in 12 months (it then also creates tasks which are due in 11 months to remind the deal owner to follow up in advance).

New deals are only created if a deal is closed as won. Below shows as example of how I want it to work (the bits in red are where it's not working, because a deal won't go through a workflow that it was created by). It works the first time because the original deal was created by workflow a - 

Date	Trigger	Workflow activity
01/05/2020	Customer submits online form to enquire about products	Deal 1 created via workflow [a]
01/06/2020	Deal 1 (created by workflow a) closed as won	Workflow [b] immediately creates deal 2 with a close date due in 12 months
01/06/2021	Deal 2 (created by workflow b) closed as won	Workflow [b] immediately creates deal 3 with a close date due in 12 months
01/06/2022	Deal 3 (created by workflow b) closed as won	Workflow [b] immediately creates deal 4 with a close date due in 12 months
01/06/2023	Deal 4 (created by workflow b) closed as won	Workflow [b] immediately creates deal 5 with a close date due in 12 months
01/06/2024	Deal 5 (created by workflow b) closed as lost - customer does not want to renew	Does not meet workflow criteria. No further deals created.

[Bryantworks]

Hey @AnnaKellett,

Jumping back in on this one.  The issue with creating the duplicate deals is b/c the deal being created is going back to the same stage, "Closed Won".  I'm trying to understand your internal process a bit more here to get clarity on why you'd like to put subsequent deals in the same stage if there is a chance the customer doesn't renew.  

I think you should likely add a "Renewals" stage with its own automation for tasks, reminders, etc. 330 days out from the previous deal close date.  Giving your sales team 35 days to work the deal and followup with the customer if they want to renew.  

So your automation would be like you have above, but the created deal placing them in the "Renewals" stage then that stage having a workflow for the reminders I mentioned previously.  I see a few benefits here from reporting perspectives, you could see ARR at a pretty easy view, along with filtering that stage down for close dates on renewals to see who needs to be followed up with this month.  

Would this not work as a higher-level process?

[AnnaKellett]

The subsequnt deals are kept at the early stage of the pipeline for 11 months and are only changed to closed won once the customer confirms they want to renew.

I may not have explained the issue very well but it has got nothing to do with the stage of the deal and it's not creating duplicates. The issue is that I want a deal to go through a workflow that that very same same deal was initially created by, but hubspot gives an error message saying it won't allow it.

[AnnaKellett]

Date	Trigger	Workflow activity
01/05/2020	Customer submits online form to enquire about products	Deal 1 created via workflow [a]
01/06/2020	Deal 1 (created by workflow a) closed as won	Workflow [b] immediately creates deal 2 with a close date due in 12 months (deal stage is early in pipeline)
01/06/2021	Deal 2 (created by workflow [b] 12 months ago) closed as won after customer confirm they want to renew	Workflow [b] immediately creates deal 3 with a close date due in 12 months (deal stage is early in pipeline)
01/06/2022	Deal 3 (created by workflow [b] 12 months ago) closed as won after customer confirm they want to renew	Workflow [b] immediately creates deal 4 with a close date due in 12 months (deal stage is early in pipeline)
01/06/2023	Deal 4 (created by workflow [b] 12 months ago) closed as won after customer confirm they want to renew	Workflow [b] immediately creates deal 5 with a close date due in 12 months (deal stage is early in pipeline)
01/06/2024	Deal 5 (created by workflow [b] 12 months ago) closed as lost - customer does not want to renew	Does not meet workflow criteria. No further deals created.

[Bryantworks]

Hey @AnnaKellett,

So some good and bad news.  The good news is I was able to get this sorted, the bad news is I needed another tool to do so, Automate.io.

Here's a quick video with my explanation and the renewals deals being populated correctly!

https://www.loom.com/share/d311337d63e24efda321384cf39dff37

[carl-sitback]

Great walkthrough @Bryantworks - super clear and seems to solve the problem, albeit with another tool.

[warrendavey]

@AnnaKellett  I like @Bryantworks's Solution; Zapier or Automate.io are great third party solutions that can help you here.

I tried duplicating the same process and was unable to continue building a new deal off of the old one that was already created by the same workflow.  If I find other solutions I will keep you posted.

[warrendavey]

@AnnaKellett - I created an idea here in HubSpot that you can upvote.  Putting it here for others to see as well. 

Workflow Continuation

[AnnaKellett]

@warrendavey 

@Bryantworks

 ok I've created a video, hopefully this explains it better than my posts! 🙂

https://www.loom.com/share/ce72e48763cf45d3996b087607121ed5

[TPage3]

This is the exact same issue I have as well. I cannot imagine this is not possible, as I'm sure many companies who have renewals would like to do this before every renewal...

[Bryantworks]

Hey @AnnaKellett,

Are you trying to put the renewal in the same stage of "Closed Won"?  In this case I would almost create a dedicated deal stage for renewals and place the renewal deal there.  Something like the following should work:

Hope this helps!

[AnnaKellett]

Hi @Bryantworks,

Thanks for your help. Yes the new deal is going to the same stage, but even if I created a new one the same thing wousld happen as it would still need to use the same workflow? The issue is that I'm try to put a deal through a workflow that created that same deal in the first place?

Anna

[TPage3]

Hi Anna,

I'm trying to accomplish this exact same thing.  Were you ever able to do this without using 3rd party apps?

[BérangèreL]

Hi @TPage3,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community!

@AnnaKellett and @Bryantworks do you have a workaround for this, using native features please?

I'd like to share the solutions from @Dan1 and @louischausse on this post "How to handle renewals in your deal pipeline - Best Practices and Pro Tips"

I hope this helps!

Have a good day!

Best,
Bérangère