A trigger alone answers "when." Checks answer "on which files," and without them an automation fires on every deal or client the trigger moment touches, not just the ones you had in mind.
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8:43Why a Trigger Alone Is Too Wide
"Deal created" fires on every new deal, "Birthday" fires for every client with one on file, "Deal moved into a stage" fires for every file that reaches it. A campaign meant for high-value purchases, or for clients past a certain equity line, needs a check on top of the trigger, or it reaches everyone the moment touches.
Limit It to Deals Carrying a Tag
The trigger card itself carries one built-in check: which deal tags a file has to carry. Pick one or more tags and the automation only fires on a deal wearing at least one of them; clear every tag and it goes back to firing on any deal. Any other checks written in the canvas are left alone when you edit this list, so the two narrowings stack rather than replace each other.
Checks You Write on the Canvas
The canvas condition builder reads like a sentence: pick a field grouped by where it comes from (this trigger's own details, the deal, the mortgage, the property, the client), pick a comparison in plain words ("is," "is not," "is over," "is between," "is in the next N days"), and type or pick the value. Add more than one check and choose whether all of them or any one of them has to hold. There's no nested logic to puzzle out. A rule you can read out loud is a rule you can trust.
Stopping a Sequence Early
A check can also end a sequence that's already running. If the marker that enrolled a file, a stage, a tag, or the checks you wrote, is taken back, the whole sequence stops rather than sending steps built for a file that's no longer in that state. Lead and deal-intake triggers can additionally name a stage that halts every remaining step the moment a file reaches it. And a single step can carry its own check on what earlier steps produced, so a later message can watch an outcome without gating the whole automation.
Checking What You Narrowed To
Before you trust a narrowed trigger, run it against real files. The canvas can show which of your live deals or clients match right now, and for one that doesn't, exactly which check rejected it, so a rule that matches nobody tells you why instead of leaving you to guess.
What to Do Next
- Choose a Trigger if you haven't settled on the moment yet.
- Set Up Renewal and Refinance Outreach to see checks like minimum savings and deal age used together.
- Read Your Automation History to confirm a narrowed trigger reached only who you meant.