Automated lead-to-client pipeline with Google Sheets email notifications & time tracking

Google Sheets CRM Automations: Lead Stages → Emails, Client Tracking & Delivery Duration

Turn a simple Google Sheet into a lightweight CRM powered by n8n.

Overview

This template monitors edits in your Leads and Clients tabs and reacts automatically:

• Qualified? → sends a Cal.com booking email
• Stage → Awaiting Proposal → sends a “proposal coming soon” email
• Stage → Won → appends the client to Clients with a Start Date & Time
• Clients: Project Status → Delivered → stamps End Date & Time and computes Time to Deliver (e.g., 2d 5h 30m)

What This Template Does

• Lead Qualification → Email: When you mark Qualified? in Leads, a booking email is sent automatically.
• Awaiting Proposal → Email: Sends a heads-up email that a proposal is coming soon.
• Won → Client Append: Adds the client to Clients and records the start timestamp.
• Delivered → Completion Metrics: Looks up the client, stamps the end timestamp, and calculates the delivery duration.

How It Works

1. Google Apps Script → Webhooks (onEdit)

   • A small Apps Script (provided in the workflow’s Sticky Note) watches the sheet and posts JSON to these n8n webhooks:
     • /webhook/lead-stage-changed
     • /webhook/lead-qualified
     • /webhook/client-status-changed

2. n8n Flow & Branching

   • lead-stage-changed
     • If Awaiting Proposal → send proposal heads-up email
     • If Won → format timestamp → append to Clients
   • lead-qualified
     • If qualified = true → send Cal.com booking email
   • client-status-changed
     • If Delivered → lookup client row → stamp End Date & Time → compute Time to Deliver → update row

Prerequisites

• Google Sheet with two tabs: Leads and Clients
• Gmail account (or use your preferred email/notification node)
• n8n instance with:
  • Google Sheets OAuth2 credentials
  • Gmail OAuth2 credentials (if using the Gmail node)

Suggested columns

• Leads: Name (A), Client Email (C), Lead Source (D), Stage (E), Qualified? (H)
• Clients: Name (A), Client Email (C), Project Status (D), Start Date & Time (F), End Date & Time (G), Time to Deliver (H)

Setup Steps

1. Copy/prepare the Google Sheet

   • Ensure both Leads and Clients tabs exist with the columns above.

2. Install the Apps Script

   • In Google Sheets: Extensions → Apps Script → paste the script from the workflow’s Sticky Note.
   • Replace webhook URLs with your n8n endpoints:
     • https://{{YOUR_N8N_DOMAIN}}/webhook/lead-stage-changed
     • https://{{YOUR_N8N_DOMAIN}}/webhook/lead-qualified
     • https://{{YOUR_N8N_DOMAIN}}/webhook/client-status-changed
   • Run createInstallableTrigger() once to enable onEdit.

3. Open the workflow in n8n & replace placeholders

   • {{GOOGLE_SHEETS_DOC_ID}}
   • {{LEADS_GID}}
   • {{CLIENTS_GID}}
   • {{CAL_COM_BOOKING_URL}}
   • {{SENDER_NAME}}
   • {{GMAIL_CREDENTIAL_ID}}, {{GMAIL_CREDENTIAL_NAME}}
   • {{GSHEETS_CREDENTIAL_ID}}, {{GSHEETS_CREDENTIAL_NAME}}

4. Connect credentials

   • Authorize Google Sheets OAuth2 and Gmail OAuth2 (or switch to SMTP/another email node).

5. Activate & test

   • Toggle Qualified? on a test row or change Stage to Awaiting Proposal/Won.
   • Verify the email, client append, and duration updates flow end-to-end.

Customization Ideas

• Swap Gmail with SMTP, Outlook, or Slack messages.
• Add a Stage = Lost branch to trigger a re-engagement sequence.
• Add guards to prevent duplicate appends to Clients.
• Localize email copy and date formats.

Troubleshooting

• Nothing triggers: Confirm Apps Script URLs and that createInstallableTrigger() was run.
• Wrong tab/GID: Open each tab and copy its gid from the URL; update placeholders.
• Credential errors: Re-authorize Google Sheets/Gmail OAuth2 in n8n.
• Wrong first name: Ensure Name in Leads follows First Last; the workflow splits the first token.

Video Walkthrough Demo

Screen Studio Template Demo Video