How to capture leads from Slack

Who is this article for?

This guide will walk you through setting up and using the PartnerStack integration for Slack to capture leads directly within your Slack workspace, eliminating context switching and speeding up sales cycles.

How to Set Up the Integration (for Program Managers):

  1. Log in to your PartnerStack account with Admin or Owner permissions.
  2. Navigate to Settings > Integrations.
  3. Scroll down to the Slack section and click "Add PartnerStack to Slack".
  4. You will be redirected to Slack. Follow the on-screen prompts to grant permission.
    • If you can install apps: Click "Allow". The installation will complete instantly.
    • If your workspace requires admin approval: You may need to write a short message to your Slack admin and click "Submit". Please follow up with them to ensure the app is approved.

Note on Slack Permissions:
When installing, you may see a message from Slack stating, “This app is not approved by Slack.” This is a standard notice for new apps in their directory. Our app has been fully tested for security and quality.

 

Your First Action: Submit a Test Lead

Before announcing this to your partners, we highly recommend submitting a test lead to ensure everything is working perfectly. This confirms the connection is active, and you understand the process.

How to Submit Leads in Slack

There are 3 ways for both you and your partners to submit leads.

Method 1: Convert a Message into a Lead (AI-Powered)

This is the most efficient way to capture leads. Use the AI to automatically read a message containing lead information and pre-fill the submission form, eliminating the need for manual data entry.

  1. Invite @PartnerStack App Bot to the channel to enable the feature.
  2. Find a message that contains customer information (e.g., "Just had a call with Andrea Yen, VP of ops at TechSolutions Inc, her email is andrea.yen@techsolutions.com..."). Both partner and program managers can convert messages into leads.
  3. Hover over the message and click the "More actions" icon (...).
  4. Select "[Beta] AI lead submit PartnerStack" from the actions menu.

What Happens Next: Tracking via Emoji & Threads

Once you trigger the action, the PartnerStack bot takes over. You can track the progress directly on the message itself with emojis, and you will get all updates in a thread.

  • ⏳ Processing: An hourglass emoji (⏳) will immediately be added to the message, indicating that the AI is reading and processing the information.
  • ✅ Success: If the message contains all the necessary information, the lead will be submitted automatically. The hourglass will be replaced by a white check mark emoji (✅), and you will receive a confirmation in the message's thread.
  • ❌ Needs More Info / Error: If the AI cannot find required information (like an email), cannot parse the text, or encounters an unexpected error, the hourglass will be replaced by a red cross emoji (❌). Check the thread for a message from the bot explaining what's missing or what went wrong.

Disclaimer: PartnerStack uses LLMs from Google Gemini that have the potential to generate inaccurate results.

Method 2: Submitting Leads via The Shortcut

  1. Start by typing a slash /partnerstack in the message box.
  2. Search for and select the "Submit a Lead" shortcut.
  3. The lead submission form will appear. Fill it out and click "Submit".

Method 3: Submitting Leads via The Slash Command

  1. In the message box, type /partnerstack lead create and press Enter.
  2. The lead submission form will appear. Fill it out and click "Submit".

 

Important Information for Partners & Program Managers

For the integration to work correctly, a few key rules must be followed.

  • Email matching is crucial: For a partner to submit a lead, their email address in Slack must exactly match their user email in PartnerStack.
  • Managers can submit leads on behalf of partners: As a Program Manager, you can submit a lead for any of your active partners.
  • Private Channels: For the bot to function in private and external connect channels, it must be explicitly invited. To do this, simply type @PartnerStack in the channel and send the message to add it.

Permissions and Data Access

To enable lead submission from Slack, the PartnerStack app requires certain permissions to view information and perform actions within your workspace. These permissions are necessary to launch the lead form and confirm submissions.

Below is a summary of what the PartnerStack app can view and do upon installation.

What will PartnerStack be able to view?

  • Channels & conversations:
    • View basic information about public channels, private channels, and direct messages that the PartnerStack app has been added to.
  • Your workspace:
    • View user groups in your workspace.
    • View profile details and email addresses of people in your workspace.
    • View people in your workspace.

What will PartnerStack be able to do?

  • Perform actions in channels & conversations:
    • Start direct messages with people.
    • View messages that directly mention @partnerstack in conversations that the app is in.
    • Send messages as @partnerstack.
    • Send messages to channels @partnerstack isn't a member of (e.g., for submission confirmations).
    • Add and edit emoji reactions.
  • Perform actions in your workspace:
    • Add shortcuts and slash commands that people can use (e.g., /partnerstack lead create).

Troubleshooting & FAQ

Q: I can't find the PartnerStack app on the official Slack Marketplace. Is it available there?

A: Not yet. The PartnerStack app is currently undergoing Slack's official verification and approval process. While this is in progress, you can only install the app directly via the integration page in your PartnerStack dashboard. The app is fully secure and has been tested by our team.

Q: How long does it take for a lead to appear in the PartnerStack dashboard after submitting it via Slack?

A: Immediately. The lead is created in your PartnerStack dashboard the moment you or your partner clicks "Submit" in Slack.

Q: Why can't I see a specific partner in the dropdown when trying to submit a lead?

A: This usually happens for one of three reasons. Please ensure the partner meets all of these criteria:

  1. They have an active PartnerStack account.
  2. They have been invited to your Slack workspace and have accepted the invitation.
  3. Their PartnerStack user email address exactly matches their Slack user email address.

Q: Why can't the bot find my external partner in a specific channel?

A: If you've already confirmed the partner's email addresses match (as noted above), the most likely reason is that the PartnerStack bot hasn't been invited to that channel. This is especially common in private channels. To fix this, simply go into the channel and type @PartnerStack to add it.

Q: Why do I get an error when I use the /partnerstack lead create command?

A: Ensure you have installed the app correctly and that your email in Slack matches your email in PartnerStack. If you've confirmed this and still see an error, please contact our support team.

Q: Can I customize the lead form?

A: Yes. The Slack lead form mirrors the fields you have configured in your main PartnerStack lead submission form. To add, remove, or change fields, please edit your lead form settings within the PartnerStack dashboard, and the changes will be reflected in Slack.

Q: What Slack data is stored in PartnerStack, and for how long?

A: PartnerStack does not passively monitor or archive your Slack conversations. We only store data when a user explicitly triggers the "Create a lead" action. At that point, we capture the specific message content, metatdata and the user's email address to ensure the lead is correctly attributed to the right partner. This data becomes part of the lead record and is retained for the lifetime of your customer account.

Q: [AI Feature] Can I use the '[Beta] AI lead submit PartnerStack' action in any channel? What about private channels or DMs?

A: Yes. The feature is designed to work everywhere in Slack, including public channels, private channels, and Direct Messages (DMs). For it to function correctly in private channels or DMs, you must first invite the @PartnerStack bot into that specific conversation.

Q: [AI Feature] Do I need to format my message in a special way for the AI to understand it? 

A: No, you don't. The AI is designed to understand natural, conversational language.

Q: [AI Feature] Is the AI reading all of my Slack messages? 

A: No, absolutely not. The AI analyzes the content of a message only when a user explicitly triggers the "Create a lead" action on that message. It does not read, monitor, or store any other messages in your Slack workspace. Your conversations remain private.

Q: [AI Feature] Is Slack message content sent to third-party LLM services like Google/Gemini? Is that data used for model training?

A: Yes, the specific message content you select is processed by Google’s Gemini Enterprise API. However, your data is not used for model training. Under our enterprise agreement, Google processes the data only to extract lead details and does not retain the data once the request is complete.

Q: [AI Feature] Can the AI read information from a whole thread, or just a single message? 

A: The AI action only processes the single, original message you trigger it on. It will not read the entire history of a thread.

Q: [AI Feature] Can I trigger the 'Create a lead' action on a message that is several days old? 

A: Yes. The feature works on any message in your Slack history, regardless of its age.

Q: [AI Feature] Can the AI understand and process messages in different languages? 

A: Yes. The AI is designed to recognize and extract key business information—such as names, company names, emails, and deal sizes—from messages written in many different languages.

Q: [AI Feature] What specific fields can the AI extract from a message? 

A: The AI is trained to identify and extract all the primary fields from your lead form.

Q: [AI Feature] What datacenters are used to host the PartnerStack app?

A: The PartnerStack platform, including the integration for Slack, is hosted on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Have Feedback? We Want to Hear It!

We’re very interested in what you think of our feature as we complete development and prioritize improvements! Please submit any questions or feedback to daria.hryshkova@partnerstack.com.