How to set up Telegram lead notifications and SMS to clients

Without Telegram lead notifications, a manager finds out about a new request too late. A request comes in at 8 p.m., the manager sees it in the morning — and overnight the client has found someone else. A client booked but didn't get the address and time — and mixed up the day. Each of these small things is a lost sale or an empty slot in the schedule.

Message blocks are steps of an automated sales funnel that write on their own and right away. The manager gets a request notification in Telegram or MAX within seconds. The client gets an SMS, an email or a message in WhatsApp, Telegram or MAX. The name, phone number and card fields are inserted into the text automatically, so every message looks personal. Messengers, SMS and email are already in your account — no need to connect separate mailing services.

And if the voice bot didn't get through, an AI chatbot can continue the conversation in chat. That way the lead isn't lost after a missed call.

Watch the two-minute video, and below you'll find the step-by-step setup.

Why businesses need automatic messages

• Business owners and managers: as soon as there's a new or hot lead, a message with the name, phone number and lead ID arrives. The client gets a call back while still waiting for an answer.
• A clinic, salon or car service: right after booking, the client gets an SMS with the address and time of the visit. Less confusion, fewer late arrivals and no-shows. And the day before the visit, you can turn on automated appointment reminder calls from the robot.
• An online school: a webinar link and a PDF program go to the messenger. A reply of “price” or “call me back” takes the lead to its own scenario branch, and everyone gets the right next step.
• An online store: an order has been waiting for payment for over a day — the client gets an SMS with a payment link and an email with the invoice. More paid orders without manual reminders.
• Any niche where clients send requests to several companies at once: right after the request, send an SMS with a thank-you, your company name and a contact number. The client will single you out among competitors, and when they want to call back, they'll quickly find your number. Such SMS go out automatically, without a manager.

What messages an autofunnel sends

Each message is a separate block of the scheme:

• “Send an SMS” — an SMS to the client or an employee.
• “Send an email” — an email to the client or an employee.
• “Chat bot” — a message to the client in a messenger. Despite the name, no AI replies here: the block sends your text or file and, if you want, waits for an answer.
• “Notify an employee via Telegram” and “Notify an employee in MAX” — a message to an employee.
• “Write first in MAX direct” — the AI chatbot starts a chat with the lead by phone number on its own.

The texts have an “insert a field” button: name, phone number, lead ID, CRM fields.

How to set up new lead notifications in Telegram or MAX

1. 1
   Select new leads

   In the “Launch conditions”, click “Add filter” → “Funnel stage”, tick “New lead” and click “Done”.
2. 2
   Add a notification

   “+” on the “Launch conditions” → “Notify an employee via Telegram” or “Notify an employee in MAX”.
3. 3
   Choose the recipient

   “The lead owner” or “A list of employees”.
4. 4
   Write the text

   In the “Message text” field, use “insert a field” to add the name, phone number and lead ID.
5. 5
   Close the branch

   “+” on the notification block → “Do not repeat the funnel”. This way the message arrives once per lead. Click “Save”.
6. 6
   Launch the funnel

   In the list, open the card's “…” menu and choose “Start”.

Automatic message to the client in WhatsApp, Telegram and MAX

In the “Chat bot” block, choose “Where to send”: WhatsApp, Telegram, MAX_bot or MAX_direct. The channel is shared by all “Chat bot” blocks of this scheme: change it in one, and it changes in all of them. “Sending type” is “Text” or “File”: a video, audio, picture, PDF or office document up to 100 MB.

The “Do not wait for the client’s answer” checkbox sends the lead on right away. Untick it, and branches appear: “If the client did not answer within N h” (from 1 to 720 hours), “Other words” and keyword branches. For example, the word “reschedule” takes the lead to a notification for the administrator. Stop words keep the lead out of a branch.

This is how you build simple qualification without AI. Ask a question with 3–4 options and add a “+ keyword branch” for each option, using words from that answer. In the branch, put “Lead editing” with the right value of a “Category” field, for example “Budget” — “up to 50,000 ₽”. Route the “Other words” and “If the client did not answer” branches to one shared reply such as “I’ve passed your question to a specialist” with a “Continue from a given block” block — no need to copy it into every branch. If clients answer freely and in different ways, an AI chatbot is more reliable.

How to send a client the call recording

You can send a client a link to the call recording in a messenger, for example so they can listen to what was agreed again. Put the cursor in the text of the “Chat bot” block, click “insert a field” and choose “Last conversation”: the dashboard inserts a link to the latest call with this lead. Send it after the call, for example from the step the lead moves to after the conversation. To pass voice bot call recordings to your own system or another CRM, use the bot’s write webhook: “Quick parameters” → “Pass the call link”. More in “AI voice bot knowledge base”.

Automatic SMS and email to the client

In “Send an SMS”, choose the “Recipient”, the client or an employee, and write the “Message text”. The “You have typed N / M SMS” counter shows how many SMS the text will take. Up to 70 characters is one SMS, and beyond that, 67 characters for each. The SMS sender name is set in the “SMS sender names” section — how to do it is covered in the article SMS sender name.

“Send an email” sends an email to the client or an employee: “Subject” and “Message” — HTML or plain text. For an email to the client, choose the “Sender address” from your connected mailbox.

How much do SMS and messenger messages to clients cost

• WhatsApp, MAX and Telegram — free if no AI is used in the chain.
• SMS — from $0.0748 per message, and the price depends on the client's carrier: MTS — $0.0748, Motiv — $0.0755, T2 — $0.0776, Win-mobile and Volna mobile — $0.0882, Yota — $0.1844, other carriers — $0.0889.
• Beeline and MegaFon have their own rates — by the number of SMS to one number per month. Beeline: the first two SMS cost $0.1096 each, and from the third one — a package of five SMS for $0.484. MegaFon also takes the type into account: informational — $0.189, promotional — $0.504 for each of the first five. The full table and prices for SMS with your own sender name are in the same article about SMS sender names.
• The AI chatbot after the “Write first in MAX direct” block is billed at the chatbot rate: from $0.40 per day plus tokens, $0.02–0.03 per dialog on average. The chatbot is available on the “CRM + Telephony + Automation” plan and higher.

How to connect an employee to Telegram and MAX notifications

A notification will only arrive if the employee is connected:

• Telegram — the employee's settings have a Telegram username. The employee opened the notification bot via the link in the block and pressed “Open app”, then “START”.
• MAX Bot — the “MAX for notifications” field (user id) is filled in the employee's profile. The bot at the link in the block will help find it. Then the employee opens the selected bot and presses “Start”: the bot doesn't message first.
• MAX Direct — in the same field, a phone number or user id is enough.

Hand a lead over to an AI chatbot in MAX

MAX direct is a regular MAX number connected to your account with a QR code. Unlike a bot, it can message the client first. The “Write first in MAX direct” block tells the AI chatbot on such a number to start a chat with the lead. Choose the bot and, if you want, add “Lead data the bot can use”: name, CRM fields. The block can only go last: after it, the lead leaves the autofunnel. Bots are created in the “AI chat bot” section — how to create a bot is covered in the article AI chatbot for website and messengers.

Read also: Automated sales funnel: how the CRM texts, calls and reminds clients, WhatsApp CRM integration with Telegram and MAX: never lose a message, AI chatbot for website: how to create a bot that answers 24/7, Bulk sms and email campaigns