Seven Make Automations a Small Consulting Firm Can Build

Before choosing a workflow, estimate its likely activity with our Make credit calculation guide and check whether your process passes the automation readiness checklist.

What makes a good first automation?

A suitable process happens frequently, follows understood steps, uses structured information, exposes exceptions and can be corrected safely after a failed run. Copying an enquiry into a CRM often meets those conditions. Automatically approving a proposal does not.

Make connects applications through workflows called scenarios. Each action inside a scenario is a module. Make lists thousands of integrations, but a listing does not guarantee that every field, permission or action your firm needs is available. The connected application may also restrict API access to a paid plan or require administrator approval.

1. Capture new enquiries in the CRM

Hypothetical workflow: when someone submits a form or books a discovery call, Make receives the details, searches for an existing contact, creates or updates the record, opens an opportunity, assigns an owner and sends an internal notification.

Make's official HubSpot integration ↗ lists modules for contacts, companies and deals. Its Calendly integration ↗ can use booking events to initiate later actions. Exact fields and permissions still depend on the connected accounts.

The firm must first define its system of record, duplicate rule, mandatory fields and ownership logic. Do not create a new deal every time someone reschedules a meeting.

Best fit: firms where manual CRM entry is regularly delayed. Poor fit: firms receiving only a few highly bespoke introductions each month.

2. Create a standard client-onboarding workspace

After a deal reaches an explicit approved status, Make can create a project, copy a checklist, create folders, notify the engagement team and record links in the CRM. The official ClickUp integration ↗ lists task, checklist and dependency actions, while Google Drive ↗ supports folder and file operations.

The benefit is repeatability, not merely faster folder creation. The important control is the trigger: use an approved or won status, not the first appearance of a deal. Start by creating internal folders only. Invite clients after a person has reviewed permissions.

Best fit: firms with a documented onboarding checklist. Poor fit: engagements where the team, systems and delivery method change completely every time.

3. Prepare engagement documents for review

Make can combine approved CRM fields with a standard template, generate a draft and route it to an authorised reviewer. A separate approved step can send the document for signature. The DocuSign integration ↗ lists agreement and status modules, with some actions dependent on DocuSign plan availability.

Automation should not decide scope, fees, liability terms or whether the firm should accept the client. Document generation is administrative automation. Contract approval remains a commercial and legal decision.

Best fit: standard templates with controlled variation. Poor fit: heavily negotiated engagements or client-specific procurement terms.

4. Convert approved meeting actions into project tasks

A workflow can receive an approved action list, create tasks, assign owners and due dates, link them to the client and send a confirmation. If an AI transcription tool is involved, let it propose actions for review instead of creating commitments automatically.

Meeting language is ambiguous. “Revisit pricing next week” may be an idea, a decision or a real action. A low-risk design asks the meeting owner to approve structured fields first. Make then transfers the approved information.

Best fit: teams already recording actions consistently. Poor fit: firms expecting an AI transcript to determine commitments without confirmation.

5. Send internal deadline and follow-up reminders

Once or twice a day, Make can search for deliverables due soon, overdue reviews, proposals awaiting action or client requests without an owner. It can send a consolidated message through Slack ↗, Microsoft Teams ↗ or email.

A separate alert for every task quickly becomes noise. A digest grouped by employee, client or urgency is usually easier to act on and may use fewer credits. If the task system is not maintained, automation only distributes inaccurate reminders more efficiently.

Best fit: teams with reliable due dates and assigned owners. Poor fit: teams operating through informal messages and rarely updating task status.

6. Organise incoming client documents

When a file arrives through a controlled mailbox or upload form, Make can identify the project, apply a naming rule, save it, update a tracker and notify the consultant. Uncertain files should go to an exception queue.

The Microsoft 365 Email integration ↗ lists message and attachment actions. Google Drive supports file and folder operations. Sender names and file names are not reliable identifiers, so use a project code where possible and route low-confidence matches for review.

Make publishes security and compliance information, including audit and encryption claims, on its security page ↗. That evidence supports due diligence but does not replace your confidentiality, contractual and data-location assessment.

Best fit: recurring, similarly structured submissions. Poor fit: sensitive documents the firm is not authorised to route through another processor.

7. Produce a weekly pipeline and delivery digest

On a set day, Make can retrieve approved CRM, task and finance data and assemble a summary of opportunities, proposals, upcoming work, overdue tasks, unpaid invoices and missing information. Official integrations for Google Sheets ↗ and QuickBooks ↗ list relevant data and reporting actions.

This consolidates information; it does not guarantee accuracy. Every metric needs a source system, owner, definition, last-updated date and visible exception when data is missing.

Best fit: firms already running a weekly management review. Poor fit: firms that have not agreed what pipeline and delivery metrics mean.

Which automation should you build first?

1. Enquiry capture, because the rules are often clear and errors visible.
2. Internal deadline digest, because it does not directly change client records.
3. Client-onboarding setup, after permissions and templates are standardised.
4. Weekly management digest, once source fields are reliable.
5. Document handling and meeting actions, with exception and approval steps.
6. Engagement-document preparation, after commercial controls are documented.

The first workflow should be narrow enough to explain on one page. Record its trigger, applications, fields, owner, exceptions and expected monthly volume before building.

Who should not build these automations yet?

• The team cannot identify an authoritative system of record.
• The process changes from one employee to another.
• Shared accounts are the only connection method.
• Client approval is required before data enters another platform.
• No one will monitor failed scenarios.
• The expected saving is only a few minutes a month.
• The workflow would send contracts, invoices or substantive advice without review.

The conclusion

Make can support useful workflows across lead management, onboarding, documents, tasks and reporting. Its value comes from connecting systems the firm already uses consistently.

The strongest automations are often unglamorous. They move approved information, create standard structures and highlight exceptions. They do not replace commercial judgement.

Begin with a frequent, structured and reversible process. Add approval gates wherever the workflow affects client communication, contracts, accounting records or confidential access. Then measure whether it reduces missed work and administration without creating a new monitoring burden.