Stop Wasting Time on Manual Approvals: How ApproveThis + Contactout Automate Your Workflows

When Lead Gen Meets Approval Automation

Let’s be real: hunting down decision-makers with Contactout only to get stuck waiting for internal sign-offs is like showing up to a gunfight with a PowerPoint deck. You’ve got the intel (thanks to Contactout’s email/phone number wizardry), but your approval processes move at the speed of “I’ll get to it after my 3 PM meeting.”

ApproveThis cuts through that noise. We’re not here to replace your CRM or make your sales team love paperwork. We’re here to turn “Can someone approve this lead?” into a two-click process that happens while your coffee’s still hot. Connect both tools through Zapier, and suddenly, your team’s playing chess while everyone else is stuck in tic-tac-toe.

Why This Combo Works (Besides the Obvious)

Contactout finds needles in the LinkedIn haystack. ApproveThis stops those needles from getting lost in Slack threads. Together, they solve the two biggest leaks in your pipeline:

• Leak #1: Sales teams using Contactout to scrape 100 leads… then emailing each one individually because legal needs to vet outreach
• Leak #2: Hiring managers finding perfect candidates… who ghost because HR took 4 days to approve the outreach message

Here’s the kicker: ApproveThis approvers don’t need a Contactout license. External clients, legal teams, or that CMO who refuses to learn new tools? They approve/reject via email. No new logins. No extra seats. Just decisions that actually happen.

Real Use Cases for People Who Hate “Use Cases”

1. The Sales Team That Closes Instead of Chasing

Scenario: Your reps export 20 Contactout leads for a new SaaS product launch. Normally, they’d:

1. Screenshot the list
2. Email their manager
3. Wait 2 days
4. Get a “Looks good but check with legal” reply
5. Repeat until the prospect forgets who you are

With the integration:

- Contactout triggers an ApproveThis request the second leads are exported
- Sales managers get an email: “Approve these 20 leads for outreach?”
- Legal automatically gets any leads over $50k potential deal size (thanks to approval thresholds)
- Approved leads flow into your CRM before the sales team finishes their victory coffee

2. HR Teams That Don’t Ghost Candidates

Recruiters using Contactout to source developers? Cool. Recruiters waiting 3 days for hiring managers to approve outreach templates? Not cool. Route every candidate’s contact info through ApproveThis with:

- Conditional approval paths (e.g., engineering hires require CTO sign-off)
- Automatic reminders to approvers
- Delegated approvals if the hiring manager’s OOO (vacation mode)

Bonus: Use calculated fields to auto-approve candidates matching exact salary/experience criteria. Your recruiters stop babysitting inboxes and start placing people.

Wait, There’s More (But We Won’t Get Salesy)

ApproveThis isn’t just a “yes/no” machine. When connected to Contactout via Zapier, you unlock:

Approval Thresholds: Auto-approve leads under $10k potential value. Escalate big deals to execs without manual tagging.
Audit Trails: Every approval/rejection is timestamped and logged. Perfect for compliance teams who enjoy sleeping at night.
Cross-Team Routing: Send Contactout leads to sales, then legal, then finance—all in one workflow. No more “I thought they handled it.”

Setup in 3 Steps (No IT Degree Required)

1. Connect the Apps: Log into Zapier, choose Contactout as your trigger app, ApproveThis as the action app.
2. Set Your Triggers: Pick “New Lead Exported” in Contactout. Map lead details to ApproveThis fields.
3. Build Approval Paths: Define who approves what. Add conditions like “Escalate if lead score > 80”.
Test it. Boom—done.

Who Actually Cares? (Department Wins)

Sales Leaders: Cut 6+ hours/week of follow-up emails. Track which leads get stuck where.
HR Directors: Reduce candidate response time from days to hours. Prove compliance without spreadsheets.
Operations Teams: Stop being the “middleman” between Contactout users and approvers.

Bottom Line

Contactout finds the contacts. ApproveThis gets you permission to use them. Together, they turn “Can we reach out?” into “We’re already in their inbox.”

Ready to stop losing deals to approval delays? Register for ApproveThis or snag a demo. Your future self (the one who leaves work at 5 PM) says thanks.