Google Sheets as a live lead source: the cheapest lead automation you will ever set up
Almost every platform can write to a Google Sheet. Connect that sheet once and every new row becomes an assigned, dialable lead on a caller's phone. Setup, column mapping, duplicates and the gotchas.
Lead automation 25 July 2026· 2 min read· By Sensy Talk
The best integrations are the boring ones. A Google Sheet is readable by anything, writable by everything, and understood by every agency, freelancer and platform you will ever work with. That makes it the ideal rail for lead automation.
Why sheets
- Every source can write to one. Facebook (via Leads Center or a connector), Google Ads, website forms, JustDial and IndiaMART alerts, WhatsApp bots, your agency, your cousin’s Excel.
- You can see it. No black box. If a lead is missing, you look at the sheet.
- It survives platform changes. UIs change; a row is a row.
Setting one up
- Make or receive the sheet. Required: a phone column. Nice to have: name, city, budget, product, campaign, source.
- Share it by link (view) or publish to the web.
- In SensyConnect: Lead Sources → Add → Google Sheet → paste link.
- Map columns: phone, name, and any custom fields you want on the lead. Extra columns are kept as data.
- Name the source (“Facebook - Wakad”), pick the destination (Leads / Broadcast / Both), choose the duplicate rule (Skip or Update), and set the rotation.
New rows import on a schedule. Each import shows what came in and when.
Duplicates and identity
Phone number is the identity. If a number already exists as a lead or customer, the row merges into the existing record instead of creating a twin, and the source tag is added. Choose Skip to keep the original fields or Update to refresh them.
Rotation and speed
Each new lead is assigned round robin to the people you named for that source, the caller’s phone pings, and the lead sits at the top of their auto dialer queue. From row to ring is typically a few minutes.
Old lists too
The same importer takes an Excel/CSV or copy-pasted numbers for a one-time load. Tag it (“Trade fair 2025”), assign it, and run it through the dialer with statuses on. It becomes clean, ranked, and full of history by tomorrow.
The gotchas
- Phone formats. +91, 0-prefixed and bare 10-digit numbers all normalise; letters and spaces are ignored. Two numbers in one cell will confuse anyone; keep one per row.
- Header row. Keep it in row 1 and do not rename it after mapping.
- Deleted rows are not deleted leads. The app never removes leads because a row vanished.
- Volume. Thousands of rows are fine; imports are incremental.
See the lead automation page for the full source list, or start the free trial and connect a sheet in five minutes.
Frequently asked
Does the sheet need to be public?
It needs to be readable by link (view access) or published to the web. Keep it in a dedicated account if you prefer; the app only reads it.
What if a row is edited later?
Choose Skip (keep the first import) or Update (refresh fields) per source. Phone number is the identity; a changed name or budget can update the lead.
Can one sheet feed both leads and a WhatsApp broadcast list?
Yes. Set the destination to Leads, Broadcast or Both.
See it on your own leads
Free 3-day trial, every feature, no card. Or a 15-minute demo on WhatsApp.
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