The Scenario
You are a revenue ops manager. It is the first Monday of May and 800 new inbound MQLs landed over the weekend from a trade show form and two webinar signups. They are in a Google Sheet, one row per lead, with columns for email, first name, company, and the ID of the sales rep they have been pre-assigned to.
You need a new Instantly lead list called 'May MQLs', every lead added to it, and each lead assigned to the correct rep — before the weekly pipeline review at 2 PM.
The bad version:
- Log into Instantly
- Create the lead list manually
- Start the import flow
- Upload a CSV
- Realize Instantly does not bulk-assign reps through the import UI
- Add each rep assignment one at a time after import
- It is 1:45 PM and you have assigned 200 of 800 leads.
The fast version is one prompt.
The Easy Way: One Prompt in SheetXAI
SheetXAI creates the list and pushes every lead with their rep assignment in a single operation, so the import UI and the manual assignment step both disappear.
Open the SheetXAI sidebar and type:
Create a new Instantly lead list called 'May MQLs', then add all leads from this sheet (columns: email, first_name, company, assigned_rep_id) and assign each lead to the rep whose ID is in the assigned_rep_id column. Write 'added + assigned' or the error into column E.
SheetXAI creates the list in Instantly, iterates every row, adds each lead with its metadata, assigns the rep, and writes a result to column E. By 2 PM the list is ready and every rep's queue is populated.
What You Get
A fully populated Instantly lead list with rep assignments, built from 800 rows without touching the import UI:
- 'May MQLs' list created — ready to be added to a campaign
- 800 leads added — email, first name, and company populated per lead
- Rep assignments set — each lead routed to the correct rep based on column D
- Column E audit log — "added + assigned" for every success, error details for failures
The column E log is your QA check before the pipeline review. Spot any assignment failures and fix them before the meeting, not during it.
What If the Data Is Not Quite Ready
Inbound MQL sheets from weekend form submissions are never clean.
When the rep ID column has blanks
Some leads came in through a channel that does not have a default rep assignment.
Create the 'May MQLs' lead list in Instantly. For rows where assigned_rep_id is blank, assign the lead to the default rep ID 'REP-DEFAULT'. For all other rows, use the assigned_rep_id in column D. Write the result into column E.
When the same email appears more than once
The form accepted duplicate submissions over the weekend.
Deduplicate this sheet by email address, keeping the first occurrence of each. Then create the 'May MQLs' list in Instantly, add all deduplicated leads, assign each to the rep in column D, and write results into column E. Mark removed duplicates as "duplicate" in column F.
When you want to split MQLs into two lists by source
Trade show leads go to 'May MQLs — Trade Show', webinar leads go to 'May MQLs — Webinar'. A Source column distinguishes them.
Create two Instantly lead lists: 'May MQLs — Trade Show' for rows where Source is "trade show", and 'May MQLs — Webinar' for rows where Source is "webinar". Add each lead to the appropriate list, assign to the rep in column D, and write the list name and result into column E.
When you need to add leads to both the new list and an existing campaign
The 'May Inbound' campaign is already set up. You want the leads in the list and the campaign at the same time.
Create the 'May MQLs' list in Instantly. Add all leads from this sheet with email, first_name, company, and assigned_rep_id. Also add each lead to campaign 'May Inbound'. Write 'list + campaign added' or the error into column E.
The pattern: create, add, assign — one prompt instead of three separate UI flows.
Try It
Get the 7-day free trial of SheetXAI and open any inbound MQL sheet, then ask it to create the list and assign leads in Instantly. The Instantly integration is included in every SheetXAI plan. For related workflows, see how to bulk-add leads to an existing campaign or the Instantly in Google Sheets overview.