Short answer
Add each state an agent is licensed in as a state skill (Settings → Routing), then turn on "Only agents licensed in the lead's state" in the campaign. A lead with a state only goes to agents holding that state. Leads with no state go to anyone. Leads in a state nobody is licensed for wait.
In insurance, Medicare, solar, mortgage and many financial products, a rep can only sell to someone in a state where they hold a license. Calling a Florida lead with a rep licensed only in Texas wastes the lead, and can be a compliance problem. State routing makes sure it never happens.
Set it up
- Create state skills. Under Settings → Routing, add a skill of kind *state* for each state you sell in, with its two-letter code (TX, FL, CA…).
- Give agents their licenses. Add the matching state skills to each agent. An agent licensed in 12 states gets 12 state skills.
- Turn it on per campaign. In the campaign's *Lead routing* section, switch on Only agents licensed in the lead's state.
How a lead's state is matched
The lead's *State* field (from your CSV, GoHighLevel, HubSpot, Salesforce or the API) is compared with each state skill's code or name, ignoring case and spaces. "tx", "TX" and "Texas" all match a skill coded TX and named Texas.
Who can take which lead
| Lead's state | Result |
|---|---|
| A state some agents are licensed in | Only those agents can take it. |
| Empty | Anyone on the campaign can take it. |
| A state with no state skill at all, or that no agent holds | It waits in the queue and isn't handed to anyone. |
An agent with no state licenses isn't licensed anywhere. With state routing on, they only get leads that have no state.
It works everywhere leads move
The same rule applies to:
- The dialer queue: an agent only pulls leads they're licensed for.
- Automatic owner assignment: round robin and balanced only pick licensed agents.
- Callbacks: if the booking agent doesn't take a callback in time, only licensed agents can.
- Answered-call overflow: a lead that answers while their agent is busy only goes to a licensed teammate.
Combine it with other rules
State routing stacks with the campaign's required skills (for example, a "Medicare certified" skill everyone on the campaign must have) and with language and tagged skills. An agent has to pass every rule to get the lead.