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Who this is for

Use this playbook if you:
  • Run lead-gen campaigns (Facebook Lead Ads, TikTok lead forms, landing-page forms)
  • Manage a GoHighLevel (GHL) CRM for yourself or your clients
  • Want an AI voice agent to call leads immediately while they are still warm

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Business goal

Outbound AI calling fails when you dial cold lists. This playbook is designed around a simple principle:
  • Call within 5–10 minutes of the lead submitting a form.
That timing increases pickup rates and reduces the chance your numbers get flagged as spam.

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What you’ll build

A GHL Workflow that:
  • Triggers when a lead is created / form submitted
  • Sends a Webhook action directly to Knotie
  • Passes structured variables into your voice agent via a metadata object

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Prerequisites

  • A customer created in your Partner Portal
  • A phone number imported (Twilio or Retell) and assigned to that customer
  • An outbound-capable voice agent assigned to that phone number
  • An Outbound Webhook Key generated for that phone number (starts with owk_)
If you’re onboarding a single client, the fastest path is Twilio for the number plus a Retell agent — Retell is currently the most reliable provider for the native outbound webhook flow.
Knotie AI Pro Partner Portal → Phone Numbers list showing imported numbers

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Step 1 — Prepare the phone number in Knotie

  1. Partner Portal → Phone Numbers
  2. Import a phone number (Twilio or Retell)
  3. Assign the phone number to the correct customer
  4. Assign an outbound-capable agent to the phone number
The Assign Customer picker is a typeahead — start typing the customer’s first name, last name, or email. The customer shown in the Phone Numbers list will be the contact name (e.g. “Soham Maiti”), not the brand name from your Customers list.
In the Assign Agent modal, switch the Direction toggle from Inbound Only (the default) to Outbound Only. If you leave it on Inbound Only, the next step (generating the outbound webhook key) will not be available.
The list of agents you can pick from is scoped to the customer you just assigned. If you onboard multiple clients, each one needs its own outbound-capable agent.
Import Phone Numbers modal on step 1 of 4 — provider selection cards for Twilio, Telnyx, Retell, and a locked ElevenLabs (Coming Soon), with a disabled Next button

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Step 2 — Generate an outbound webhook key

  1. Open the phone number details panel
  2. Find Outbound Webhook
  3. Click Generate Key
  4. Copy the key immediately (shown once)
Outbound Webhook section in the phone number detail panel — masked owk_ API key with an Active badge, Regenerate Key and Revoke buttons, and a curl usage example posting to connecthub.knotie-ai.pro/api/outbound-call

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Step 3 — Create the GHL Workflow

  1. In GHL: Automation → Workflows → New Workflow
  2. Choose a trigger that guarantees a phone number exists, for example:
    • Facebook Lead Form
    • TikTok Lead Gen
    • Form Submitted
    • Contact Created
ℹ️ This step happens inside GoHighLevel, not the Knotie portal. In the GHL workflow builder, the trigger picker lists options like Facebook Lead Form, TikTok Lead Gen, Form Submitted, and Contact Created — pick the one that guarantees a phone number is present.

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Step 4 — Add a Webhook action (native)

Add an action:
  • Action type: Webhook
  • Method: POST
  • URL: https://connecthub.knotie-ai.pro/api/outbound-call
ℹ️ In the GHL workflow, add a Webhook action and set Method to POST and the URL to https://connecthub.knotie-ai.pro/api/outbound-call. This configuration lives in the GoHighLevel action panel.

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Step 5 — Add required custom data fields

In the webhook’s body, include:
  • from_number: your registered Knotie phone number (E.164)
  • to_number: lead phone number (GHL merge field)
Example:
KeyValue
from_number+1XXXXXXXXXX
to_number{{contact.phone_raw}}

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Step 6 — Add dynamic conversation variables

To pass variables into your agent, group them under a metadata object in the body. Example payload: 
{
  "from_number": "+1XXXXXXXXXX",
  "to_number": "{{contact.phone_raw}}",
  "metadata": {
    "campaign": "fb_lead_ads_june",
    "customer_name": "{{contact.name}}",
    "lead_source": "Facebook Lead Ad",
    "service_type": "{{contact.service_type}}"
  }
}
The keys inside metadata become available to your agent as variables — name them whatever your agent prompt expects.
ℹ️ In the GHL webhook action’s Custom Data / body editor, add the from_number and to_number fields plus a nested metadata object with your conversation variables, matching the JSON example above.

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Step 7 — Add the Authorization header

In webhook Headers:
KeyValue
AuthorizationBearer owk_YOUR_KEY_HERE
ℹ️ In the GHL webhook action’s Headers section, add an Authorization header with the value Bearer owk_YOUR_KEY_HERE, using the outbound webhook key you generated in Step 2.

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Step 8 — Test

  1. Use a test submission (or GHL test tool)
  2. Confirm the webhook step shows 200 OK
  3. Confirm an outbound call appears in Knotie call logs

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Common failure modes

  • 401 Unauthorized
    • Wrong Authorization header or wrong key
  • 404 Phone not found
    • from_number does not match the imported/registered number
  • 402 Insufficient credits
    • Customer needs credits
  • 400 UNSUPPORTED_PROVIDER
    • The agent assigned to the number is not compatible with the outbound webhook endpoint. Use a Retell agent for the most reliable path.
In your agent script/prompt:
  • Acknowledge the lead action (“You just submitted our form…”) to reduce hang-ups
  • Ask 1–2 qualifying questions
  • Move to a single CTA (book a call, send a link, confirm availability)
ℹ️ In your agent’s system prompt, reference each metadata key with the {{key}} syntax (e.g. Hi {{customer_name}}, you just submitted our {{service_type}} form…). The exact prompt is specific to your agent, so capture it from your own agent builder.