> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.echeloncrm.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Create and Configure Your First Echelon AI Employee

> Step-by-step guide to creating a new AI Employee in Echelon, choosing its role, configuring its behavior, and activating it to start working.

AI Employees are the specialists that do the work in Echelon. Each one is focused on a particular job — reaching out to leads, handling replies, chasing invoices, running sequences, or sending reminders. This guide walks you through creating your first AI Employee, from choosing its role to activating it in your workspace.

Your plan determines how many AI Employees you can have active at once: 3 on Starter, 6 on Growth, and 10 on Scale.

## Create a new AI Employee

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the AI Employees section">
    From your Echelon dashboard, navigate to **AI Employees** and click **New AI Employee**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose a role">
    Select the type of work this employee will handle. Available roles include:

    * **Outreach** — sends first-touch messages to new or cold leads
    * **Replies** — manages inbound responses and keeps conversations moving
    * **Billing** — handles invoices, payment reminders, and billing updates
    * **Reminders** — sends follow-up messages based on time or event triggers
    * **Sequences** — runs multi-step automated message flows

    Pick the role that matches the job you need done. You can create multiple employees with different roles.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set a name and description">
    Give your AI Employee a name (for example, "Outreach — SMB Leads" or "Billing — Enterprise"). This name appears in your dashboard and helps you identify which employee is running which tasks.

    Add a short description of what this employee is responsible for. This is for your reference only and does not affect behavior.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure behavior">
    Depending on the role you selected, you'll see a set of behavior options. Configure:

    * **Tone** — how formal or conversational the employee's messages should be
    * **Channels** — which connected channels (email, WhatsApp, SMS) this employee can use
    * **Working hours** — the time window in which this employee can send messages
    * **Follow-up rules** — how many times to follow up and how long to wait between attempts

    <Info>
      The channels available here depend on your plan. Email is available on all plans. WhatsApp and SMS require a Growth or Scale plan.
    </Info>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review and activate">
    Review your configuration, then click **Activate**. The employee will move to an active state and be ready to accept tasks from the AI Manager or from sequences you assign it to.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Tips for getting the best results

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="One role per employee" icon="target">
    Keep each AI Employee focused on a single job. A dedicated outreach employee performs better than one trying to handle outreach and billing at the same time.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Set clear working hours" icon="clock">
    Define working hours that match your customers' time zones. Messages sent outside business hours often see lower engagement.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Start with conservative follow-up rules" icon="sliders">
    Begin with a modest number of follow-ups and a longer wait time between them. You can tighten the cadence once you see how your contacts respond.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Use descriptive names" icon="tag">
    Name your employees by role and segment — for example, "Replies — Enterprise" — so you can tell at a glance what each one is doing when reviewing activity in the dashboard.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Tip>
  After activating your first AI Employee, activate your AI Manager to let it orchestrate tasks, assign work to your employees automatically, and surface weekly strategy reports.
</Tip>

## What's next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Build sequences" icon="list-ordered" href="/guides/build-sequences">
    Connect your AI Employee to an automated sequence of messages and actions.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Automate billing" icon="receipt" href="/guides/automate-billing">
    Set up a billing AI Employee to handle invoices and payment reminders.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>