Request discount approval in Slack for HubSpot deals using Make

Prerequisites

Why Make?

Make's visual scenario builder is intuitive for non-developers and significantly cheaper than Zapier. The free plan includes 1,000 operations per month — enough for roughly 200 discount approval flows (each flow uses ~5 operations). Paid plans start at $10.59/mo with faster polling intervals.

The main trade-off is that Make can't pause a scenario to wait for a Slack response like n8n can. For true interactive approvals, you need a two-scenario webhook pattern: one scenario sends the Slack message with buttons, and a second scenario receives the button click and updates HubSpot. This is more complex to set up than n8n's built-in Send and Wait, but still achievable without code.

How it works

• Watch Deals module polls HubSpot for deals where discount_percent was recently updated
• Filter checks whether the discount exceeds your threshold (e.g., 15%)
• Slack module posts a formatted message with deal details to your approval channel
• (Advanced) A second scenario with a Webhook trigger receives Slack button clicks and updates the HubSpot deal's discount_approval property

Step 1: Watch for deal updates

Add HubSpot CRM → Watch Deals (Updated deals).

Step 2: Filter by discount threshold

Add a Filter: discount_percent greater than 15.

Step 3: Send Slack message

Add Slack → Create a Message:

🏷️ *Discount Approval Needed*
 
*Deal:* {{dealname}}
*Amount:* ${{formatNumber(amount; 0)}}
*Discount:* {{discount_percent}}%

Step 4: Set up approval webhook (advanced)

For true interactive approvals, you need two scenarios:

Scenario 1 (this one): Sends the Slack message with buttons using the Make an API Call Slack module to send Block Kit with action buttons that point to a Make webhook URL.

Scenario 2: A separate scenario triggered by a Webhook module that receives the button click callback from Slack, parses the action, and updates the HubSpot deal's approval status.

Step 5: Test the flow

1. Create or update a deal in HubSpot and set discount_percent to a value above 15 (e.g., 20)
2. The scenario should trigger within a few seconds and send a Slack message to your configured channel
3. Verify the message contains the correct deal name, amount, and discount percentage
4. Test the boundary: set a deal to exactly 15% and confirm the filter blocks it (no Slack message sent)

Common questions

How many Make operations does each discount approval use?

A basic flow (watch deals + filter + Slack message) uses 3 operations. Adding the advanced webhook pattern for interactive buttons adds 2-3 more per approval. The free plan's 1,000 operations/month handles roughly 200-300 basic notifications.

Can Make support interactive Approve/Deny buttons?

Yes, but it requires a two-scenario setup. The first scenario sends a Block Kit message with buttons pointing to a Make webhook URL. The second scenario triggers on the webhook, parses the Slack action payload, and updates HubSpot. This is more complex than n8n's built-in Send and Wait but avoids writing code.

What's the polling delay for detecting discount changes?

On the free plan, scenarios run every 15 minutes. The Core plan ($10.59/mo) supports 1-minute intervals. For most discount approval workflows, even a 15-minute delay is acceptable since managers rarely need to respond within seconds.

Cost

• Core plan: $10.59/mo. ~3-5 credits per approval flow.