Automated Lead Qualification: From Form to Sales Call in 90 Seconds

The Problem

A B2B SaaS company was drowning in inbound leads but had no way to tell which ones were worth pursuing. Their process:

1. Lead fills out a form
2. SDR manually researches the company (15-20 min per lead)
3. SDR scores the lead based on gut feeling
4. Lead gets assigned to a sales rep
5. Sales rep reaches out... 4-6 hours later

The result: Hot leads went cold. Bad leads wasted time. The SDR team was overwhelmed and inconsistent.

What We Built

An automated qualification pipeline:

Step 1: Instant Enrichment (0-10 seconds)

Form submission triggers AI enrichment:

• Company size, revenue, industry (via Clearbit/Apollo)
• Website quality and tech stack analysis
• LinkedIn profile of the submitter
• Recent company news and funding rounds

Step 2: AI Scoring (10-30 seconds)

AI evaluates the lead against the ICP:

• Company fit score (size, industry, tech stack)
• Intent signals (what page they came from, form responses)
• Budget indicators (revenue, funding stage)
• Timing signals (hiring patterns, tech adoption)

Output: A score from 0-100 with a written rationale

Step 3: Smart Routing (30-90 seconds)

• Score 80-100: Instant Slack alert to senior AE + auto-book a call
• Score 50-79: Assigned to SDR queue with AI briefing document
• Score 0-49: Enter automated nurture email sequence

Results After 90 Days

Metric	Before	After
Time to first contact (hot leads)	4.2 hours	90 seconds
Lead-to-meeting conversion	12%	28%
SDR time per lead	18 minutes	2 minutes (review only)
Revenue from inbound	$42K/mo	$89K/mo
Bad leads reaching sales	45%	8%

Key Takeaway

The AI doesn't replace the sales team — it gives them superpowers. By the time a rep picks up the phone, they already know the company, the contact, and exactly why this lead is worth their time.