S2. Ep14 - How to Qualify Leads Automatically (Without Losing the Personal Touch)
How do you qualify leads without spending 20 minutes Googling every single one?
In this episode, Katie and Noel break down how to automate the entire lead qualification process using AI and no-code tools. They walk through website scraping, Instagram profile checks via Apify, LinkedIn company data, and even Companies House lookups for UK business revenue all running automatically in the background before you've even opened the email
They also talk about why draft folders beat auto-send every time, Katie's hilariously bad cold email collection, the Perplexity API as a secret weapon for lead research, and Anthropic's accidental Claude Code source code leak.
Plus why keeping a human in the loop is still the smartest move you can make.
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Katie (00:26)
Hello, welcome back to another episode. Hi, I'm Katie and as always I have Noel here with me today. How you doing, Noel?
Noel (00:36)
Yeah, I'm doing great, thanks. How are you doing?
Katie (00:39)
Yeah, all good, thank you, all good. Any news updates from the AI world this week?
Noel (00:48)
So Anthropic thought that they'd have another breach of data last week. Not personal data, nothing crazy like that, but they accidentally released all of the source code for Claude Code. And currently Claude Code is like the best coding platform for AI. And yeah, it's given all of their competitors a brief look under the hood just to see how it all works, how it fits together.
Katie (00:58)
Okay, good.
Noel (01:19)
Yeah, bit of a whoopsie, but who knows? It might spark some more updates and things like that. So they'll probably make it even better. There's then going to be competitive products and they're going to try and match Claude Code in some other areas and stuff like that. So yeah, not a good thing, but it could also be a good thing in the long run. Who knows?
Katie (01:42)
Okay, interesting. So do you think it's actually like a safe platform to continue using?
Noel (01:59)
It is, yeah, because they haven't leaked anything that's like user related. It's just source code. And then the leak the week before was somebody found articles that hadn't been published yet, which were publicly kind of available. So yeah, there's nothing like worrying about the API. No one can see what's going on there or what's going on in your chats. It's just their internal processes, I think. Yeah, not so good.
Katie (02:30)
Okay, so nothing for the user to worry about.
Noel (02:34)
No, no, no. I mean, I've got Claude Code doing a job for me now while we're doing this podcast. Keeping busy, yeah.
Katie (02:41)
You're using it. Okay, what are we talking about this week, Noel?
Noel (02:49)
So I thought we'd go a bit of a deep dive into lead qualification this week.
Katie (02:55)
Yeah, do you want to explain a little bit more about lead qualification and how we can automate it, I guess?
Noel (03:05)
So somebody has come into a business. That could be by a form, could be DMs, could be whichever way in which you track and get your traffic. And basically what we're doing is we're doing some quality checks to make sure that that particular person or business fits the services that we offer. And there's a number of ways in which we can do that, thankfully using AI and automation.
Katie (03:30)
Brilliant. No more manually checking.
Noel (03:34)
No, gone are the days of Googling, looking at company websites, trying to find people on LinkedIn or whichever social media platform they've come from. Yeah, we don't have to do that manually anymore, thankfully.
Katie (03:46)
Okay, so for example, you're getting people in asking to work with you, however you work with people, whether it's coaching, consulting, a course, a membership programme, a mastermind, maybe it is like a service you provide. So maybe they filled out a form on your website. Maybe they've been referred to you and they've sent you an email or maybe they've even just sent you a DM because I feel like so many people now just come through DMs and not actually through forms on websites as much as they used to.
Noel (04:34)
No, it's very true. Yeah, we're all addicted to social media and it just makes it easy, doesn't it? To just DM somebody.
Katie (04:43)
Yeah, definitely. I think if you're interested in working with someone, most people I think would just reach out via DM nowadays.
Noel (04:52)
That makes sense, yeah.
Katie (04:54)
Yeah. So they've either filled out a form, they've been referred and maybe they've sent you an email or they've sent you a DM. What can we now do to check that maybe they qualify? So maybe you run a particular mastermind, but people have to have either a certain amount of income per year, or they have had to have been in business for a set amount of years. Maybe you're doing some consulting work but you only work with people who have got a business where they employ 10 or more people. Maybe someone wants help with their membership but you only work with people who earn either a certain amount of money per month or have got say like over 500 members.
Noel (05:35)
Whereas before we would have to go and manually check all of this before we sent a reply. But now thankfully AI and automations can do this for us.
Katie (05:51)
Yes.
Noel (05:57)
They can, yes. So I guess it kind of depends on the type of questions that you ask. So if you've got like the old school form on a website, you've probably got some of those questions on there. So you might have thresholds for certain employees or revenue and things like that. So that might already be there. When it comes to DMs, that's potentially a little bit more difficult, but not impossible.
So someone could go, I really like the look of this. I would like to sign up, but there's not really a lot to go on with that. But what we could do at that point is we could feed that through to AI and then get it to ask follow up questions. So it'd be like, well, could you tell me a bit more about you and your business? And as that conversation builds up, we can then build that picture. So then we can say, right, okay, they've met that criteria. So send them a link to either sign up to a one-to-one call or to a sales page or whatever.
Or we could then send them down a different route and say, look, you didn't quite qualify for this, you could do this instead. So I think DMs is a little bit more tricky in that sense because they're kind of conversational, it's a back and forth, whereas a web form is already static and filled out.
Katie (07:30)
Yeah.
Noel (07:32)
Yeah, but.
Katie (07:32)
Yes. I have found though, people have filled out forms on my website and I've got on a call with them and they don't actually qualify.
Noel (07:38)
That's a worst nightmare. Don't need that. Because that's a complete waste of everyone's time, isn't it?
Katie (07:46)
Yeah. So is there a way almost to double check the information that they've put on the form?
Noel (07:58)
Yes. So whatever information you gather, ideally you would want to grab their website. So that's probably one thing you will need to get. So that could either be them putting it in directly, or you could infer that from their email address. So if they don't have an Outlook or Gmail account, if they're using their business email, we can filter that last part out and then that's their website. So we can go and have a look.
So that's the first check, the website. We can also use tools through a platform called Apify. So let's say they've come to you via Instagram and that's where your business is and people you work with come from. We could go off, grab their profile information straight from Instagram and use AI to then double check everything, check any URLs or links they have on that particular page, and then see how well they qualify.
When it comes to more in-depth looks, you've also got LinkedIn. So if they've got a company page, that does then show you the number of employees they've got and all that sort of stuff. So you could go down that route. And if you want to get really into the weeds with revenue, in the UK you could scrape Companies House. So that's where we file all of our business accounting returns, things like that. There are APIs for that to go off and grab that data. So that all depends on the country you're in, but yeah, you could go off and find that information and then use that to qualify.
Katie (09:45)
Okay, so for example, if they come back and they qualify, what would be the next step?
Noel (09:52)
So the next step in your automation would be to then send them either the links to book a call or to pay for something. So it could be going to your sales page and then signing up for a particular service. I mean, obviously then after that, you would have different automations to then send those links via emails or send it back to them in the DMs and things like that. But that's kind of where we would go if they qualified.
Katie (10:30)
Yeah, and we talked a little bit about those automations last week, didn't we, on last week's episode of the podcast about how you can automate almost like a part of your onboarding. So when someone says that they want to go ahead and work with you, then you can send them the invoice automatically and then that triggers the contract and then that triggers a calendar link for them to book in their first call.
Noel (11:01)
Yeah, exactly. And I think when we also get down to sending information back to them, as soon as we've gathered all this information about them already, it'd be silly not to use it. So I know a lot of, I get loads of, especially cold emails. No one bothers to personalise them.
Katie (11:21)
Oh my goodness, I have got so many lately. I have put so many in the spam and reported so many. They're so bad. Not because they're automated or whatever. They're bad because they've not been personalised.
A lot of the emails I get as well aren't even relevant to my business. It's almost like they scraped my business in 2018 and it hasn't been updated since, which is quite entertaining because I just think, where have you got that information from?
Noel (11:58)
Yeah, it's bonkers, isn't it? But I think when you've gone through all of this process to get that data, it doesn't take a lot to personalise those messages back. So you could have an AI module within your automation and say, well, this is their website, the copy from the website. On there, they could have won an award or something, it's within the footer or whatever. They do a specific service and you can be like, well, here's the link to booking a call. I look forward to discussing your business. And then you can list everything about what's currently on their homepage. So straight away when somebody reads that they go, okay, someone's actually bothered to take the time to read about me.
Well, let's say, I mean, you literally haven't had to read it thankfully, but it gives that impression that somebody cares and has done a bit of research and due diligence.
Katie (13:19)
Yeah. And I think that goes such a long way, actually not trying to get as many of these emails out as possible, but to show people that you do care, you have taken the time to find out information about them. Because I think a lot of times people don't sign up with people because there's a lack of trust.
And I think as soon as you start investing and caring about people, that does create the trust. So even if you take two minutes to go and watch their Instagram stories yourself or to go and look at their LinkedIn and just see what they're commenting on and interacting with, it could be that they've been tagged in a post because they attended an event. And these are the little things that you could mention. You're not coming off as a stalker, but as someone who actually cares. And they can tell that actually this person doesn't see me as yet another number. They see me as a person, as a business. They've taken time to go and look up my business, see what I'm doing, see what I've been up to. They've clearly been on my website and I think that goes a really, really long way.
Noel (15:02)
It does, yeah. I think it's also quite important to not forget the human in the loop side as well. So although you could completely fully automate and never look at this again and just show up to the call, that's probably not the best thing to do. But you could save these draft emails in your draft folders. All you've got to do is just read through and check before sending.
Either this automation could create a row in your spreadsheet or CRM with all of the links and stuff so you could go off and just triple check. Maybe you want to do a bit more reading about this person or business, and then just make sure that what you're sending back is actually accurate. Because sometimes it could go one of two ways, it's either really accurate or it's kind of had a good go but it's not quite 100% there. So yeah, it's always good to have that human in the loop element, I find.
Katie (15:59)
Yeah, we always say, don't we, if you're allowing AI and automations to draft your email, for it not to send automatically, but to put it in your draft folder. So all you have to do is come in and check it. And maybe that is where you add a little bit more of the personalisation. So maybe you have watched their Instagram stories and they've just returned from a holiday. You can say, hope you're well and getting back into the swing of things after your holiday. It looked amazing from your Instagram stories.
Noel (16:32)
Yeah, absolutely. It goes a long way, doesn't it? To add just a little personal touch.
Katie (16:43)
Yeah. Rather than some of the emails that I've been getting. And I've actually got one here. "Hey Katie, just resurfacing the below email," which I've obviously just put straight into spam. "To get you involved in our..." and I'm guessing it's product and product programme, "as I thought this could be a strong fit for you." And then there's a lot of jargon in this. So I don't actually know what they're trying to sell to me.
Noel (17:08)
Oh dear. That's not good.
Katie (17:27)
And then it's a list edition. "We're partnered with organisations" and then they list out a load of organisations that I've never heard of. "Contributing to be set to be dynamic and insight rich event. Do you want to set up a call?"
Noel (17:34)
No.
Katie (17:47)
No. Because I don't actually really know what you're offering me. So I would say that is an example of a pretty bad automated email. I do have another one. "Hi Katie. We help business wonderland modernise legacy applications without disrupting operations, build AI powered software on scalable and secure architecture and deliver quality assurance and continuous delivery that ships faster with fewer bugs." I have no idea again what they're trying to sell me. That was just AI slop.
Noel (18:24)
Yeah. But as I know your business, they haven't looked at it because you don't have any software that you're selling. Not to my knowledge. I mean, you could have created it last week with Claude, I don't know.
Katie (18:35)
No. I didn't want to tell you what I was up to.
Noel (18:45)
Late nights staring at your screen.
Katie (18:52)
Do you even know who I am? Late night? I don't think so. Late night today I think you've got the wrong girl.
Noel (18:56)
Yeah. But good examples there because there's something that they could have looked on your website, at least added something personable to it. And they're all just incredibly generic. So obviously one of the other good things is to add in your brand voice into any of your responses that you do, whether it's DMs or emails or whatever. So at least when they get on a call with you, your responses back to them kind of sound like you. They get your language before that call, I guess.
Katie (19:47)
Yeah, because that to me was just a lot of jargon that I did not understand. So why am I even going to think about getting on a call or even hiring these people? And that's what we don't want for you who are listening right now. We want people to be 100% this person's for me, and they can just tell by the email or the DM responses that you have sent them back.
And like we were saying, it all comes down to that personalisation. It comes down to trust and taking time to really know the people, add in those little things. So people know that you're not just treating them like another lead or another number, that you actually care.
Because I think when I've reached out to some people who have been offering services or coaching or masterminds and some of the responses I've got, I just think, gosh, if this is the response I've got and I've not even entered your world, I don't even want to know what it's like in your world. First impressions are just so important.
Noel (21:18)
Yeah, you don't get a second chance at those.
Katie (21:22)
No, you don't. And I just think, if someone is reaching out to you, make them feel special. Not a lot of people remember what it was like the first time someone reached out to them and said, hey, I want to work with you. But the response should be that vibe. Like it's the first person that's ever reached out and said, hey, I want to work with you.
Noel (21:53)
Yeah, it should be special, shouldn't it? Can't wait to speak to you.
Katie (22:11)
Exactly. I'm really looking forward to finding out more about how I can help you in your business.
Noel (22:19)
Yeah, exactly. Doesn't take a lot.
Katie (22:21)
I mean, if you don't speak like that, then obviously just make it however you would message someone. But yeah, it's that initial excitement. It's that beginner energy. We had that beginner energy when we first started our businesses and we lose it after a while. But I feel like it's really important to keep that in correspondence with anyone who's reaching out to want to work with you.
Noel (22:50)
Yeah, definitely. You'll get far richer leads from that, won't you? These people will want to work with you long term as well. It's building that relationship, isn't it?
Katie (22:58)
Yeah, for sure. Anything else, Noel, that we can talk about with lead qualification and automating them with AI? Anything else that you can think of?
Noel (23:17)
I guess kind of like a quick tip when you're looking up all this sort of information and doing searching. I would say maybe have a look at the Perplexity API. So whenever I do any sort of lead searching within any sort of automation, I always use Perplexity because that gives you a more rounded search response.
If you're doing anything in depth and want to do some digging, then I would definitely include that within there. And their API is really reasonable as well. I can't quote the exact price for input and output tokens, but I always found it was really good and the responses are brilliant. And if you then pass that onto the AI who's going to be drafting responses and things, it will have everything that it needs, which is pretty awesome. So yeah, check that out because I know not many people have heard of most of the platforms that we use on a daily or weekly basis.
Katie (24:22)
That is an amazing tip, Noel. And for more amazing tips like this, as well as handholding through automations like we've discussed in this podcast episode, we would love to invite you into our membership, the AI Business Club. We host it over on the Skool platform. It's $37 per month. We would absolutely love for you to join us. You can ask questions, get help, build automations, get super confident with AI for your business and stop generating AI slop. We'll leave the link for you below.
We also have a free LinkedIn group called AI Automations for Business. Anyone is welcome to join that. Like I said, completely free. Thank you so very much for listening to this week's episode. If you've got any questions or want us to cover anything, then let us know over at hello@makeautomations.ai and we will catch you for another episode next time.
