AI Lead Qualification: How to Use It to Eliminate Wasted Time

Despite our wishes, marketing and sales teams know: not every lead is a good lead.

While chasing unqualified prospects wastes time, resources, and patience, lead qualification can also be time-consuming, inconsistent, and difficult to scale (especially with high lead volumes coming in).

Of course, it’s undeniable that lead qualification is a vital process for sales and marketing. 

AI lead qualification solves common lead qualification challenges by providing faster, more consistent qualification at scale.

By using AI to qualify leads in real time, sales and marketing teams can prioritize higher-quality leads, respond faster, maximize conversion rates, and save time.

In this blog, we’ll walk through everything you need to know about AI lead qualification, including:

• Why lead qualification is critical for sales success
• The differences between manual and AI lead qualification
• Common frameworks and how AI can use them
• Real-world examples and use cases
• How to implement lead qualification into your sales process
• Answers to common questions about AI lead qualification and how it works

Defining lead qualification

Lead qualification identifies which leads are most likely to buy so that sales can better prioritize who to talk to. This can be due to their budget, readiness to buy, authority, and need. 

Based on factors for your specific business, qualification assesses leads to determine which leads are best-aligned with current customers. Highly-qualified leads will be the most similar to your ideal customer profile (ICP) and express both a need and interest in your product or service.

Lead qualification is important because it helps filter out unqualified leads: leads that are not ready to buy, who don’t need your product, or don’t have budget, etc. This ensures that sales can only go after leads with real potential.

Lead qualification identifies which leads are most likely to buy so that sales can better prioritize which leads to dedicate their time to. This eliminates time wasted on leads that were never going to buy, streamlines the sales process, and improves revenue growth and resource allocation.

Lead scoring is related to lead qualification, but they are not the same thing. Lead scoring is the process of assigning positive point values to leads that indicate high lead quality (for example, an interested lead who fits your ICP would have a high score). On the other hand, lead qualification actually classifies each lead as qualified (as in yes, sales should talk to them) or unqualified (sales shouldn’t talk to them yet).

 

Lead qualification frameworks

There are a few frameworks that businesses use to qualify leads.

 

BANT is a common lead qualification guideline that helps businesses prioritize leads based on:

• Budget: If they have financial resources to make a purchase decision
• Authority: If they have authority to buy
• Need: If they have a problem your product/solution can solve
• Timeline: When they plan to buy

ANUM is a similar lead qualification framework based on:

• Authority: If they have authority to make a purchase decision
• Need: If they have a problem your product/solution can solve
• Urgency: How urgently they need your solution
• Money: If they have financial resources to buy

CHAMP helps identify lead readiness to buy, focusing on:

• Challenges: What specific problems they are facing that your product/service can solve 
• Authority: If they have authority to make a purchase decision
• Money: If they have financial resources to buy
• Prioritization: When they plan to buy and how urgently they need to buy

GPCTBA/C analyzes seven factors to evaluate lead readiness and fit:

• Goals: What they are trying to achieve and if that aligns with your product/service
• Plans: How they plan to achieve their goals, and how fast
• Challenges: What obstacles they are facing that your product/service can address
• Timeline: When they plan to buy
• Budget: If they have authority and financial resources to buy
• Authority: If they are the decision-maker of the organization or household
• Negative consequences/positive implications: In terms of their goals and challenges, what the negative consequences of inaction, and the positive implications of taking action, would be

What is AI lead qualification?

AI lead qualification uses artificial intelligence to evaluate leads based on how likely they are to convert into customers. 

AI tools automatically qualify or disqualify leads in real time by analyzing lead data, behavior, and responses to determine fit and intent.

AI lead qualification differs from manual lead qualification because AI can automate lead qualification at any volume with high accuracy and little human time investment.

When AI qualifies leads, it can use a lead qualification framework or your own customized qualification criteria. 

For example, a mortgage company could use AI to screen leads based on credit score, and whether or not they are the decision-maker of the household. In this example, the AI would only qualify leads that have a credit score within a certain threshold, and that are decision-makers. AI can also make note of other factors such as urgency or budget.

Certain types of conversational AI (such as Verse) can hold a conversation with leads in order to obtain this type of data through qualifying questions. From there, the AI can qualify the lead based on the selected criteria, update the CRM with relevant information, and pass the qualified lead to sales.

 

Because the AI uses a standardized process to qualify leads, AI lead qualification is more accurate and consistent than manual processes. Unlike with people, there is no guessing or bias that will impact the AI.

AI lead qualification also lowers your cost per qualified lead by eliminating manual work and scaling lead qualification.

In addition, AI solutions can be set up to react to a high lead score. For example, if a lead scores 100, the AI will automatically reach out to qualify the lead further. This way, high-scoring leads are always engaged when interest is high.

 

In summary, AI lead qualification solutions can:

• Analyze customer data in real-time
• React to high lead scores immediately
• Accurately qualify leads based on frameworks or customizable criteria
• Update CRMs with lead qualification information
• Qualify leads through conversations
• Pass qualified leads to sales
• Lower cost per qualified lead
• Save human teams time

Manual vs. AI lead qualification

For many companies, lead qualification is a manual and time-consuming process right now. However, leads should be qualified quickly to maximize speed to lead.

When qualifying leads manually, employees must:

• Obtain accurate and current information
• Consider qualifying factors (for example, budget, authority, need, and timeline)
• Use objective qualifying criteria without using personal bias
• Finish the qualification process quickly so that salespeople can follow up with qualified leads fast

Especially for businesses that generate a high volume of leads, this process can be very challenging, because employees must move through each step with both accuracy and speed. 

It can be difficult to gain correct, up-to-date information about each lead and ensure it’s feeding into your CRM so employees can see it. In addition, teams must establish and follow clear qualification criteria so that employees can evaluate leads accurately without relying on personal judgement.

Research by Velocity showed that high-performing companies are twice as likely to describe their sales processes as automated compared to underperforming companies.

AI lead qualification is one way to automate part of the sales process with low risk and high return.

 

Here is a brief comparison of manual lead qualification vs. AI lead qualification.

Factor	Manual lead qualification	AI lead qualification
Time	Time-intensive	Immediate
Accuracy	Variable based on rep	Always follows the same process
Scalability	Limited to team bandwidth	Infinitely scalable
Lead data	Must research to understand current data	Can use conversational AI to ask qualifying questions
CRM updates	Can be slow or inconsistent	Consistent and instant
Pass to sales	Can be slow or inconsistent	Consistent and instant

How AI lead qualification works

AI lead qualification works by using selected criteria, whether that be existing customer data or lead qualification frameworks, or guiding qualifying questions, and then evaluating leads against those criteria.

Many AI solutions work alongside your CRM, analyzing data as it comes in to automatically qualify leads and classify them as such in your CRM. From there, the AI can notify sales of qualified leads as they come in.

Conversational AI solutions like Verse also work with CRMs, but are used to hold conversations with leads. This not only engages the lead, but allows the AI to ask qualifying questions in real-time, which can collect more accurate and up-to-date information.

 

AI lead qualification can be done in a few different ways, and the solution you choose depends on your goals, business model, and team bandwidth. In any case, AI solutions are faster and more cost-efficient than manual lead qualification, and ultimately save your team time by automating this process.

Benefits of AI lead qualification

According to Salesforce, 83% of sales teams with AI saw revenue growth last year (versus 66% of teams without AI). Lead qualification is one way that AI can help sales teams to streamline operations, save time, and grow revenue.

Leveraging AI to qualify leads has many benefits, including:

• Accurately qualifying leads based on selected criteria
• Never forgetting a lead
• Scaling with your business regardless of headcount
• Qualifying leads in real-time to improve speed to lead
• Acting quickly to high lead scores
• Saving teams time on manual lead qualification
• Analytics for lead data such as qualification rates by lead source

The speed of qualification can be a huge factor for sales teams. The faster a lead is qualified and sales is notified, the faster your speed to lead. As response time only grows in importance, so does quick lead qualification, allowing sales to identify and reach out to the most qualified leads.

 

AI lead qualification examples and use cases

AI lead qualification can look different depending on your industry, tech stack, and volume of inbound leads: here are a few examples of how it can be used.

 

1. Qualification after form fills

When a lead submits a form on your website, such as “Request a quote”, AI can immediately review the lead’s information and begin qualifying them based on your criteria. 

This could be things like:

• Location and service availability
• Income or credit score
• Timeframe to purchase

For example, a solar provider uses AI to automatically qualify leads based on zip code, homeownership status, and utility bill size, routing only eligible leads to sales.

 

2. Scoring and campaign follow-up

After a big ad or email campaign, teams often deal with a flood of leads, but many will not be qualified. AI can combine lead scoring models with real-time qualification to prioritize who should be contacted first.

For example, a RevOps leader uses AI to trigger engagement only for leads with a score of 80+ on a lead scoring model. The AI qualifies them via SMS, then books meetings for qualified prospects—saving sales reps hours of manual triage.

 

3. Qualification without SDRs

Small or growing teams often can’t afford a full SDR team. AI can step in as a digital SDR, qualifying leads around the clock and surfacing the best ones to your sales team.

For example, a small HVAC company uses AI to qualify leads, ask a few basic questions (like address, property type, and service need), and pass ready leads to a technician.

 

4. Lead re-engagement

AI is also powerful for reactivating cold leads that never converted. Instead of ignoring cold leads or assigning them manually, AI can reach out and qualify them if they re-engage.

For example, a mortgage lender runs a monthly re-engagement campaign where AI messages unresponsive leads from the past 6 months. If the lead responds, the AI asks updated qualifying questions and passes the lead back to the sales queue.

 

Implementing AI lead qualification

When implementing AI lead qualification, there are a few best practices to keep in mind.

 

1. Define clear qualification criteria

AI can’t accurately qualify leads without clear criteria. Unlike manual lead scoring, AI operates rigidly within the guidelines that you give it.

Qualification criteria should be comprehensive, tied to your CRM, and representative of your current customers.

 

2. Align with marketing/sales teams

For each step of the process (including qualification criteria and setup), marketing and sales should be in alignment. They should agree on what constitutes a qualified lead and when sales will be involved in the process. 

 

3. Maintain a human-in-the-loop process

With any AI solution, it’s best practice to use human-in-the-loop in order to supervise the AI’s actions—this includes AI lead qualification.

Human-in-the-loop refers to a degree of human supervision over the AI to ensure it’s working properly.

This could include:

• Regular audits of how the AI qualifies leads
• Humans supervising AI conversations
• Checks of both qualified and unqualified leads

4. Ensure clean data for best performance

AI solutions also require clean and structured data in order to operate effectively. For lead qualification, lead data should be clean, organized, and as current as possible. In addition, when AI gathers lead data, it should have fields within the CRM to store the data.

 

Fully-managed AI lead qualification

If you’re looking for a fully-managed AI lead qualification solution that also texts prospects, Verse is built for you.

Verse is a conversational AI-powered SMS platform that qualifies leads automatically based on your custom criteria. It’s also fully-managed by us, including our team of human concierges for human-in-the-loop. 

Verse empowers companies with:

• Instant lead response via SMS, 24/7/365
• Advanced AI with human-in-the-loop
• Automatic lead qualification
• Customizable scripts
• Easy CRM integration
• Our business analytics suite

Learn more about Verse by booking a demo today or visiting our self-serve demo center.

 

Key takeaways: AI for lead qualification