The qualification playbook

Your AI lead qualification chatbot playbook

How MagicFlow AI qualifies leads inside the conversation: worked examples with live scoring, four plays that cover every situation, and a maturity model showing where you are today.

Your journey

Five levels of qualification maturity

Where are you today, and where could you be? Most businesses sit somewhere between levels 1 and 3.

  1. 0

    No qualification

    Every lead goes to sales unfiltered, and most of the team's time goes to prospects who never buy.

  2. 1

    Manual review

    A BDR reviews each lead by hand. Slow, inconsistent, and expensive at roughly โ‚น500 a lead.

  3. 2

    Basic forms

    A web form captures fields but asks nothing back. No scoring, no context, no follow-up signal.

  4. 3

    Automated chat

    A rules-based chatbot asks fixed questions. Better than a form, but it cannot read an answer.

  5. 4

    AI-driven qualification

    Qualification happens inside a real conversation, scored against your own criteria, with full context captured and no per-lead cost.

    Where MagicFlow takes you
Live scoring

Three conversations, three very different leads

Worked examples of how a qualification conversation plays out, and where each one ends up.

๐Ÿ”ฅ Hot lead

E-commerce director

Final qualification score
94

Hi! What challenge brings you here today?

We're losing leads to competitor sites during checkout

How urgent is this? When would you want it solved?

This month. We're losing โ‚น50L monthly revenue

Is budget already approved?

Yes, โ‚น10L allocated. I'm the VP so I approve

Would you like to see a demo today?

Absolutely. When can we talk?

Routed to sales immediately ยท 4 minute conversation ยท Full transcript attached
๐ŸŸก Warm lead

Marketing manager

Final qualification score
67

What brought you here today?

Lead response times are slow. Exploring options

When would you look to implement something?

Next quarter maybe. Still in research phase

Is budget available for this yet?

Not yet allocated. Need board approval first

Understood. Shall I send resources on lead qualification?

Sounds good. Send me info please

Tagged for nurture ยท 3 minute conversation ยท Handed to your email platform
โ„๏ธ Cold lead

Freelance consultant

Final qualification score
31

What challenge are you solving?

Just curious about pricing tbh

Understood. Do you have active leads coming in?

Not really. Work is freelance, few clients

Got it. Let me point you to some industry resources

Sure, thanks

Kept out of the sales queue ยท 2 minute conversation ยท Left to retargeting audiences

Illustrative conversations showing how the scoring bands work in practice.

The playbook

Four proven qualification plays

Which play runs depends on what the visitor reveals. Each one has a single job.

1

The discovery play

When to use it

A cold visitor whose situation you know nothing about. The job is to find out whether any real pain exists.

How it runs

The chatbot opens with what brought you here, then reads the answer for a genuine pain signal rather than a keyword match.

Expected result: Either the lead raises a hand or they drift off. Both are useful, and you find out in one exchange.
2

The deep dive play

When to use it

Pain is confirmed. Now establish the specifics: timeline, budget and who actually signs.

How it runs

The chatbot works through each qualification field in turn, building a full profile rather than collecting one contact detail.

Expected result: The score that follows decides the route: sales for hot, nurture for warm, retargeting for cold.
3

The close play

When to use it

A hot lead with budget, timeline and authority all confirmed. The job is to convert intent into a booked conversation.

How it runs

The chatbot offers the next step directly while interest is still high, and captures a preferred time rather than leaving it open.

Expected result: A demo booked the same day, with your rep taking over knowing exactly what was discussed.
4

The nurture play

When to use it

Genuine interest, wrong quarter. A future buyer who should not be burned on a cold call now.

How it runs

The chatbot agrees a sensible follow-up point, and the lead is tagged for nurture and handed to your email platform.

Expected result: A three to six month cycle where a meaningful share come back as hot leads, often as the larger deals.
Real speed

Qualification velocity benchmarks

3 sec
Time to engagement

Default delay from page load to the chatbot opening, configurable per client.

3 min
Qualification cycle

From the first question to a scored lead in your dashboard.

82%
Accuracy rate

Share of hot leads that go on to close within 30 days.

68%
Quality improvement

Fewer unqualified leads taking up sales time.

Your roadmap

Build your qualification engine in four steps

48-hour setup, and no technical knowledge needed at any stage.

  1. 1

    Set up

    • Connect your website
    • Set qualification rules
    • Brand the chatbot
    • Customise the questions
  2. 2

    Deploy

    • Publish the chatbot live
    • Test real conversations
    • Connect your CRM
    • Enable lead scoring
  3. 3

    Review

    • Read the first conversations
    • Check scores against outcomes
    • Tighten the criteria
    • Adjust required fields
  4. 4

    Optimise

    • Analyse conversation data
    • Adjust the plays
    • Refine qualification
    • Scale with confidence
Questions

Qualification playbook FAQs

Master the qualification game

Stop spending sales time on leads that were never going to buy. Score every conversation, route the hot ones in seconds, and keep the rest warm. Setup worth โ‚น5,000 included.