How to Build an AI Lead Qualification Bot with OpenClaw [2026]

Every minute a hot lead waits for a response, your conversion rate drops by 7%. But you can't have SDRs working 24/7—or can you?

This guide walks you through building an AI-powered lead qualification bot using OpenClaw that works around the clock: asking the right questions, scoring leads in real-time, and instantly routing qualified prospects to your sales team.

Why Lead Qualification Bots Win

The math is brutal:

• 78% of deals go to the company that responds first
• Average response time for web leads: 47 hours
• Lead conversion drops 80% after the first 5 minutes

Traditional chatbots don't solve this. They're glorified FAQ systems that frustrate prospects with "I'll have someone contact you." By the time someone contacts them, they've already booked a demo with your competitor.

An AI qualification bot does real work:

Traditional Chatbot	AI Qualification Bot
"Someone will contact you"	Asks qualifying questions in real-time
Static decision trees	Dynamic conversation flow
Routes all leads equally	Scores and prioritizes automatically
No context awareness	Remembers previous interactions
9-5 availability	True 24/7 qualification

The OpenClaw Advantage

Why OpenClaw for lead qualification?

1. Always-on operation — Cron jobs keep your bot responsive 24/7
2. Memory persistence — Bot remembers conversation context across sessions
3. Multi-channel — Works on website chat, WhatsApp, Slack, or wherever leads arrive
4. Browser automation — Can research leads in real-time (check LinkedIn, company website)
5. CRM integration — Direct HubSpot, Salesforce, and API connections
6. Free and self-hosted — No per-conversation pricing that scales badly

Let's build it.

Step 1: Define Your Qualification Criteria

Before writing any code, define what makes a qualified lead for your business.

BANT Framework (Classic)

• Budget: Can they afford your solution?
• Authority: Are they a decision-maker?
• Need: Do they have a problem you solve?
• Timeline: When are they looking to buy?

Modern Qualification Criteria

For most B2B SaaS, focus on:

qualification_criteria:
  must_have:
    - Company size: 50-500 employees
    - Role: Director+ in Sales, Marketing, or RevOps
    - Use case: Lead generation or SDR efficiency
    - Timeline: Active evaluation (next 3 months)
  
  nice_to_have:
    - Using competitor: Apollo, 6sense, ZoomInfo
    - Pain point: SDR productivity or lead quality
    - Trigger event: New funding, hiring SDRs
  
  disqualifiers:
    - Company size: <20 employees
    - No budget authority
    - Looking for free tools only
    - Student/job seeker

Scoring Matrix

Criteria	Points	Weight
Director+ role	+20	High
50-500 employees	+15	High
Active evaluation	+25	Critical
Using competitor	+15	Medium
Pain match	+20	High
Budget confirmed	+30	Critical
Timeline <3 months	+20	High
Student/researcher	-100	Disqualify

Score thresholds:

• 0-30: Nurture (add to email sequence)
• 31-60: Qualified (route to SDR)
• 61+: Hot (route to AE, alert Slack)

Step 2: Create the OpenClaw Agent

Set up your qualification bot in OpenClaw's AGENTS.md:

# lead-qualifier agent config
name: lead-qualifier
model: claude-sonnet-4-20250514
channels:
  - webchat
  - whatsapp
  
memory:
  - QUALIFICATION_RULES.md
  - ICP.md
  
cron:
  # Check for new leads every minute
  - schedule: "* * * * *"
    task: "Check for new unqualified leads in CRM and initiate qualification"

Step 3: The Qualification Conversation Flow

Here's the soul of your bot—the qualification prompt:

# QUALIFICATION_RULES.md

You are a friendly, professional lead qualification specialist for MarketBetter.
Your job is to have natural conversations that qualify leads while being helpful.

## CONVERSATION RULES

1. NEVER sound like a bot. Be conversational and human.
2. Ask ONE question at a time. Don't interrogate.
3. If they ask product questions, answer them—then continue qualifying.
4. Match their communication style (casual/formal).
5. If they're clearly not a fit, be respectful and offer resources.

## QUALIFICATION QUESTIONS

Ask these naturally throughout the conversation (not all at once):

1. **Company/Role**: "What company are you with? And what's your role there?"
2. **Team size**: "How big is your sales/SDR team currently?"
3. **Pain point**: "What brought you to MarketBetter today? What are you trying to solve?"
4. **Current tools**: "What tools are you using today for [their pain point]?"
5. **Timeline**: "Are you actively evaluating solutions, or just researching for now?"
6. **Budget**: "Do you have budget allocated for this, or would this be a new initiative?"

## SCORING (internal, don't share with lead)

After each response, update your internal score:
- Director/VP/C-level: +20
- 50-500 employees: +15
- 10-50 SDRs: +10
- Pain point matches our ICP: +20
- Active evaluation: +25
- Using competitor: +15
- Budget confirmed: +30
- Timeline < 3 months: +20

Disqualify immediately if:
- Student/researcher
- Company < 20 employees
- No commercial intent
- Competitor employee

## ROUTING ACTIONS

Score 0-30 (Nurture):
- Thank them warmly
- Offer to add to newsletter for tips
- Create lead in CRM as "Marketing Qualified"

Score 31-60 (Qualified):
- Offer to schedule a call with an SDR
- Use Calendly link: [link]
- Create opportunity in CRM

Score 61+ (Hot):
- Immediately alert Slack channel #hot-leads
- Offer to connect them with AE now
- Create high-priority task for AE

## EXAMPLE CONVERSATION

Lead: "Hi, I'm looking at lead generation tools"

You: "Hey! Happy to help. I'm Alex from MarketBetter. 
What's got you looking at lead gen tools right now—any specific challenge you're trying to solve?"

Lead: "Our SDR team is spending too much time researching leads"

You: "Ah, that's a super common one. How big is your SDR team? Just trying to get a sense of the scale."

Lead: "We have about 15 SDRs"

You: "Got it—15 SDRs is a solid team. And you mentioned research is eating up their time... 
are you using any tools today for lead research, or is it mostly manual?"

[Continue naturally until qualified]

Step 4: CRM Integration

Connect your bot to your CRM so qualified leads get created automatically:

// In your OpenClaw skills or scripts
const qualifyLead = async (conversation) => {
  // Extract qualification data from conversation
  const qualData = await claude.analyze({
    prompt: `Extract qualification data from this conversation:
    ${conversation}
    
    Return JSON: {
      name, email, company, role, teamSize, painPoint, 
      currentTools, timeline, budgetConfirmed, score, notes
    }`
  });

  // Create/update lead in HubSpot
  const lead = await hubspot.createContact({
    email: qualData.email,
    firstname: qualData.name.split(' ')[0],
    lastname: qualData.name.split(' ').slice(1).join(' '),
    company: qualData.company,
    jobtitle: qualData.role,
    lifecyclestage: qualData.score > 30 ? 'salesqualifiedlead' : 'marketingqualifiedlead',
    lead_score: qualData.score,
    hs_lead_status: qualData.score > 60 ? 'HOT' : 'QUALIFIED',
    notes: qualData.notes
  });

  // Route based on score
  if (qualData.score > 60) {
    await slack.send('#hot-leads', {
      text: `🔥 Hot lead just qualified!`,
      blocks: [
        {
          type: "section",
          text: {
            type: "mrkdwn",
            text: `*${qualData.name}* from *${qualData.company}*\n` +
              `Score: ${qualData.score}/100\n` +
              `Pain: ${qualData.painPoint}\n` +
              `Timeline: ${qualData.timeline}`
          }
        },
        {
          type: "actions",
          elements: [
            {
              type: "button",
              text: { type: "plain_text", text: "View in HubSpot" },
              url: `https://app.hubspot.com/contacts/${lead.id}`
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    });
  }

  return lead;
};

Step 5: Real-Time Lead Research

Here's where OpenClaw shines—your bot can research leads during the conversation:

// When lead provides company name
const enrichLead = async (companyName) => {
  // Use browser to research
  const research = await openclaw.browser.research({
    queries: [
      `${companyName} linkedin company`,
      `${companyName} crunchbase funding`,
      `${companyName} careers hiring`
    ]
  });

  // Claude summarizes findings
  const enrichment = await claude.analyze({
    prompt: `Summarize this company research for sales qualification:
    ${research}
    
    Extract: employee count, funding stage, recent news, tech stack hints, hiring signals`
  });

  return enrichment;
};

Now your bot can say things like:

"Oh nice, I see Acme Corp just raised a Series B—congrats! Are you looking at tools to help scale the team with that new funding?"

This level of personalization makes leads forget they're talking to a bot.

Step 6: Multi-Channel Deployment

Deploy your qualification bot across channels:

Website Chat

Embed OpenClaw's webchat widget on high-intent pages:

• Pricing page
• Demo request page
• Feature comparison pages

WhatsApp Business

For leads who prefer messaging:

# OpenClaw whatsapp channel config
whatsapp:
  number: "+1-XXX-XXX-XXXX"
  webhook: /api/whatsapp
  qualify_on: first_message

Slack Connect

For enterprise prospects already in Slack:

slack:
  workspace: marketbetter
  channel: #shared-[company]
  qualify_on: join

Step 7: Handle Edge Cases

Good bots handle the unexpected:

Product Questions Mid-Qualification

## PRODUCT QUESTIONS

If the lead asks product questions during qualification, ANSWER THEM.
Don't deflect with "let me have someone call you."

Use this knowledge base:
- [Link to product docs]
- [Link to feature matrix]
- [Link to pricing info]

After answering, naturally transition back to qualification:
"Does that answer your question? By the way, I want to make sure 
I connect you with the right person—what's your role at [company]?"

Impatient Leads

## FAST QUALIFICATION

If lead seems impatient or says "just get me to sales":
- Don't force all questions
- Ask ONLY: company, role, and main use case
- Immediately offer calendar link
- Note in CRM: "Fast-tracked, needs full qualification on call"

Off-Hours Handling

## AFTER HOURS

If it's outside business hours (6pm-8am local):
- Still fully qualify
- Offer next-day call booking
- Set expectation: "Great! [AE name] will reach out first thing tomorrow morning"
- Create high-priority task for morning

Measuring Success

Track these metrics for your qualification bot:

Metric	Target	Why It Matters
Response time	<30 seconds	Speed to lead
Qualification rate	>40%	Bot effectiveness
Handoff acceptance	>80%	Scoring accuracy
Demo show rate	>70%	Lead quality
Pipeline influenced	Track monthly	Revenue impact

The MarketBetter Connection

MarketBetter's AI chatbot uses similar qualification intelligence—but goes further by connecting to your entire GTM stack:

• Website visitor identification to enrich leads before they chat
• Intent signals from their browsing behavior
• Seamless handoff to SDR playbook for follow-up
• Closed-loop reporting on which leads convert

The result? Leads are qualified, scored, and routed in seconds—not hours.

See MarketBetter's AI qualification in action →

Implementation Checklist

Ready to build your qualification bot?

• Define qualification criteria and scoring
• Create OpenClaw agent with qualification prompt
• Set up CRM integration (HubSpot/Salesforce)
• Configure Slack alerts for hot leads
• Deploy to website chat
• Add WhatsApp channel (optional)
• Set up lead enrichment research
• Configure off-hours handling
• Test with sample conversations
• Monitor and tune scoring thresholds

The best SDRs still beat bots in complex sales conversations. But for initial qualification? A well-built AI bot responds faster, works 24/7, and never forgets to ask the important questions.

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Building more AI automation for GTM? Check out our guides on CRM hygiene automation and the complete OpenClaw setup guide.