Outcome: A single shared map your sales team and your automation stack agree on — no leads slip, no awkward double-touches.
1. Lead stages
Every lead lives in exactly one stage. Transitions are explicit, not implicit.
- New — captured, not yet contacted. Target: first touch in under 5 min.
- Contacted — first reply sent, awaiting response.
- Qualified — fit + intent confirmed against your ICP.
- Proposal sent — pricing/scope shared, awaiting decision.
- Won — closed, handed to delivery / onboarding.
- Lost — explicit no, with a recorded reason.
- Dormant — no response in 14+ days, eligible for reactivation.
2. Follow-up timing
Cadence beats craft. Send fewer, better touches at predictable intervals.
- T+0 (immediate) — automated first reply within 5 minutes of capture.
- Day 1 — human-written or AI-drafted personal follow-up.
- Day 3 — value-add nudge (case study, relevant resource).
- Day 7 — soft check-in with a clear next-step suggestion.
- Day 14 — final touch + permission-to-close-the-loop email.
- Day 60+ — reactivation campaign for dormant leads.
3. AI opportunities
Use AI for the boring 80% (drafting, classification, enrichment), keep humans on the 20% that closes deals.
- Lead qualification — AI scores fit + intent against your ICP, returns JSON.
- Response drafting — AI writes the first draft of every follow-up.
- Follow-up generation — AI picks the next message based on stage + history.
- CRM updates — AI extracts notes from emails and writes them back to the deal.
- Reactivation copy — AI personalizes each dormant-lead message at scale.
4. Workflow examples
Three minimum-viable workflows to ship this month.
Email — fast first touch
- Trigger: new lead in form / ad / CRM.
- Enrich: company, role, industry.
- AI step: qualify + draft a personal reply (JSON output).
- Human approval for hot leads; auto-send for warm.
WhatsApp — qualified booking
- Trigger: WhatsApp inbound or click-to-chat.
- AI asks 3–4 qualifying questions in plain language.
- On qualification: send Calendly link, notify the rep.
- On disqualification: polite deflection + resource link.
CRM — dormant lead reactivation
- Trigger: lead in 'dormant' stage > 60 days.
- AI drafts a context-aware reactivation email per lead.
- Rep reviews in a daily digest, approves with one click.
- Replies route back into the active pipeline.
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