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The moment it happens

Qualify WhatsApp leads and alert sales about hot ones

New WhatsApp enquiries are asked a few qualifying questions, scored, and hot leads are posted to your sales channel straight away.

Runs
The moment it happens
Apps
Slack, WhatsApp Business
AI
Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access
whatsapp_business_messaging; chat:write

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: when someone new messages our WhatsApp number, ask them three qualifying questions one at a time, score their answers, and post hot leads to #sales in Slack.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

Ads and website buttons that open WhatsApp bring in plenty of enquiries, but many are tyre-kickers. Sales reps spend hours chatting to people who were never going to buy while serious buyers wait.

Asking a few qualifying questions automatically, scoring the answers and alerting sales only about the promising ones means reps spend their time where it counts and hot leads are contacted while they're still keen.

What you get out of it

  • Reps talk to buyers

    Only qualified leads reach the sales channel. Less time on chats that go nowhere.

  • Hot leads contacted fast

    A promising lead is in Slack the moment the last answer arrives.

  • Every lead asked the same questions

    Qualifying is consistent, whoever would have picked up the chat.

  • Answers saved for the call

    The Slack post includes their answers, so the rep starts the call informed.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. A new contact messages your WhatsApp number.

  2. They're asked your qualifying questions one at a time, and each answer is remembered.

  3. After the last answer, AI scores the lead against your description of a good fit.

  4. Hot leads are posted to your sales channel in Slack with their answers, and everyone gets a thank-you.

Before it runs live

  • Connect Slack, then invite the app to the channel (type /invite @ClickRuntime there)
  • Connect WhatsApp Business
  • Paste your automation's link into the other app's webhook settings

What you get

RunsThe moment it happens
Qualify WhatsApp leads and alert sales about hot onesjust nowSucceeded
Slack · #sales:fire: Hot WhatsApp lead +447700900654 (score 8) — New site for Northwind Dental, budget £8k, start next month

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.
  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

  • Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
  • Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Google Sheets
  • Combine it with other Slack and WhatsApp Business steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.
qualify_whatsapp_leads_and_alert_sales_in_slack.pyexample
from clickruntime import on_event, credentials, http, notify, state, ai

QUESTIONS = ["What are you looking for?", "Roughly what budget do you have in mind?", "When would you like to start?"]
WA = "https://graph.facebook.com/v20.0/your-phone-number-id/messages"

def wa(to, text):
    http.post(WA, headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {credentials.secret('WHATSAPP_TOKEN')}"},
              json={"messaging_product": "whatsapp", "to": to, "type": "text", "text": {"body": text}}).raise_for_status()
def incoming(event):
    changes = [c for e in (event.json or {}).get("entry", []) for c in e.get("changes", [])]
    return [(m["from"], m["text"]["body"]) for c in changes for m in c["value"].get("messages", []) if m.get("type") == "text"]

@on_event
def handle(event):
    for phone, text in incoming(event):
        lead = state.get(f"lead:{phone}") or {"answers": [], "done": False}
        if lead["done"]:
            continue
        lead["answers"].append(text)
        step = len(lead["answers"]) - 1
        if step < len(QUESTIONS):
            wa(phone, QUESTIONS[step])
        else:
            qa = "\n".join(f"{q} {a}" for q, a in zip(QUESTIONS, lead["answers"][1:]))
            score = ai.generate(qa, system="Score this lead 1-10 for a B2B design agency. Reply with the number only.", max_output_tokens=5).text.strip()
            if score.isdigit() and int(score) >= 7:
                notify.slack(f":fire: Hot WhatsApp lead +{phone} (score {score})\n{qa}", channel="#sales")
            wa(phone, "Thanks! We'll be in touch shortly.")
            lead["done"] = True
        state.set(f"lead:{phone}", lead)
    return {"ok": True}

FAQ

Common questions

Which questions are asked?
The ones you set, for example what they need, their budget and their timeline.
What makes a lead hot?
You describe it in plain words, and the AI scores each lead against that description.
What happens to lower-scored leads?
They get a polite message with useful links, and can still be followed up later.
What permissions does it need?
whatsapp_business_messaging; chat:write. Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
Yes. It uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI, so you don't need an OpenAI or Anthropic key. Every plan includes a monthly AI allowance.
How many runs does it use?
One run for each event the app sends.
Can I change how it works?
Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

Set up “Qualify WhatsApp leads and alert sales about hot ones” from your assistant

Copy the prompt above, or connect your assistant first. Free plan, no credit card.