How to qualify web design leads before a sales call

Qualifying a web design lead means deciding, before you book a sales call, whether the project fits the work your studio does well. These steps work for any design or web studio that takes inquiries through its website.

Who is this for?#

This is for a small studio that builds websites and gets most of its work from inquiries. You may already ask for a budget and a rough timeline. Calls can still go wrong for other reasons:

• The site has to run on a platform you do not build on.
• The words and pictures do not exist yet, and nobody plans to write them.
• The launch is in two weeks, and the job is a full new site.
• The "website" is really one landing page, or a few small changes.

A form can find out each of these before a call. Studios need four answers for that: scope, platform, content, and launch date.

New to qualifying? Start with the guide to qualifying leads from a contact form. Then come back here for the studio parts.

What does a web studio need to know before a call?#

You need enough to answer one question: is this a project you would happily take on? For most studios, that comes down to five answers.

Give each question a short list of answers people can pick. "Tell us about your project" gets a paragraph, and a paragraph is hard to grade the same way twice. A picked answer can be graded once and trusted after that.

Ask for a name and a way to reply as well.

Step 1: How do you ask about scope?#

Ask what they want built, and give them a short list.

Example answers:

1. A new website
2. A redesign of my current site
3. A few pages or a landing page
4. Changes to my current site
5. An online store

Grade each answer by how well it matches your best work. A studio that builds full sites might grade "A new website" as Best fit and "Changes to my current site" lower. A studio that earns most of its money from small monthly changes might grade them the other way round. There is no right order, only yours.

In Qualiform, a question you write yourself is asked what kind of answer it is before it is added. Pick "one of a list," and it becomes a Pick one. Its answers show as buttons above the typing box when there are two to six of them, each 60 characters or fewer. On the question's Scoring tab, choose "A grade for each answer." Then grade each answer from Best fit down to Not a fit.

Want their own words about the project too? Add a second question they answer freely. Set it to Low or Minimal, or to No score. The guide to scoring free text explains why.

Step 2: How do you ask which CMS the site will use?#

Ask which platform the site should run on. A CMS is the system the site owner uses to edit pages, such as WordPress or Webflow.

Example answers:

1. WordPress
2. Webflow
3. Shopify
4. Squarespace
5. Something else
6. Not sure yet

Grade the platforms you build on as Best fit. Grade the ones you can work with, but rarely do, lower.

Grade "Not sure yet" fairly. Someone who has not picked a platform may be the client who wants your advice most.

You may want to know more when the job is a redesign. In Qualiform, use an answer's Add question to ask a question only of visitors who pick it. Under "A redesign of my current site," you could add "What is your current site built on?" Visitors who pick another answer are never asked it. It never counts for or against them.

You can also check Allow answers outside the list. Then the AI accepts an answer not on the list and saves it as they said it. That answer is left out of the score, so "Craft CMS" will not lower anyone's score. Questions added under the answers are not asked after an answer outside the list.

Step 3: How do you find out if their content is ready?#

Ask whether the words and pictures for the site exist yet. Content means the text on each page, the photos, and the logo.

Example answers:

1. All written and ready
2. Some of it is ready
3. Not yet, I will write it
4. I need help writing it
5. Not sure

How you grade these depends on what you sell.

• If you offer copywriting, "I need help writing it" can be Best fit. It is extra work you want.
• If you do not, "All written and ready" is Best fit.
• "Not yet, I will write it" puts the launch date at risk. Grade it lower, but not Not a fit. It is a risk, not a no.

Some people feel behind when asked this. Use How to ask, or when not to (Optional) on the question's Advanced tab to set the tone. For example: "Ask about the words and pictures for the pages. A rough answer is fine. If they seem unsure, say plenty of clients start with nothing written."

In Qualiform, that box tells the AI how to ask the question. Whatever you write there also shows under the question's name when its card is closed.

Step 4: How do you score the launch date?#

Ask when the site needs to go live. Then decide which dates suit your studio best.

The simple way is a list:

1. In the next month
2. 1 to 3 months
3. 3 to 6 months
4. No fixed date yet

Grade them by how long your projects really take. If a full site takes you eight weeks, "In the next month" is a rush, so grade it lower. If you build landing pages in a week, it may be Best fit.

A grade belongs to one answer. So one launch question cannot know whether the job is a landing page or a full site. If that matters, use each scope answer's Add question to ask a launch question with its own grades. Only visitors who pick that scope are asked it.

The other way is to ask for a date. In Qualiform, a question whose answer is "a date, or how soon" can use the "How soon they want it" scoring option. Under Which dates score best, you choose whether sooner or later is better for you. This suits a studio that wants real dates instead of ranges.

The Design or web studio template already scores type of work and timeline. Type of work gives full credit for a new build or a redesign, and half for ongoing support. Timeline gives full credit within 90 days, and half at three to six months. Keep these if they match your studio, and change them if your projects take longer.

Where does budget fit in?#

Budget still counts. In Qualiform, the Design or web studio template asks about project, budget, and timeline, and budget fit counts most. The steps above add to that template. They do not replace its budget question.

Check two things on the budget question.

1. Your smallest job. The template asks for the smallest job worth your time. Leave it empty and the template never turns anybody away on a number you did not give it. Open the budget question's card and check that the sentence under Scoring shows your own numbers.
2. Turn a lead away under. This is on the budget question's Scoring tab. Empty means a quarter of your smallest job. With a smallest job of 2,500 USD, anyone who clearly states a budget under 625 USD is turned away. Type 0 to turn nobody away. A low budget from someone who has not seen your prices is a starting point, not a final answer.

Many people find budget personal. You can check Sensitive on it. That makes the AI ask gently. It keeps this off the "Your answers" list, where visitors can fix mistakes.

For the case for and against asking at all, read should a contact form ask for budget.

How much should each question count?#

Decide which questions matter most, and give each one a level. In Qualiform, each question gets Critical, High, Medium, Low, or Minimal, or No score. Its share of the score shows on its card, for example "24% of the score." You never have to make numbers add up to 100.

Here is an example for a studio that builds full sites on WordPress and Webflow. It is an example, not a recommendation.

Two rules keep this fair.

• Skipping a question never lowers a score. A question nobody answered is left out of the score. It is not counted as zero.
• A vague answer that fits nothing on the list counts as your lowest graded answer. This applies unless you allow answers outside the list. It never turns anyone away. So grade your lowest answer as something you can live with.

What should happen at each score?#

Decide one next step for each range of scores. In Qualiform, this is the Routing tab. A lead takes the priority of the first rule its score reaches. The Design or web studio template starts Hot at 85, Warm at 70, and Cool at 55. Below 55 is Cold.

An example plan for a studio:

1. Hot: offer a time to talk.
2. Warm: offer a time to talk.
3. Cool: say someone will be in touch, and do.
4. Cold: say someone will be in touch.
5. Under Cold: say kindly that it is not a fit.

The five rules are Book the soonest time, Book any time, Say you'll be in touch, Say you'll be in touch, and Say they're not a fit. When a rule offers a time, the AI says your closing line exactly as you wrote it.

Four details matter:

• No time is offered to anybody until you save the Booking tab once.
• The bottom rule, which tells a visitor they are not a fit, is off until you switch it on.
• The AI never tells a visitor their score, their priority, or the reason.
• A lead whose Answered percent is under the minimum you set on the Routing tab falls to the fourth rule. It does not get the offer its score would earn.

For more on writing these rules, read the guide to lead routing rules for a small service business. For the wording of a kind "no," read how to reply kindly to inquiries that are not a fit.

What are the common mistakes?#

1. Grading "Not sure yet" as Not a fit. Not knowing the platform or the launch date is normal for someone hiring a studio for the first time. Grade it in the middle.
2. Turning people away over the platform or the date. You can talk these through. Grade them low instead. Save turning away for answers that cannot change, like a kind of work you never take.
3. Keeping example numbers. Any amount or list that came with a template is a starting point. Check that every scored question's card shows your own numbers.
4. Asking too much. A conversation fits about eleven questions asked out loud at most. That drops to ten if the AI plays back their answers and asks if there is anything else. Six questions plus contact details leave room.
5. Reading a score on its own. Every score has an Answered percent beside it. One strong answer and nothing else can score 100. At 80% and up, trust the score. Under 50%, read what they said.
6. Asking about content in a cold way. People who are behind on their copy can feel judged. Say a rough answer is fine.

When is this not worth doing?#

Not every studio needs this.

• You get a few inquiries a month. If you can read and answer every one the same day, a score adds little.
• You call everyone anyway. Scoring only helps when it changes who you call first.
• Most of your work comes from referrals. A friend's recommendation tells you more than a form answer.
• Every inquiry is the same job. If you build one kind of site on one platform, scope and platform give everyone the same grade. Drop them and keep the questions that tell people apart.

Sometimes a plain form is the better choice. Read when a plain form is better than a chatbot before you switch.

How do you know it is working?#

Run two checks.

Before anyone sees it, try it yourself. In Qualiform, press Save, then press Preview. Have the conversation as a visitor would. Pick a new site on WordPress with content ready. Then try again as a small change with no copy and a launch next month. Preview is free, saves nothing, and sends nothing. You get a set number each day, and the bar over the form shows how many are left. Under the form, Endings has one button per rule that is switched on, so you can read each closing.

After a week, compare scores with real outcomes. Put each inquiry's score and Answered percent next to what happened: a call, a proposal, a signed job, or nothing. If a project you won scored low, a grade or a level is wrong. Each lead says how it got its score, so you can see which one.

To see a full studio form, read the page for design and web studios.