Build an Inbound-Form-to-CRM Bot in 30 Minutes
Lead fills out your form. CRM record gets created with enriched data, intelligent tagging, and a draft outreach. Sales never touches the keyboard. Ship it today.
The build: inbound form fires. Lead's company gets auto-enriched (size, industry, recent news). CRM record is created. Intelligent tags applied. A draft outreach lands in your sequence tool. Time from form submission to ready-to-send outreach: under 60 seconds.
Total build time: 30 minutes.
What you'll need
- -Form tool (Tally, Typeform)
- -n8n
- -Your CRM with API access (HubSpot, Pipedrive, Attio, Folk, etc.)
- -An enrichment API (Clearbit, Apollo, or free tier of Hunter)
- -AI API key
- -Email sequence tool (Smartlead, Instantly, or your CRM's native)
Step 1: Form webhook (2 min)
Form tool → n8n Webhook trigger.
Step 2: Enrich the company (8 min)
Add an HTTP Request node calling your enrichment API. Use the lead's email domain as the lookup key.
Example with Clearbit:
``` URL: https://company.clearbit.com/v2/companies/find?domain={{ domain }} Headers: Authorization: Bearer {{ CLEARBIT_KEY }} ```
Return includes: company name, industry, size, location, tech stack, recent news.
If enrichment fails (small company, private email), fall back to the form data only.
Step 3: AI tagging and routing (8 min)
Add an AI node. Prompt:
``` You are tagging an inbound lead for CRM ingestion.
Form data: {{ form }} Enrichment data: {{ enrichment }}
Return JSON: { "tags": [up to 4 specific tags from this list: {TAG_LIST}], "industry": <one of {INDUSTRIES}>, "size_segment": <"startup" / "smb" / "midmarket" / "enterprise">, "priority": <"hot" / "warm" / "cold" / "decline">, "specific_hook": "<one sentence about something specific from their form or enrichment to lead with>", "internal_summary": "<one paragraph for sales to skim, max 60 words>" } ```
Step 4: Create CRM record (5 min)
Add your CRM's node. Map the fields: - Contact info from form - Company info from enrichment - Tags from AI - Priority as custom field or stage - Internal summary as note
Step 5: Generate draft outreach (5 min)
Add another AI node:
``` Draft a 4-sentence cold outreach to a lead.
Their form submission: {{ form.message }} Their company: {{ enrichment.company }} The specific hook: {{ specific_hook }}
Voice: peer-to-peer. Specific, not templated. Reference the hook in sentence 1 or 2.
Format: - Sentence 1: Specific hook (something about them or their company) - Sentence 2: Why I'm reaching out - Sentence 3: What I'd want to do next (specific ask) - Sentence 4: Easy out
Banned: "I came across", "I noticed", "I wanted to reach out", "circling back", "your business".
Sign as: Josh ```
Step 6: Push to sequence tool (5 min)
Add an HTTP Request node to your email sequence tool. Create a contact, attach the draft outreach as the first email, set to NOT auto-send (it needs human review).
Step 7: Slack notification (2 min)
Slack node. Channel: #sales-inbox. Message includes name, company, priority, link to CRM record, link to draft outreach.
Common gotchas
- -Personal email domains (gmail.com, etc.) break company enrichment. Add a check.
- -AI sometimes hallucinates specifics in the outreach draft. The "NOT auto-send" rule is what saves you. Human reviews before send.
- -CRM rate limits: HubSpot allows ~100 req/min on most tiers. Add a small wait if you have form spikes.
What I do with this
Every inbound form submission becomes a CRM record with enrichment, tags, and a draft outreach within 60 seconds. I review the draft, edit if needed, send.
For hot leads I can reply within 2-3 minutes of the form being submitted. The prospect is impressed. Conversion goes up.
What to add next
- -Per-industry tagging (different criteria for wealth vs CPA vs trades)
- -Auto-schedule a discovery call for hot leads (Cal.com link)
- -A 5-touch follow-up sequence that auto-pauses when the prospect replies
- -Weekly digest of all inbound leads + conversion rate
Start with the basic version. Iterate weekly.
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