Build an Inbound-Form-to-CRM Bot in 30 Minutes

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.