Qualify & Transfer workflow
Learn how the Qualify & Transfer workflow works in Interlinked — a service workflow where the AI asks qualification questions before handing off the conversation to a human agent.
When to use this workflow
Choose Qualify & Transfer if you want the AI to gather important information from customers before a human takes over the conversation. This workflow is ideal for sales teams, law firms, financial advisors, or any business where a human agent needs to close the deal but does not want to waste time on unqualified leads.
The AI acts as a smart front desk — it collects structured data about the customer’s needs, budget, timeline, and preferences, then escalates the conversation to a human agent who has full context and can pick up exactly where the AI left off.
How the AI handles conversations
- Greet the customer and introduce your services using your configured greeting message.
- Ask qualification questions — The AI asks your custom questions one by one in a natural conversational flow.
- Store the answers — All responses are saved as structured data on the customer’s lead profile in the CRM.
- Hand off to a human — Once all questions are answered, the AI escalates the conversation. The customer is notified that a human agent will continue the conversation.
Note
When the AI hands off the conversation, it triggers a notification to the business owner. The human agent can then pick up the conversation from the CRM and respond directly through WhatsApp, Instagram, or Messenger.
What happens after handoff
When the AI hands off a conversation:
- The AI stops responding to that customer for 15 minutes. This prevents the AI from interfering while the human agent is talking.
- The 15-minute pause also activates when you manually send a message through the messaging app (WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger) or when you click Take manual control in the CRM conversation view.
- After 15 minutes of human inactivity, the AI resumes responding automatically.
Important
The 15-minute AI pause is a critical behavior to understand. If you take manual control of a conversation but do not respond within 15 minutes, the AI will start responding again. Make sure your team responds promptly after a handoff.
Custom configuration steps
Qualification questions
Define the questions the AI asks before transferring. You can add any number of free-text questions. The AI asks them conversationally, one at a time.
This is the only custom step for this workflow — there are no calendar, payment, or location steps.
What to do next
Continue to Upload your product catalog, then Add business context, Connect channels, and Publish and go live.
Related in Interlinked
Connect this documentation topic to the relevant product, workflow, or commercial context.