What are lead qualification questions?
Lead qualification questions are the short, closed questions a fronter asks to confirm a consumer meets the buyer's criteria before a warm transfer. Each one checks a single fact, such as age, coverage, ownership or debt amount. A good set takes two to three minutes and decides clearly whether the person goes to a closer.
On a live transfer floor, the buyer pays for a transfer only if the person on the line matches the campaign's criteria. That makes the fronter's questions the most important part of the script. Ask too few and the closer gets people who cannot buy, which turns into returns and chargebacks. Ask too many and interested people hang up before they ever reach the closer.
The lists below are typical starting points for common US campaigns worked from Pakistan and India. Your buyer's criteria always win. Treat these as a draft to check against the buyer's written requirements, not a replacement for them.
What makes a good qualifying question?
The best qualifying questions are easy to answer and impossible to misread. They also follow the buyer's criteria in the order that disqualifies people fastest, so nobody spends three minutes on the phone before learning they were never eligible.
It helps to sit with the buyer's criteria sheet and rewrite each criterion as one spoken question. If a criterion cannot be turned into a question a stranger can answer in a few seconds, it probably belongs to the closer, not the fronter. Then read the questions aloud to someone who has never heard the campaign and watch where they hesitate. Every hesitation on the floor costs a few seconds, and a few seconds on every call adds up to whole seats over a month.
- One fact per question. "Do you have both Part A and Part B?" is fine. "Are you on Medicare and happy with your plan?" is two questions.
- Closed where possible. Yes or no, a number, or a short choice. Open questions belong to the closer.
- Disqualifiers first. Put the question most likely to rule a person out near the start.
- Plain words. Say "Do you own your home?" rather than "What is your residential ownership status?"
- No promises. Qualifying questions should never suggest a price, a benefit amount or a guaranteed outcome.
Which questions qualify a Medicare lead?
Medicare campaigns usually qualify on eligibility and on whether the person can make a decision now. CMS marketing rules are strict about how the call is opened and what is promised, so keep the fronting part factual. See our Medicare bot page for how a full call flows.
Part A and Part B come first because a person without both usually cannot enroll in the plans the closer sells. The Medicaid question matters because dual-eligible people often qualify for different plans, and some buyers want them while others exclude them. The last question protects the closer's time: a person who is driving or about to go out will often agree to everything and then drop off after the transfer.
- Are you currently on Medicare, with both Part A and Part B?
- Do you have a Medicare Advantage plan, a supplement, or Original Medicare only?
- Do you also receive Medicaid?
- What is your zip code?
- Are you the person who makes decisions about your coverage?
- Do you have a few minutes now to speak with a licensed agent?
Which questions qualify ACA and final expense leads?
ACA calls qualify on household and income, because those decide subsidy eligibility, and on timing, because enrollment outside open enrollment needs a qualifying life event. The ACA bot page shows the flow in more detail.
Ask about income as a rough range, not an exact figure. People are more comfortable saying "around thirty to forty thousand" than giving a number to a stranger, and a range is all the closer needs to know whether a subsidy is likely. Someone who already has employer coverage or Medicare is normally out, so that question goes near the top.
- Do you currently have health insurance, through work or anywhere else?
- Are you on Medicare or Medicaid at the moment?
- How many people are in your household?
- Roughly what is your household's yearly income?
- What state and zip code do you live in?
- If outside open enrollment: have you recently moved, lost coverage, married or had a baby?
Final expense questions
Final expense buyers usually set an age band and want people who can pay a small monthly premium. Health questions here should stay light, because detailed underwriting belongs to the licensed agent. Our final expense bot page covers the rest.
The payment question sounds blunt, but it saves a lot of wasted transfers. A person with no bank account or card often cannot set up the monthly draft the policy needs, and the closer will find that out after twenty minutes. Ask it kindly and plainly, and move on.
- May I confirm your age? (Most buyers set a band such as 50 to 80.)
- Do you have any life insurance in place today?
- Is the coverage mainly to pay for funeral and burial costs?
- Do you have a checking account or a card for a monthly payment?
- Have you been in a hospital or nursing home in the last year? (Only if the buyer asks for it.)
Which questions qualify auto insurance and solar leads?
Auto insurance buyers care about current coverage, because continuous coverage changes the price, and about the driving record. Keep the questions quick, since most people expect a short quote call.
The renewal question is often the most useful one on the call. A person whose policy renews in the next month or two is actively shopping, and buyers value that timing. A person who just renewed last week may be polite but is unlikely to switch now.
- Do you currently have auto insurance, and with roughly how long left on the policy?
- How many vehicles and how many drivers are in the household?
- Any DUIs or major violations in the last few years?
- What zip code is the vehicle kept at?
Solar questions
Solar qualifies on the home and the bill. Renters and people in apartments are almost always out, so ownership comes first. The solar bot page shows how this plays on a live call.
Bill size and utility matter because solar savings depend on what the household pays today and on the local rates and programs. Shade and roof condition decide whether panels can even go up. Some buyers also ask about credit, but leave that to the closer unless the buyer insists it is checked on the fronting call.
- Do you own your home?
- Is it a single-family house rather than a condo, apartment or mobile home?
- Roughly what is your average monthly electric bill?
- Which utility company supplies your power?
- Is your roof shaded for most of the day, or in need of replacement soon?
Which questions qualify MVA and debt relief leads?
Motor vehicle accident campaigns are tightly defined by the law firm buying them. Typical criteria cover timing, injury, treatment and fault. Never offer legal advice or estimate a settlement on these calls.
The attorney question is a hard stop. A person who already has a lawyer for the accident is not a lead for another firm, and transferring them causes problems for the buyer. The treatment question matters because many firms only take cases where the person saw a doctor within a set number of days after the accident.
- When did the accident happen?
- Were you injured, and did you see a doctor or go to hospital?
- Was the accident someone else's fault?
- Do you already have an attorney for this accident?
- Was a police report filed?
Debt relief questions
Debt relief programs usually need a minimum amount of unsecured debt and a person who is struggling but still has income. Keep the questions about amounts and types, not about the person's character.
Secured debt such as a mortgage or car loan usually does not count toward the threshold, so make the difference clear in the question. Income matters because a settlement program needs monthly deposits. People in debt are often embarrassed, so a calm, neutral tone does more for this campaign than any rebuttal.
- Roughly how much unsecured debt do you have, such as credit cards and personal loans?
- Are you behind on any of those payments at the moment?
- Do you have a regular source of income?
- Which state do you live in?
How should fronters and bots handle a no?
A disqualifying answer should end the qualifying part politely, with the right disposition, every time. Do not reword the question to get a different answer and do not transfer someone who failed a criterion hoping the closer will make it work. Those transfers are exactly what buyers return.
Give every outcome its own disposition: qualified and transferred, not qualified with the reason, not interested, call back later, and do not call. When the reasons are recorded, a manager can see in a week which question removes the most people and whether the list itself is the problem. A list where half the people fail the first question is a data problem, not a fronter problem.
Consistency is where bots help. A bot asks the same questions in the same order on every call and records the answers. The B3 Voice Fronter bot qualifies on your own script and warm-transfers qualified people to a live agent, and every answer shows in the client dashboard transcript. If you are writing a new script for a bot, our guide on writing a script a bot can run explains how to word each question so it works without a human improvising.
