Prospecting · Claude Code skill

Leads Qualification (7-gate) skill and the Yalc Framework

The Yalc replacement for Clay. 7 waterfall gates that score any lead source against your ICP. Outputs to the Unified Leads DB ready for campaign.

Yalc Fit Score
10/10
License
MIT (Yalc)
Gates
7 waterfall checks
Sources
5 input types
Last reviewed
2026-04-29
Trigger phrases

Say this to fire the Leads Qualification (7-gate) skill

Any of these natural language phrases activates the skill inside Claude Code.

qualify these leads
run leads qualification
score these prospects
qualify content engagers
qualify LinkedIn post likers
qualify post commenters
qualify from CSV
run the qualification pipeline
ICP check these
What it does

Leads Qualification (7-gate), plainly

The Leads Qualification skill takes leads from any source (CSV upload, LinkedIn post engagers, profile visitors, Notion list, or webhook) and runs them through 7 sequential gates: ICP fit, company size, region, role match, intent signals, dedupe, and final score. Output goes to the Unified Leads DB in Notion with a 0 to 100 fit score per lead.

Earleads built this skill specifically to replace Clay.com workflows. Clay's UI is friendlier; this skill is integrated, programmable, and free of per-credit waterfall pricing surprises. For any operator running their own Yalc-driven GTM, this is the canonical qualification step between intake and outreach.

Where it slots in

Position in the GTM operating system

Intake
→
Enrich
→
Score
→
Route
→
Draft
→
Send
→
Listen

The Leads Qualification skill sits at the **score** node. Every lead Yalc surfaces (from Crustdata, Predictleads, LinkedIn engagement scrapes, profile visitors) flows through here before becoming an outreach target.

The 7-gate waterfall is sequential: each gate runs only if the previous gate passed. This makes scoring cheap on average because most leads fail an early gate before triggering expensive checks (Crustdata enrichment, full ICP analysis).

The Yalc Framework

Running the Leads Qualification (7-gate) skill end to end

Workflow position

The qualification and scoring node. Yalc passes raw leads in, gets scored leads out. Output is written to the Unified Leads DB; only leads above the score threshold are eligible for downstream campaigns.

Required inputs

  • → A lead list from one of 5 sources (CSV, JSON, Notion, LinkedIn visitors, post engagers)
  • → The client's ICP definition (lives in `01_Projects/Clients/{name}/Positioning/`)
  • → Crustdata API key for enrichment gates
  • → Unified Leads DB data source ID (`56e04a3e-a757-4714-b328-1e5910a80bb1`)

Outputs

  • → Scored leads (0 to 100) written to the Unified Leads DB
  • → Per-lead gate breakdown (which gates passed, which failed, why)
  • → Summary stats (total in, total qualified, biggest disqualifier)

Chaining recommendations

Upstreamlinkedin-scraping or Notion CSV upload → earleads-leads-qualification
DownstreamQualified leads → unipile-campaign or email-sequence

Anti patterns to avoid

Don't run qualification without an explicit ICP file. The skill needs concrete criteria. Vague ICP returns vague scores.
Don't skip the dedupe gate. Running campaigns to leads who are already in the CRM as customers is the fastest way to lose trust.
Don't use the skill on lists above 5,000 leads in a single run. Crustdata credits and Notion writeback both throttle. Chunk into 500-lead batches.
Operator take

Pros, cons, who it's for

Pros

  • 7 waterfall gates catch bad leads cheaply (most fail at gate 1 or 2)
  • Replaces Clay.com with no per-credit billing surprises
  • 5 input source types covers all common Yalc lead origins
  • Output goes directly to Unified Leads DB, ready for campaign
  • Pre-flight credit check prevents accidental large bills

Cons

  • Requires upfront work to write a clean ICP definition file
  • Crustdata credits cost money; high volume runs add up
  • Notion writeback rate limits at 40 pages per batch
  • Single-tenant by default; multi-client setup requires per-client ICP files

Who it's for

  • Yalc operators who source from multiple lead sources and need consistent scoring
  • Agencies running qualification for multiple clients (one ICP file per client)
  • Founders running outbound who care about hit rate, not just volume
Dependencies

What this skill expects to find

MCP servers

Environment variables

Reads ICP definition from `01_Projects/Clients/{client}/Positioning/`. The skill pre-flights credit usage against Crustdata before running, so you'll never accidentally burn 1000 credits on a bad query.

Related

The Leads Qualification (7-gate) ecosystem inside Yalc

LinkedIn Scraping skill
Common upstream. Engagement scrapes flow into qualification.
→
Alternatives

Skills that overlap

Clay.com
Switch when you want a visual no-code workflow over the same waterfall logic.
→
Apollo Sequence
Switch when you also want native sequencing in the same tool.
→
Manual scoring in HubSpot
Skip the skill for very small lead lists (under 50). Manual scoring in HubSpot is faster.
→
FAQ

Frequently asked

What are the 7 gates?

ICP fit, company size, region match, role match, intent signals, dedupe against existing CRM, and a weighted final score. Each is configurable via the ICP file.

Why a waterfall instead of parallel scoring?

Cost. Some gates require Crustdata enrichment which costs credits. The waterfall fails leads cheaply at gate 1 or 2 before triggering expensive checks downstream.

Can I customize the gates?

Yes. Each client gets a custom ICP file. Add or remove gates, change thresholds, weight gates differently. The skill reads the file at runtime.

How does dedupe work?

The skill queries the Unified Leads DB and any connected CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce) before writing new leads. Existing customers and active prospects are filtered out automatically.

What's the failure mode if Crustdata is down?

Gates that require Crustdata fail open (lead passes the gate but is flagged for manual review). Gates that don't depend on Crustdata still work. The skill never silently drops leads.

How long does qualification take for 1,000 leads?

Roughly 15 to 30 minutes depending on Crustdata response times and how many leads make it past gate 4 (where enrichment kicks in). Most fail earlier and skip the slow checks.

Get the Leads Qualification (7-gate) skill

Clone the Yalc skill set, drop in your env, run from your next Claude Code session.

gh repo clone Othmane-Khadri/YALC-the-GTM-operating-system && cp -r YALC-the-GTM-operating-system/.claude/skills/earleads-leads-qualification ./.claude/skills/
View on GitHub We deploy it for you
Last reviewed 2026-04-29 by Othmane Khadri