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.
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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.
Position in the GTM operating system
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).
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
Anti patterns to avoid
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
What this skill expects to find
MCP servers
- Crustdata MCP (enrichment gates)
- Notion MCP (writeback)
Environment variables
CRUSTDATA_API_KEYNOTION_API_KEY
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.
The Leads Qualification (7-gate) ecosystem inside Yalc
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/