Lead follow up with an email cap and human takeover
Reads each new lead or reply, classifies intent and picks one of five allowed actions: email, schedule, update status, escalate or log a note. Code enforces a 24 hour cooldown and a three email cap before a person takes over, and every decision is logged.
What it does
- Catches unsubscribe and speak to a human requests in code before the model runs
- Classifies the lead's intent and picks exactly one bounded action
- Schedules the next follow up 1 to 14 days out
- Escalates to a person after three emails or any escalation phrase
- Logs the trigger, rationale and action for every decision
Your approval boundaries
Approval requiredThese actions always wait for your yes:
- Sending any follow up email
- Changing a lead's status
You decide what happens next.
More about this workflow
This setup is for founders and small sales teams who want more time for real conversations. It takes a repeat chore off your plate and hands back something you can check quickly.
First, it catches unsubscribe and speak to a human requests in code before the model runs. Next, it classifies the lead's intent and picks exactly one bounded action. Then it schedules the next follow up 1 to 14 days out. After that, it escalates to a person after three emails or any escalation phrase. Finally, it logs the trigger, rationale and action for every decision. It works with your CRM and email, each on its own login with limited access.
You get the prep work done and waiting for you. The agent stops and asks for your yes before sending any follow up email and changing a lead's status, and says plainly if a step cannot be undone.
“Nothing else is possible: no SQL, no deletes, no access to other leads.”
Explore required tools and model recommendations
Tools and access
HubSpot CRM
Handles the crm part of this job. Grant read scopes, plus notes write.
API required: Yes. Needs a HubSpot private app or OAuth app with the CRM scopes you choose.
Gmail
Handles the email part of this job. Grant read-only plus compose (drafts) scopes.
API required: Yes. Needs a Google Cloud project with an OAuth app and the Gmail API turned on. The agent signs in through OAuth with only the scopes you pick.
Official links only. Not sponsored, no affiliate links.
Model recommendations
Best pick
Claude Sonnet 5.5
Good balance of speed and quality for briefs and drafts.
$2 per million input tokens, $10 per million output tokens.
Anthropic docs as of October 11, 2026
Cheaper backup
GPT-6 Luna
Very low cost per token for simple research summaries.
$0.10 per million input tokens, $0.50 per million output tokens, for prompts up to 272K tokens.
OpenAI docs as of October 11, 2026
Our own picks. Not sponsored, no affiliate links.
Build your prompt
Add your details, then copy the prompt into your tool.
2Your prompt
4 of 4 still emptyYour answers stay in this browser only.
Run your workflow
Connect your tools with only the access this setup needs, then follow these steps.
Steps
Do these in order. Test on old data before it touches live work.
- 1Connect HubSpot CRM with its own login, not yours. Grant read scopes, plus notes write.
- 2Connect Gmail with its own login, not yours. Grant read-only plus compose (drafts) scopes.
- 3Paste the prompt where your harness takes instructions. See the note under the Copy button.
- 4Do a dry run on old or test data first. Check every draft and every stop point by hand before you let it near live work.
- 5Read its log after the first real run. Only widen access once a week of runs looks clean.
Safeguards and trust score
The score describes this example setup’s access, approval boundaries, ability to undo changes, and scope.
Can draft things that send or spend, so it sits close to risky actions.
Waits for a yes on: sending any follow up email, changing a lead's status.
Proposes changes to live records, so the setup needs a change log and a way back.
Runs on its own login across 2 tools. Fewer connections means a smaller blast radius.
How to raise it
- Access: Take away its ability to send, post or spend. Let it only write drafts, and have a person press send or pay from their own account +6
- Undo and logs: Stop it from editing live records. Have it write the change as a proposal you apply, and keep a log of every change with a way to roll it back +3
- Scope: Run it on one tool only, with its own login that can see just what this job needs +2
Do all of these to reach 91, up from 80.
Want help getting there? Get an AI Trust Audit from Pixeldesigns
Reviewed by Trustcase (example setup). How scoring works
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[](https://trustcase.dev/use-cases/lead-follow-up-with-an-email-cap-and-human-takeover)<a href="https://trustcase.dev/use-cases/lead-follow-up-with-an-email-cap-and-human-takeover"><img src="https://trustcase.dev/badge/lead-follow-up-with-an-email-cap-and-human-takeover.svg" alt="Trustcase trust score for Lead follow up with an email cap and human takeover" height="20"></a>More sales workflows
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