Guide · AI agents · For the owner whose inquiries need chasing
Using Meta's AI agent to qualify leads on WhatsApp: what Meta says to set up before it talks to customers
Meta has published a guide to using its AI agent for business to turn WhatsApp inquiries into leads a salesperson can act on. Its example is a caterer, but Meta says the pattern fits any business where the conversation ends with a person following up rather than a sale in the chat.
Published 6 October 2026
What a lead agent does, in Meta's words
Meta separates this from selling. Nothing is charged and no stock moves: what the agent produces is a record in the sales team's queue. So the test of a good lead is that it is complete. A lead missing the date costs a salesperson a phone call, and a lead from an area the business does not serve wastes the call entirely.
- Checks it can serve the customer first
- For Meta's caterer, that means the delivery area, before the conversation goes any further.
- Gathers what makes the lead workable
- The details a salesperson needs, such as the date and the number of guests, collected in one exchange and confirmed with the customer.
- Sends the lead to the sales system
- As a complete record, with a reference the customer can quote, instead of an unstructured message someone has to chase. It can then answer questions about a lead already sent.
- Passes everything else to the team
- Meta's examples: invoicing disputes and complaints about an order already delivered.
What the agent works from
- Instructions
- Short, scoped rules written by the business. Meta's example tells the agent to check the area before discussing packages and never to promise a final price the sales team has not seen.
- FAQs
- Answers to questions whose answer changes only when the business changes a policy: notice needed, minimum order, dietary needs, payment terms. Anything that changes by itself belongs elsewhere.
- The product catalog
- Kept in Meta's Commerce Manager, not set up through the agent. Meta advises listing packages rather than single items, with the price on each, and keeping it to five or fewer: conversations stall when the agent has nine options to present.
- The business's website
- The agent can be given public pages such as terms or allergen information. It reads a snapshot, so Meta says to have it read them again whenever they change materially.
- A connection to the sales system
- This one is not optional. Meta says that without it the agent cannot record a lead at all.
The decisions Meta says most often go wrong
- Selling before checking
- A customer talked through packages for an area the business does not serve has a worse experience than one who hears an early no, and it burns a sales follow-up.
- Leaving 'complete' undefined
- The business's system, not the agent's judgement, should refuse a lead without the required details. Meta: a lead without a date or a headcount is a message, not a lead.
- Quoting as if final
- The agent can show package prices, but the final figure usually depends on things the team settles. Meta says the agent should tell the customer the team confirms the quote.
- Asking for the phone number
- The customer's number is filled in from the conversation. The agent should never have to ask for it or copy it out.
- Ignoring repeat inquiries
- The same person may write twice about the same event. Decide whether the system merges these or the team sees both.
- Trying to fix complaints
- A complaint about something already delivered is not a lead, and Meta says an agent that tries to help usually makes it worse. It goes to the team on the first message.
Handing over to a person
Meta is direct about this: an instruction to hand complaints to the team does nothing on its own. The agent needs a handoff setting, and the conversation has to actually move. While the team holds it, the agent stops replying and staff answer in the same WhatsApp chat; when the case is closed, the conversation goes back to the agent. The lead's reference can travel with the handover, so nobody asks the customer again.
Meta adds a second kind of handover: a large or unusual lead the team may want to pick up while the customer is still in the chat, rather than calling back tomorrow. And it asks businesses to decide what happens outside staffed hours, because handing over at 02:00 into an empty queue is worse than saying when the team is back. How the handover works between two systems on one number is in the conversation routing guide, and what Meta's agent is in the Meta business agent guide.
Questions
Can Meta's agent close the sale itself?
Not in this setup. A lead agent qualifies the inquiry and a person follows up to close. Meta has separate guides for agents that take a payment or book against limited places.
Where do the leads go?
To the business's own sales system, through a connection the business sets up. Meta suggests pointing it at the system that owns the lead record, so salespeople see inquiries where they already work.
Can the agent give customers a price?
It can show package prices from the catalog, but Meta advises having it say that the team confirms the final quote.
What should we test before switching it on?
Meta's list includes a vague inquiry, a missing location, an area the business does not serve, an order below the minimum, too little notice, a dietary question, a complete lead, a follow-up on a lead already sent, and a complaint. Meta says a polite early no is the outcome agents most often get wrong, by staying enthusiastic.
Sources
- Meta's developer documentation: Meta Business Agent, Lead generation agent, read 6 October 2026.
- Meta's developer documentation: Meta Business Agent overview, read 6 October 2026.
More plain-language notes like this one are on the guides page.
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