Siemens takes lead response from days to minutes with Agentforce

Plenty of leads, not enough time

Siemens serves critical industries including infrastructure, transportation, and healthcare, combining hardware and software for customers worldwide. Their sellers manage demand across a broad portfolio, receiving thousands of inbound leads each month from sources like software downloads and trade conferences — all of which arrived unqualified.

Sorting through that demand took time away from selling. Sellers — many of them engineers with specialized expertise — had to research prospects and determine their budget, purchasing authority, needs, and timeline (BANT) before knowing which opportunities warranted follow-up. Without a consistent way to qualify every lead, some potential opportunities went unaddressed

From interest to qualified lead

To turn more inbound interest into productive sales conversations, Siemens uses two AI agents powered by Agentforce. An engagement agent handles timely outreach and follow-up, while a qualification agent gathers the information Siemens needs to determine when a prospect is ready for a seller.

For example, imagine a prospect downloads Siemens software. Within minutes, the engagement agent sends a personalized email using details Siemens already has, like their name and company. If they don’t respond, it can follow up twice. When the prospect is ready to engage, the agent directs them to a qualification page, where they start a chat with the second agent.

The qualification agent confirms the prospect’s information, fills in any gaps, and asks about their budget, purchasing authority, needs, and timeline (BANT). It saves those answers to Sales Cloud as the conversation progresses, then applies Siemens-defined rules to determine what happens next.

Leads that meet the criteria are routed to the appropriate seller with a concise summary. Sellers start better prepared and can focus their time on higher-potential conversations, while leads that don’t qualify are politely closed out.

“With Agentforce, a seller gets a pre-qualified lead in a very structured way, knows which questions have been asked about budget and timeline, which ones have been answered, and the portfolio that raised interest,” said Ralf Spanheimer, Head of Sales Effectiveness within Smart Infrastructure. “They have a starting point to have a much more professional discussion — saving time for both the customer and the seller.”

One system connects every signal

Behind Siemens’ AI agents is a connected data foundation that gives them the context to act accurately. Agentforce works within Sales Cloud, the global CRM 18,000 sellers work in daily, which gives the agents direct access to the lead and account data sellers already use. 

The engagement agent uses CRM data to personalize outreach, and each email contains a secure public key that identifies the lead without exposing their internal record ID. When the prospect follows the qualification link, that key lets the qualification agent retrieve their SieSales record, confirm or add information, and save their BANT details as the conversation progresses.

But Sales Cloud is only part of the picture. To build a broader view of each customer, Data 360 connects Siemens’ Salesforce organizations via Salesforce Foundations and accesses Snowflake through zero-copy integration. It harmonizes CRM, ERP, invoice, and installed base data, giving agents and sellers shared views of accounts, opportunities, and contacts across business units.  

With that context in place, Agent Script controls how the qualification agent moves from conversation to decision. It pairs conversational AI with deterministic logic, so the agent can interact naturally while about 50 predefined rules determine the qualification outcome. Leads with at least two positive BANT responses are routed to the right seller with a summary, while those below the threshold follow a predefined closure path. Guardrails keep the agent focused on qualification rather than products, competitors, or other topics.

Every in-scope lead gets a response

“Agentforce can work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and always at the same level of quality,” said Spanheimer. “You can have an agent watching hundreds of accounts, constantly scouting their latest needs and pinging you to say, ‘I need your attention here. This is an opportunity.’ That is the magic. Agentforce can be there all the time for our customers.”  

That availability has cut Siemens’ lead response time from days to minutes, with 100% process coverage of approximately 2,500 in-scope inbound leads per month across 132 countries. Customers get a timely response, while sellers receive consistent qualification context instead of starting from scratch. So far, the agents have driven an 11% engagement rate, a 6% qualification rate, and 80% of interactions earn a Good or Very Good rating.

The value is in that handoff. Sellers can focus their specialist expertise on the best next conversation and arrive better prepared. “With Agentforce, the salesperson now has a much higher level of lead quality before they reach out,” said Spanheimer. “Now our sellers better anticipate the needs of the customer and be more prepared for the first meeting.”