Automation · Sales and quoting

Log your WhatsApp leads in Airtable and use it as a CRM

An AI agent saves every prospect who writes on WhatsApp in Airtable, without duplicates, with what they want and the rep handling them.

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How do I use Airtable as a CRM to save the prospects who write to me on WhatsApp?

When someone writes on WhatsApp asking about your products or services, the Met finds your prospects base in Airtable, reviews the table's fields and checks whether that person is already logged by their phone number. If not, it creates the record with their name, phone number, what they want and where they came from; if they are, it updates only the fields that changed, such as the stage or the last inquiry. If the table links to the sales rep or the product, the Met finds the right record for that link instead of writing loose text. The Met does not ask for confirmation in the chat before writing: the admin chooses in Connections which actions stay on.

What starts it

When the customer writes

It starts when someone writes on WhatsApp to ask about a product, a service or a price. There is no trigger to configure: the Met assigned to the line logs the prospect inside that conversation.

Nothing to set up. The Met assigned to that channel picks up the conversation and runs the procedure inside it.

Who runs it

WhatsApp sales Met that logs prospects in Airtable

Sales team

This is not a named, seeded Met. It is the Met that already answers the business's WhatsApp, with Airtable connected. Its work ends when the prospect is logged once in your base, with what they wanted and linked to the right sales rep.

Run by the lead qualification Met

Channels: WhatsApp

What you need connected

Airtable Automate and collaborate

5 steps · 7 tools

The procedure, step by step

Each step shows the tool that runs. They belong to the real connector: if one of them stopped existing, this page would not build.

1
Find the prospects base

The Met searches by name for the base where your team keeps prospects, for example "CRM", and lists its tables to locate the contacts or leads one.
- search_bases Airtable
- list_tables_for_base Airtable
2
Read the table's fields

The Met pulls the table's fields with their name, type and configuration. That is how it knows "Stage" is a single select with fixed options or "Sales rep" links to another table, and writes each piece of data where it belongs.
- get_table_schema Airtable
3
Check whether they are already logged

The Met searches the table by the person's phone number. If they show up, it works on that record instead of creating another, so your base does not fill with duplicates.
- search_records Airtable
4
Link the sales rep or the product

If the table has a field linking to sales reps or products, the Met looks up the candidate records for that link and picks the right one, instead of writing a loose name that stays unconnected.
- search_candidate_linked_records Airtable
5
Create or update the record

If the person is new, the Met creates the record with their name, phone number, what they want and the channel. If they already existed, it updates only the fields that changed and leaves the rest as they were.
- create_records_for_table Airtable
- update_records_for_table Airtable

Before you start

What you need ready

The Met solves none of these for you. If one is missing, the automation stops there.

An Airtable base with the prospects table

Your team sets up the table with the fields it wants to track: name, phone, interest, stage and sales rep. The account you connect needs access to the base, not just an interface.
Airtable connected with writes on

In Met, open Connections → Airtable → Connect and sign in to Airtable. The admin leaves creating and updating records switched on.
A WhatsApp line with the Met assigned

The business connects its WhatsApp Business API line and assigns the Met that handles prospects. Logging happens inside that conversation; Airtable stays as your CRM.

The limits

What this automation does NOT solve

Better said here than discovered halfway through the rollout.

It does not ask for confirmation in the chat before creating or updating a record: if the action is on, it runs it. The admin decides which writes stay on.
It does not change a field's type or add options to a single select: if "Stage" lacks the option you need, it is added in the Airtable screen.
It does not switch on Airtable automations: if you want a new record to trigger something in Airtable, that automation is activated there.
It does not write more than 10 records per request, and the records it creates count against your base's limit.
It does not see bases the connected account cannot access; with read-only permission, it only reads.

FAQ

Questions about this automation

Before creating, it searches the table by phone number. If the person is already there, it updates that record instead of creating a new one.

Yes. The Met reads your table's fields before writing and uses the ones that exist, including links to other tables such as sales reps or products.

Any plan works. Standard API limits apply, and the records the Met creates count against your base's limit.

It logs what the person said and, if your table has a stage field, fills it with the options that exist. What counts as a qualified prospect is defined in its instructions.

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