Convert a Trade In Offer Request Into an Appointment

A local owner asked for an offer on their car. Here is the exact sequence, screen by screen, that turns that request into a booked appraisal and a pencil on the replacement.

The trigger is a form. A local owner, sitting at home with a car they are thinking about moving, filled out one of our vehicle offer request landing pages and asked to be contacted by a dealership. That is the whole definition of a seller lead at LeadLocate: inbound, opt in, and delivered exclusively to your store for its zone. Nobody harvested a listing; the owner asked. The request carries the owner's name, number, the vehicle, and the answers to the pre screening questions we ask at capture. Every submitted request in your zone is delivered to you and only you, prescreened at capture and backed by a replacement review after delivery, so a request that does not pan out costs your store nothing.

What the owner wants is a number, and what the store wants is the owner on the lot with the keys. This page walks the gap between those two things in LeadLocate CRM, step by step, with the real screen names. Some owners want to sell outright, some want to trade, and many have not decided, which is exactly why the appointment matters more than the number in the first text. The what to expect page explains the behaviour you will see from consumer sellers, including the ones who expect retail money for a car with a warning light on. Seller leads come with the Marketplace Acquisitions plan, from $999, and the Buyers & Sellers Hybrid Plan, from $1,599, both on the pricing page.

Step one is intake. The offer request pushes into the CRM instantly through Lead Feeds Manager, on its own feed, so it is never mixed in with buyer leads and never waits for an email to be read. Step two fires in the same second: Automated Templates send the reply written for that feed, by text and email, from the tracking number the CRM provisioned for seller leads and from the store's own authenticated email domain. The owner sees a text from the dealership by name, thanking them for the request on their specific vehicle and telling them who will be calling and when.

Step three is assignment. Round robin rotates seller leads across the people you name, which at most stores is the used car manager and one or two salespeople trained to appraise, and global lead distribution rules can send every seller lead to that short list rather than the whole floor. Notifications reach the assigned person on the emails and numbers they chose, with a sound alert and an on screen toast in the CRM and the LeadLocate app. If the owner replies to the text before anyone picks up, Texting Chatbots text back and keyword triggers can set the status or fire the next message on a word the owner used.

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Step four is the call, and it happens from inside the lead. Click to call dials from the lead detail through the VoIP softphone in the browser, or the CRM triggers the call to the appraiser's physical desk phone or cell. Outbound caller ID is verified, so the owner's phone shows the dealership's name rather than an unknown number, which is the difference between an answered call and a voicemail. The call is recorded and transcribed into a lightbox on the lead, so the mileage the owner quoted and the payoff they mentioned are in text, not in someone's memory.

The conversation itself is short and it is not about the number. It is about the car and the visit: year, trim, mileage, condition, whether there is a payoff, whether they are replacing it, and when they can bring it in. The lead detail autosaves in real time, so what the appraiser types during the call is already on the record when the manager opens it. Custom lead statuses and tags are the store's own, so a seller lead moves from new to contacted to appraisal booked in words the store chose, with row colors that make the inbox readable at a glance.

Step five is the vehicle, and the goal is to walk into the appraisal already knowing the car. From the texting inbox the appraiser asks the owner for photos, and the owner sends them back as MMS pictures that attach to the thread, with delivery status on every bubble. The trade-in form on the record holds the photos and a trade VIN scan, and the trade info scanner reads the details off the picture the owner sent of the door jamb or the registration. VIN decode fills the year, make, model and trim from the scan, and the Deal Jacket takes any document the owner photographs through QR intake from their own phone camera, payoff letter included.

The appraisal figure itself is the store's own number, from the used car manager's judgement and whatever book the store uses. The CRM's job is to make sure that number is written against a vehicle that has been properly identified, photographed and documented before the owner arrives, so the visit is a confirmation rather than an inspection from scratch. The vehicle button in the composer works in the other direction too: if the owner mentioned they are replacing the car, the appraiser attaches a replacement unit from inventory, with photos and price, to the very next text.

Step six is the booking, and it is the step that turns a lead into a visit. The appraiser sends the booking link from Calendar Settings, which carries the booking hours for that calendar, and the owner picks a time from their phone without anyone at the store confirming it. On the phone app, Quick Schedule mirrors the same booking link, so an appraiser standing in the service drive books the owner in a few taps. The appointment lands on the shared calendar, on the appraiser's Workspace with reminders, and, where the store connected it, on the Google calendar the manager already reads.

Owners go quiet, which is normal rather than a failure. A seller lead that has not booked goes into a Follow Up Process, the multi step drip for that lead type, so the next text, the call reminder and the email with the replacement unit are scheduled the moment the lead was created. Text Automation acts on what the owner writes back. A Voicemail Drop from the used car manager reaches an owner who does not answer calls but listens to messages. The appointment reminder the day before is an Automated Template, not a task somebody has to remember.

From the owner's side the sequence is calm. A text from the dealership by name within a minute of the request. A call from a number that shows the dealership's name. A request for a few photos, answered from the couch. A link to pick a time. A reminder the day before. On arrival, a salesperson who already knows the car, and a number written down rather than read off a screen. If the owner is replacing the vehicle, the number becomes trade credit on a deal page branded to the store, opened with a PIN, with e-signature, a revision view that shows every change, and deal chat with the salesperson when the owner goes home to think. PencilRecap produces a shareable recap sheet for the spouse who was not there.

If the store is buying the car outright, the offer is presented the same way and the purchase paperwork stays in whatever process your store uses today. Either way the owner never has to repeat information they already gave, because the request, the photos, the call transcript and the appointment are all on one record.

Step seven is the visit. In-Store Now flags the owner as physically on the lot the moment they check in, so the appraiser and the desk both know. The identity scanner reads the driver license and insurance card into the customer record from a phone camera, which is faster than typing and more accurate. The trade-in form gets its final photos and the walk around notes, and the vehicle is verified against the VIN that was scanned days earlier.

The pencil runs in EZ Desking: cash, finance and lease structures in a multi pencil grid with goal seek bays, trade credit caps applied to the appraisal figure, a 50 state tax matrix, and centralized deal defaults so the fees are the same on every worksheet in the building. OEM incentives on the replacement unit show at deal level inside the Incentives Showroom. Start New Deal works from the lead or from the Unit field, the Road to Sale checklist tracks each step, and the Deal Jacket holds the payoff letter, the title photo and the signed deal page. Where financing is involved, a SecureWebX apply link goes to the owner's phone, with co applicant support and document uploads, and the application lands in the SecureWebX inbox.

The used car manager's view is the Reports dashboard on the dock, with activity, company and management reporting, plus the seller lead feed in Lead Feeds Manager. The questions are the same every week: how many offer requests arrived, how fast each got a call, how many booked an appraisal, how many showed, and how many became a trade or a purchase. Every lost seller lead passed through the lost reason popup, so the manager sees whether the store is losing owners on price, on distance, or because they sold elsewhere, in the store's own categories. The communications log on any record shows the whole timeline with delivery status on each message and the recording on each call.

A request the appraiser believes is bad, a wrong number or a vehicle the owner does not actually own, goes through Quality Control Requests, where the manager approves or rejects it and replacement review takes it from there. That is deliberately the shape of quality at LeadLocate: every request in the zone is delivered, and problems are handled after delivery rather than by a filter you cannot see.

The owner's form is the opt in, and the first text answers that request. The DNC Blacklist blocks a number in both directions, imports the list the store already keeps, and runs a live do not call lookup; an owner who asks you to stop is added there and the block holds. Every call is recorded and transcribed, every text carries delivery status, and every call, text, MMS, email and voicemail sits in one communications log. Personal information, including the driver license scan, is stored encrypted in the Customer Profile, and access is by role, User, Manager or Master Administrator, with a Quick Access PIN per user on the phone.

To start, seller leads require the platform subscription, because LeadLocate CRM is what receives and delivers them; if you want them routed into a CRM you already run, that is done at no price change. Setup is Lead Feeds Manager with a seller feed, an Automated Templates reply for it, round robin to your appraisers, a Follow Up Process for seller leads, and a booking link in Calendar Settings. Plans are month to month with no long term contract, and an inventory feed and DMS access are not required. Watch the recorded demo, reach a person on the contact page, or see more workflows on the solutions hub.

Where does a trade in offer request come from?

From a local owner who filled out one of our vehicle offer request landing pages and asked to be contacted by a dealership. It is inbound and opt in, delivered exclusively to your store for its zone, with pre screening answers attached. Every request in your zone reaches you and only you, and one that does not pan out goes through replacement review after delivery.

Does the CRM produce the appraisal number?

No. The number is your used car manager's, from the book your store uses. The CRM makes sure it is written against a vehicle that was identified by VIN scan, photographed by the owner, and documented in the Deal Jacket before the visit, and then applies it as trade credit in EZ Desking.

How fast does the owner hear from us?

Within the minute. Lead Feeds Manager pushes the request into the CRM instantly, Automated Templates send the reply for that feed by text and email, round robin assigns it, and the assigned appraiser is notified on the numbers and emails they chose.

What if the owner stops replying?

That is normal. The seller lead sits in a Follow Up Process, the multi step drip for that lead type, so the next text, call reminder and email with a replacement unit are already scheduled. A Voicemail Drop reaches the owner who listens but does not answer.

Can the owner book the appraisal themselves?

Yes. The booking link from Calendar Settings carries your booking hours, the owner picks a time from their phone, and the appointment lands on the shared calendar and the appraiser's Workspace. Quick Schedule on the phone app does the same thing in a few taps.

What does it cost to receive seller leads?

Seller leads come with the Marketplace Acquisitions plan, from $999, and the Buyers and Sellers Hybrid Plan, from $1,599, both month to month with no long term contract and both including the full CRM. Current figures are on the pricing page.

Watch the recorded demo or book a walkthrough on seller leads in your own zone. Month to month, no long term contract, and every request in the zone delivered to you alone.

Prefer to talk right now? Call or text 844-376-2274.