Deal Chat: Customer and Salesperson on One Thread

The question about the payoff, the photo of the trade and the answer from the desk, all on the deal instead of on somebody's personal phone.

Deal chat is a two way thread between the customer and the salesperson that lives on the deal itself, so the questions about a specific vehicle, trade and payment are answered next to the numbers they are about. The customer writes from the chat card on their deal page. The salesperson reads and replies from the digital deal view in the CRM, where the same screen shows the worksheet, the offer cards the customer is looking at, and the documents still outstanding. Nobody has to ask which deal a message refers to, because the message is on the deal.

That distinction matters more than it sounds. A text inbox is organized by phone number. A deal is organized by vehicle, structure and stage. When a customer has two deals in play, or a household has a buyer and a co-buyer, or the same customer comes back six months later, the deal thread keeps the conversation with the transaction it belongs to. The two way texting inbox is the right place for everything else; deal chat is the right place for this.

A salesperson sent a deal page last night. At 7:40 this morning, before the store opens, the customer opens the page on her phone and types into the chat card: is the payment with or without the extended warranty, and can I get a picture of the back seat. In the LeadLocate mobile app the salesperson sees a new item in Deal Chats, taps into it, and the screen shows a read only summary of the deal above the conversation, so he can see the structure before he answers. He taps Reply to customer, dictates the answer instead of typing it, picks a message template for the warranty explanation the store uses, and attaches two photos of the back seat from his camera roll with Add photo or file from device.

The customer gets a text that there is a reply, opens her deal page and reads it next to the payment options. She replies with a photo of her registration for the trade. The salesperson taps View Lead Details from the chat to open the lead, and the whole exchange is already on the deal's history when the manager looks at it at 9. Nothing happened on a personal phone, nothing has to be forwarded to anyone, and when the customer arrives Saturday the desk knows exactly what was promised.

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On the desktop CRM the thread is the Customer Chat panel in the digital deal view under Desking. It sits in a right hand column next to the customer style offer cards, the Offer to Sell and Offer to Purchase cards that mirror what the customer sees on their deal page, so the salesperson answers while looking at the same presentation the customer is looking at. The composer is the same one used for texting in the CRM: attachment button, clear, microphone for dictation, the AI writing assistant, and a Send Message action. A vehicle can be dropped in from inventory with its photos and price.

On the phone, Deal Chats is its own inbox in the mobile app with a search box, alongside the SMS inbox and the email inbox, and each chat opens with the deal summary on top and the conversation below. On the customer side, the thread is the chat card on the deal page, which on a phone stacks under the deal details and on a desktop sits beside them. When the salesperson replies, the customer is texted, so the answer is not sitting unread on a page nobody reopened.

Deal chat carries more than text. Photos and files drop into the thread from either side: the customer's trade photos, a picture of an odometer, a payoff letter, and from the store side, photos of the unit, a walk around, a scanned document. Links unfurl with a preview, so a listing URL shows as a card with the vehicle's image and title rather than a bare address, and the salesperson's preview card in the CRM shows the same chip the customer sees. Message templates give the salesperson the store's standard answers to the standard questions, and the AI writing assistant drafts a reply in the salesperson's voice that can be edited before it goes out. Voice dictation turns a spoken answer into text on the phone or the desktop.

Files the customer sends can be attached to the deal, and documents that belong in the deal jacket go there. Because the thread and the deal share one record, a customer's question about the trade and the manager's change to the trade allowance are visible in the same place, and the deal history keeps both. The deal jacket and QR intake page covers where documents end up.

Most deal conversations today happen in one of three places: a salesperson's personal text thread, a shared store inbox where a customer's question about deal numbers sits between an oil change reminder and a parts inquiry, or a messaging product bolted onto a digital retail tool that the store pays for separately and that the CRM never sees. Each one loses something. The personal thread leaves with the salesperson. The shared inbox loses the context of which deal and which numbers. The bolt on product keeps a second copy of the conversation that the manager reviewing the deal in the CRM cannot read.

Deal chat is part of the LeadLocate CRM subscription and lives on the deal record with the worksheet, the customer page, the documents and the signature. The manager who opens the deal sees the conversation. The salesperson who inherits an orphaned deal sees what was said. The compliance question of what the customer was told about the payment has a thread to point at. Plans are month to month and listed on the pricing page.

The record is the point. Every message, photo and file on the thread is stored against the deal and its customer, and the CRM's communications log keeps every call, text, MMS, email and voicemail on the same customer in one place, so the deal chat is one part of a complete history rather than a separate island. A customer only reaches the thread from the deal page, which is gated by a one time passcode texted to the buyer or co-buyer number on the deal, so the person in the conversation is the person on the deal.

Nothing on the thread is a contract. The deal page and every customer sheet carry the same disclaimer that the figures are estimates until final lender approval, and the chat is where a salesperson explains a number, not where one is agreed. If a customer asks for something in writing, the right answer is a revised sheet or a signed snapshot, and the thread is where the salesperson says so and sends the link. That discipline is easier when the tools are on the same screen.

A store should know what happens to a customer conversation when a piece of the stack is unavailable. The customer deal page and its chat run on the deal page domain, separate from the desktop CRM, so a customer can still open her page and read what was sent. The mobile app carries Deal Chats and the SMS inbox, so a salesperson on a phone can still see the customer's number, the deal summary and the last messages, and can call or text through the CRM's own phone tools. Every message that was already sent is on the deal record, and the record is what the store keeps. When a person is needed during an interruption, the contact page reaches one.

Deal chat is on for every deal in every LeadLocate CRM account. The thread appears the first time a customer writes from the deal page or a salesperson writes from the deal view, and the mobile Deal Chats inbox is in the app for every user. Per user notification preferences decide whether a new deal message arrives as a toast, a sound, a text or an email. The pre-recorded live demo shows a customer question arriving and being answered from the deal.

Pair it with the customer deal pages the thread lives on, the EZ Desking worksheets whose numbers the customer is asking about, and the Road to Sale checklist that tells the salesperson which step the customer is stuck on. The dealership desking software page covers how the money conversation fits the CRM as a whole, and the all features page lists everything else.

How does the customer get into deal chat?

From the chat card on their deal page. The page opens from a link the salesperson texts or emails, unlocked with a one time passcode sent to the buyer or co-buyer number on the deal. The customer never installs anything.

Where does the salesperson answer from?

From the Customer Chat panel in the deal view on the desktop CRM, or from the Deal Chats inbox in the LeadLocate mobile app, which shows the deal summary above the conversation and a Reply to customer action.

Can we send photos and documents through it?

Yes, in both directions. The customer can send trade photos and documents from the phone, the store can send unit photos, a walk around or files, and links unfurl as previews with the vehicle image and title.

Does the customer know when we reply?

The customer is texted that there is a reply on the deal page, so the answer does not sit unread. On the store side, per user notification preferences decide whether a new customer message arrives as a toast, sound, text or email.

Is deal chat the same as the texting inbox?

No. The texting inbox is organized by phone number and covers every conversation. Deal chat is attached to one deal, so the thread about a specific vehicle, trade and payment stays with that transaction, and the manager reviewing the deal can read it.

Is it included or an add on?

Included with every LeadLocate CRM plan, with the desking worksheet, the customer deal pages and the mobile app. Plans are month to month.

Deal chat is part of every LeadLocate CRM plan, month to month. Send a deal page today and answer the first question from your phone.

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