Dealership CRM Administrator Checklist

The jobs that keep a store's CRM accurate, in the order a busy administrator actually does them, with a naming standard that makes every lead source report readable.

Every CRM drifts. A salesperson leaves and their leads sit with nobody. A new listing site starts sending leads under a name nobody recognizes. A follow-up text still mentions an offer that ended months ago. Nobody broke anything; nobody owned it. The CRM administrator is the person who owns it.

At a franchise rooftop that is often the internet sales manager or the BDC manager. At an independent or used car store it may be the general sales manager or the office manager. At a buy here pay here lot, or an RV or boat dealership with a small team, it is frequently the owner. In LeadLocate CRM that person usually holds User Management and Access Control on their own Access Control card, which makes them the natural owner of this checklist.

Once the store is set up, the job takes about fifteen minutes a day, an hour a week and half a day each quarter. The printable dealership CRM administrator checklist (PDF) has a tick box beside every job, and the Excel version adds a Notes column, the naming rules and a lead source register you keep current.

Every job is in the download with the screen where you do it, so a new administrator can run the list on day one.

Leave your number and a lead specialist calls you back to answer your questions about pricing, coverage, and setup. Mon - Sat, 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM Pacific.

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

• One person, one login. Shared logins make the record useless, because every note and text shows the same name. Each salesperson, BDC agent and manager gets their own user in User Management, with an Access Control card that fits the job: a manager checks exactly which pages, tools and apps each person can open.
• Licenses. Each plan includes a login to start and more users are an add-on. Managers add users themselves while a license is free, and request more from the account.
• A complete user record. Set the Quick Access PIN for the phone app, switch on the notifications each person needs, and add a photo and signature.
• One login, every product. The same login opens the CRM, Inventory Link, SecureWebX and the account portal, so access is one decision, made once. See single sign on.
• Departures the same day. In User Management, Disable opens the Switch off dialog. Hand their work over to a successor you pick, or choose Temporary leave to keep their work where it is. Messages, notes and call history keep their name.

The guide to adding users and setting their access walks through every screen, from Add User to the finished user record.

Lead source names are the column every report sorts by. When one listing site shows up under three different names, its leads split across three rows and nobody can say what it delivers. A naming standard fixes that before it starts. This is the one built into the checklist.

1. Start with the channel word. Every name begins with one word from a short, fixed list: Website, Marketplace, OEM, Phone, Chat, Social, Event, Referral, Walk In. Sorting by name then groups like with like.
2. Then the provider or form. Marketplace Cars.com, Website Trade Form, Phone Radio Spot. Use the provider's own spelling, once, everywhere.
3. Add a detail only when it changes how you judge the source. New or used, or a second rooftop: Marketplace Cars.com Used. Leave out campaign names that change every month.
4. No people and no dates. Names like "Mike's leads" or a month age badly, and a source outlives the person who set it up.
5. Keep it short. Thirty characters or fewer keeps the name readable on a phone screen.
6. One source, one name, for good. To stop a source, untick Active to pause it with its history intact. Renaming an old source to reuse it rewrites your history under a name that means something else.
7. Calls carry the same name. A tracking number per lead source gets the same label as the source's form and email leads.
8. LeadLocate feeds keep their own name. Leads LeadLocate delivers always carry LeadLocate as the source, so your own sources and ours stay separate in every report.

In LeadLocate CRM the name goes in the Feed Label when you create the source in Lead Source Settings, as the lead source integration page shows. The checklist's lead source register lists every source with its name, channel, provider contact, intake address, owner and whether it is active, so the next administrator inherits a map instead of a mystery.

• Every source has an owner rule. Lead Assignment on each source decides who gets its leads, such as the round robin rotation or one named person. Review the rotation whenever schedules change; round robin lead assignment covers the per person settings.
• Managers see what they need. Manager copies put a manager on a source to receive a copy of every lead it delivers, and Default Manager Copies cover leads that arrive without a source of their own. See manager lead copies.
• The first message is current. Automated Templates send the first text, email and voicemail per source. Read every one each month for expired offers, old staff names and wrong hours.
• Follow-up has an end. Follow Up Processes run multi step drips per lead type. Check that each drip ends with a clear next step, and that drips meant to close a lead out carry a Lost Reason.
• Statuses mean one thing. Custom lead statuses, row colors and tags help only when everyone uses them the same way. Write a one line definition for each, share it in Team Chat, and retire the ones nobody uses.

• Forward Calls To. The ring list is built from your users. Remove anyone who left, and check that the order matches who is on the floor.
• Greetings. The company greeting and each user's voicemail greeting are recorded in the browser. Record again any greeting that names a person who left or gives old hours.
• Business hours. Check business hours routing and the virtual receptionist whenever the store changes its hours.
• Call Alerts. Transcribed calls are checked for the Alert Keywords your store chooses, such as "trade in" or "cancel". Review the keyword list each quarter.
• Email that lands. Email domain authentication lets the CRM send from your store's own domain. Confirm it once, and again after any change to your domain or email provider.
• Do not call. The DNC Blacklist hides opted out customers from every CRM view, and a live do not call lookup shows the status of a number. Import any opt out list your store keeps elsewhere.

• Merge duplicates weekly. Merge Duplicate Records scans by name, phone and email, keeps the newest record and folds the history of the others into it. See merging duplicate leads.
• Read the validation dots. The Phone Validator and Email Validator show their results as dots on the lead. A cluster of bad numbers from one source belongs in your monthly lead source review.
• Report bad leads. A LeadLocate delivered lead with a dead number goes through a Quality Control Request for a replacement review.
• Use the Trash Bin. Deleted leads and appointments go to the Trash Bin with the delete reason, and they can be restored. Check it before anyone asks where a customer went.
• Import with a map. Contact import takes XLSX, CSV, JSON, ADF and vCard files and maps the columns for you. Give every import a lead source name from your standard before you upload it.

It is 8:30 on a Monday. The administrator opens Lead Source Settings first. Every source shows its Total Leads Received and its Last Lead Received, and one marketplace that delivered daily last sent a lead five days ago. Its Activity Log shows no deliveries since then, so the next step is the provider. She copies the ready request from What happens next and pastes it into the provider's support form.

At 8:40 she runs Merge Duplicate Records and folds six pairs together, most of them shoppers who filled in two forms over the weekend. At 8:50 she opens User Management. A salesperson resigned on Friday, so she clicks Disable, picks the used car manager under Hand over their work to, and clicks Switch off. His open leads and tasks move to the manager, and his history stays under his name.

At 9:00 she checks the Forward Calls To ring list and the round robin rotation, then reads Saturday's call alerts and flags two calls for the sales meeting. By 9:15 the CRM matches the store again. That is the dealership CRM administrator checklist doing its job: a sales meeting that can trust what it sees on screen.

Our team sets up the feeds LeadLocate runs for your account, connects any provider with an unusual format, and trains your administrator. Training comes with every plan: the video training library, Live Training sessions and Schedule Training from the top bar. For a quick answer about a screen, Jax, the bilingual assistant inside LeadLocate, answers how to questions about the CRM's own screens.

Everything on this checklist lives in LeadLocate CRM. The cost parts are the plan subscription, users beyond the included login as an add-on, and usage credits for bulk texting, phone and email validation and voicemail deliveries. Plans are on the pricing page.

Who should be the CRM administrator at a dealership?

The manager closest to the leads: usually the internet sales manager or BDC manager at a franchise store, and the general sales manager or owner at a smaller store. Name a backup too, so the checklist keeps running during vacations.

How much time does CRM administration take?

About fifteen minutes a day, an hour a week and half a day each quarter once the store is set up. The first month takes longer while you name sources, clean up templates and settle statuses.

What is a good lead source naming convention?

Channel word first, then the provider or form, then a detail only when it changes how you judge the source, as in Marketplace Cars.com Used. No people and no dates, one name per source, and pause a source instead of renaming it.

How often should we audit lead sources?

Glance at each source's Last Lead Received daily, compare every source against your register monthly, and test each source end to end every quarter by sending a lead through it yourself.

What should happen in the CRM when someone leaves?

Switch them off the same day. In LeadLocate, Disable opens the Switch off dialog, where you hand their open leads and tasks to a successor or choose Temporary leave. Their notes, messages and call history keep their name.

How do we keep duplicate leads under control?

Run Merge Duplicate Records weekly. It scans by name, phone and email and folds older records into the newest one. On rotating sources, a returning customer matched by phone or email goes back to the salesperson who already works them.

Does LeadLocate help set the CRM up?

Yes. Our team sets up the feeds LeadLocate runs for your account and connects unusual provider formats, and training comes with every plan through the video library, Live Training and Schedule Training.

Watch the demo of Lead Source Settings, User Management and Merge Duplicate Records in LeadLocate CRM, then compare plans on the pricing page.

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