How to Dictate a Message in LeadLocate

There is a microphone beside almost every box you type in, on the texting composer, the email composer, the Workspace notes and the feedback form. Press it, talk, read it back, send.

1. Open the box you want to fill

   Dictation is not a separate screen. Open the thing you were going to type in anyway: a customer's text thread, an email, a note on a lead, a to-do on the Workspace, the feedback form. The microphone is a small icon next to that box, usually beside a second button that cleans up spelling and grammar after the fact.

2. Press the microphone and talk

   Click it once. The button turns on and the box tells you it is listening, so you never wonder whether it heard you start. Talk the way you would talk to the customer, at a normal distance and a normal pace. Say the punctuation only if you want it; otherwise write the sentence short enough not to need any.

3. Watch the words land

   The text appears in the box while you speak, first as a rough guess and then settled, which is the part that makes dictation usable at a dealership: you see the mistake as it happens rather than after you have sent it. Keep talking to add to what is there. Anything already in the box stays put, so you can type half a message and speak the rest.

4. Stop, then fix names, numbers and VINs

   Click the microphone again to stop. Now read it. Dictation is good at sentences and unreliable at exactly the things a car deal runs on: a customer's last name, a stock number, a payment, a seventeen character VIN. Correct those by hand every time, because a message that says the wrong payment is worse than no message.

5. Clean it up if it needs it

   The button beside the microphone tidies spelling, grammar and capitalization on what is in the box without changing what you meant. Use it on a long dictated paragraph, then read the result once more. Anything you would not say out loud to the customer, take out.

6. Send it from the composer, not from anywhere else

   Send the text or the email from the composer you dictated into. That is what puts the message on the lead, gives the outbound bubble its delivery status, and drops the whole thing into the communications log where a manager or a teammate can read it. A message you dictated and then sent from a personal phone is a message the store does not have.

7. Use it on your own notes too

   The Workspace is where dictation earns its keep quietly. Speak the to-do instead of typing it, speak the disposition note after a call while the call is still in your head, speak the completion note when you close it out. Two sentences spoken beat one sentence typed, and the record is better for it.

Nothing to enable and nothing to install. Voice dictation is part of LeadLocate CRM on every plan, for every user. The first time you press a microphone, the browser asks for permission to use it; allow it once and it stops asking.

Use a browser that supports voice input, such as Chrome, and a quiet enough spot that the assistant is not transcribing the showroom. Beyond that there is no setup. The AI writing assistant page covers the other half of this, which is having a draft written for you rather than speaking it yourself; the two are often used in the same message.

On the texting side, the composer on a lead and the thread view both carry it next to Type your message..., and it is there again when you start a New Text Message from the inbox. On the email side it sits next to Type your email message... in the composer. In both cases the message still goes out the ordinary way, from the store's number or the store's domain, with its delivery status.

On the Workspace, every free text field has one. The mic on a to-do is titled Dictate with microphone and reads as Dictate to-do title or Dictate to-do notes depending on the field, the one on a task you are closing out is Dictate disposition note, and the one on a finished to-do is Dictate to-do completion note. The inline note box on a lead has one as well.

It is also on the parts of the CRM people forget to write in. The feedback button on the dock invites you to Dictate your feedback instead of typing, and the same control on the phone menu is simply Dictate. Team Chat takes dictation in its message box, and Jax takes a spoken question from the ask box on the dock.

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The button showing it is on, the box saying it is listening, and your words arriving as you speak them. Stop and the text stays in the box, ready to edit, and nothing has been sent. That is worth saying plainly: dictation fills in a box, it never sends anything. A person still presses send.

You should also see whatever you had already typed survive. Dictation adds to the box rather than replacing it, and it keeps your typed corrections if you edit in the middle of speaking. That is deliberate, because the real way people use this is a sentence typed, a paragraph spoken, and a number fixed by hand at the end.

Nothing happens when you press the microphone. The browser is holding the permission prompt, or it was declined once. Allow microphone access for the site in the browser's address bar and press the button again.

The button says voice input is not available in this browser. Open the CRM in a browser that supports it, such as Chrome. The rest of the composer works either way, so you can type the message and use the cleanup button beside the microphone.

It heard the room instead of you. Background noise on a Saturday floor is the usual cause. Step into an office, or dictate the outline and type the details.

The name or the VIN came out wrong. Expected. Fix those by hand, every message, before you send. Dictation is for sentences; a VIN is for your eyes and the VIN scanner.

You dictated into the wrong box. Nothing was sent, so select the text, cut it, and paste it where it belongs. Only the send button sends.

Most dictated messages are texts, so the LeadLocate Help Center guide on texting a customer is the natural next one, along with sending a vehicle in a text and sending a picture message. If what you actually want is the wording written for you, the writing assistant in the same composer drafts it and you edit it, which is faster than speaking a long message from scratch.

Dictation is also the quiet half of call work. After a call, speak the disposition note instead of typing it, and let the call recording and the transcript carry the detail; the guide on reading a call transcript covers that side. A field your store wants to dictate into that does not have a microphone today is available on request, and our team puts it in production for your dealership.

Where is the dictation button in LeadLocate?

It is the microphone next to the box you are typing in: the text composer, the email composer, the notes and to-dos on the Workspace, the feedback form, Team Chat and the Jax ask box.

Does dictating a message send it?

No. Dictation fills in the box. You read it, fix the names and numbers, and press send yourself, which is what puts the message on the lead with its delivery status.

Can I dictate part of a message and type the rest?

Yes. Speaking adds to what is already in the box, and your typed edits are kept, so a mixed message works exactly as you would expect.

Why did it get the customer's name wrong?

Names, stock numbers, payments and VINs are where dictation struggles. Read every dictated message before sending and correct those by hand.

Voice dictation, the writing assistant and the cleanup button are in every composer in LeadLocate CRM. See them in the pre-recorded demo, or start month to month.

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