How to Start a Deal from a Lead in LeadLocate

The customer, the phone, the email and the vehicle are already on the lead. Start New Deal carries them onto the worksheet so nobody types them twice.

1. Open the lead

   Click Leads on the desktop CRM and open the customer's lead. Check the name, phone and email on the lead, because they are copied onto the deal exactly as they are; a fix here saves a fix on the worksheet.

2. Put the vehicle in the Unit field

   The Unit field on the lead is what becomes the vehicle on the deal. Type it, or click the inventory picker button to the left of Start New Deal and choose the unit from the store's inventory, which drops a formatted year, make, model and stock line into the field. If the field is blank, the lead's title is used instead.

3. Click Start New Deal

   In the lead's button row, next to In Store Now, Print and Blacklist, click Start New Deal. The CRM creates the deal, links it to the lead, and opens it. The customer block and the vehicle line are already filled from the lead.

4. Set the deal basics

   On the deal, confirm the Deal Date, choose the Deal Type and, if you have the VIN, use Enter VIN to auto-fill vehicle info so the year, make, model and trim decode onto the deal. Add the trade under Trade or Buy From Customer Vehicle if there is one.

5. Pencil it and save

   Work the numbers on the worksheet: the Finance Deal Summary updates as you type, and the multi pencil grid lays out payments across terms and down payments. Click Save changes to this deal when the structure is right. The deal now shows on the Deal Tracker list with its own Deal Status.

DealTracker has to be turned on for the store, which the master administrator does once on the company settings. If it is off, clicking Start New Deal returns you to the lead with a message saying so, and nothing is created. Any user who can open the lead can start a deal from it; whoever starts it is recorded as the salesperson on the deal, so a desk manager starting a deal for a rep should check that line after it opens.

Get the lead right first. The deal takes the customer's name, phone, email and address from the lead as they stand at the moment you click, and the vehicle from the Unit field, so thirty seconds tidying the lead is faster than retyping on the worksheet. Set the store's deal defaults before the first deal too: tax rate, fees, loan and lease defaults and the default tab all live in the desking profile and land on every new worksheet. The EZ Desking worksheets page explains those defaults and what the grid and the goal seek solver do once the deal is open.

The deal opens with a customer block showing the name, phone, email and address from the lead, and a vehicle line showing the Unit you set. The deal carries a Deal #, a Deal Date and a Deal Status that starts at the first stage; the status is separate from the lead's status and moves as the deal does, through working, negotiating, sent, in financing and sold. The lead itself now links to the deal, so anyone opening the customer later can jump to the worksheet.

Around the worksheet are the rest of the deal tools. The Road to Sale checklist tracks the deal from vehicle selection through delivery, the Deal Jacket: panel takes the license, insurance and trade documents, including a QR code the customer scans to upload from their own phone, and the customer deal page and pencil recap sheet share the structure with the customer. The Road to Sale checklist and deal jacket pages cover each one. If you are on the phone, the LeadLocate mobile app carries the same deal in its desking view.

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.

You were sent back to the lead with a message. The message names the cause. If it says the feature is off, the store's master administrator turns DealTracker on in the company settings. If it says the lead was not found or you are not allowed, the lead belongs to another company in a group or was deleted; open the right record and try again.

The vehicle on the deal is wrong or blank. The deal took whatever was in the Unit field when you clicked, or the lead title if the field was blank. Fix the vehicle on the deal itself with Enter VIN to auto-fill vehicle info or by editing the vehicle line; there is no need to start over.

You started a second deal for the same customer by mistake. Open the Deal Tracker list, open the extra deal and use Delete this deal. The lead keeps its link to the deal that remains.

You need a deal for a customer who is not a lead. Open Desking in the main menu and use Start New Deal there; Search existing customers on that screen pulls a contact onto the deal, or you type the customer in by hand.

Once the deal is open, the next tasks are desking it and sharing it. The customer deal pages put the structured deal on a branded page the customer unlocks with a passcode and signs, and the pencil recap sheets share any customer print version as a link. The desking tool page is the overview of DealTracker as a product. Every guide is in the Help Center, and the LeadLocate CRM page shows how leads, deals and the inbox fit together.

Start the deal the moment a customer picks a car, even before they sit down, so the worksheet is ready when they do and the lead's texting thread and the deal are already tied together. Use the inventory picker rather than typing the unit; a stock number on the deal is worth more than a description later. And start one deal per customer per visit, not one per pencil; the multi pencil grid and the revision history exist so that one deal can hold every version you showed them.

What does Start New Deal copy from the lead?

The customer's name, phone, email and address, and the vehicle from the lead's Unit field, or the lead title if the Unit is blank. The new deal is linked to the lead.

Why do I get sent back to the lead when I click it?

DealTracker is turned off for the store, or the lead is not one you can open. The message on the lead names the cause; the master administrator turns DealTracker on in the company settings.

Can I start a deal without a lead?

Yes. Open Desking and use Start New Deal there, then use Search existing customers to pull a contact onto the deal or type the customer in.

Does the deal status change the lead status?

No. The deal has its own Deal Status that moves as the deal progresses, and the lead keeps its own status. Update each where it lives.

DealTracker and EZ Desking are part of every LeadLocate CRM plan, month to month. Schedule a live training session and a specialist desks a deal with your team on your own account.

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