Round Robin Lead Assignment in LeadLocate CRM

Every lead gets an owner the second it lands, the rotation is the same for everyone on the floor, and the exceptions are a setting instead of an argument.

Round robin lead assignment gives every new lead to the next salesperson in line, so the lead has a name on it before anyone has read it. It is the simplest form of automotive lead distribution, and it fixes two problems every sales manager knows. The first is the lead that sits in a shared inbox for forty minutes because three people assumed someone else had it. The second is the lead that gets grabbed by whoever happened to be standing nearest the screen.

In LeadLocate CRM the rotation is set on each lead source, not as one switch for the whole store. Every source carries one of three choices:

• Round Robin rotates the source's leads across everyone in the rotation.
• Single User sends every lead from that source to one person, such as a BDC agent or the closer who works a particular provider.
• Unassigned leaves the lead open, and the first rep who claims it owns it.

The same three choices fit very different stores. A franchise rooftop with a BDC rotates website leads across the BDC and sends conquest leads to one desk. An independent or used car store with five reps rotates nearly everything. A buy here pay here store keeps finance inquiries with the person who handles credit. RV and boat dealers with two or three salespeople rotate the leads they get so nobody feels shorted, and a small auto broker team uses the same setting to split inquiries between partners.

Picture a used car store with six salespeople on a Saturday. The internet manager set up the lead sources weeks ago, so nobody is thinking about assignment at all.

9:40. A shopper fills in the trade-in form on the store's website. The form posts to one of the store's own lead sources, set to Round Robin, so the lead lands on Dana, the next rep in the rotation. Her phone gets the text alert the source is set to send, the CRM plays a sound at her desk, and the store's first text goes out under her name from Automated Templates while she is still walking back from the lot.

9:52. A LeadLocate lead from the store's Market Area arrives on one of the feeds LeadLocate runs for the account. That feed rotates too, so the lead goes to whoever is next in line.

10:15. Kevin is off today. Yesterday his manager unticked the Round Robin checkbox on his profile, so the rotation skips him all weekend without anyone touching a lead source. On Monday the checkbox goes back on.

11:30. A lead from a third party listing site comes in on a source set to Single User, because the store has one senior closer work that provider. It skips the rotation by design.

2:05. The desk manager scans the leads list, sees one of the morning's leads has not been touched, and reassigns it to another salesperson from the lead itself. That is the manager's whole part of the day. The rotation never needed him at his desk, which is the point of a rotation.

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Round robin is one of three rules, and most stores use all three at once. Here is how they fit together.

Who is in the rotation

Each person's profile in User Management has a Round Robin checkbox under Lead Routing. Ticked, the person takes turns. Unticked, they keep their existing customers and receive no new rotated leads. A manager who should never be handed a lead, a BDC agent who only sets appointments, or a rep on vacation is left out with one click. Only a manager with User Management access can change the setting, and the CRM always keeps at least one person in the rotation, so a lead never lands on nobody.

Which sources rotate

Rotation is chosen per lead source. A store can rotate website leads, send every lead from one provider to a closer, and leave an event list open for whoever wants it, all at the same time. For the sources you add yourself, the choice is the Lead Assignment setting in Lead Source Settings, right beside Default Status for New Leads, so one save decides both who gets the lead and which status it lands in. For the feeds LeadLocate runs for your account, our team sets the assignment your store asks for. The lead source integration page covers every intake method in detail.

Returning customers and overrides

On a rotating source, a lead from a customer who already has a salesperson, matched by phone or email, goes back to that salesperson instead of the next rep in line, so one shopper never ends up with two reps. A manager can reassign any lead to a different salesperson at any time, and the lead keeps its full history. Manager copies put a sales manager on a source so they receive a text and email copy of every lead it delivers, beside the rep who owns it. When a store needs a rule the three choices do not express, such as a rotation weighted toward a senior closer or one that follows shift schedules, it is available on request and our team sets it up for your dealership.

Every store distributes leads somehow. The question is whether the method holds up on a busy Saturday, when the person who usually hands out leads is in a deal.

In practice the best answer is a mix: round robin for the bulk of your leads, a single owner for the sources that need a specialist, and Unassigned for the lists anyone can work. Because LeadLocate sets the rule per source, you get the mix without a rules engine to learn.

Ownership is where round robin lead assignment pays off. The moment a lead has a name on it, the rest of the CRM goes to work for that person.

• The alert. The owner hears about the lead by text, by email, with a sound at the desk and with an on screen notice, as described on the lead notifications and alerts page.
• The first message. The source's Automated Templates send the first text and email under the owner's name, so the customer meets a person instead of a mailbox.
• The follow up. The Follow Up Process for the lead's status puts call, text and email tasks on the owner's Workspace, starting the same day.
• The record. Every call, text, email and voicemail on the lead lands on one communications timeline under the owner, so a manager reviewing a lead that went nowhere is looking at one person's work.
• The queue. Texts, emails and voicemail drops scheduled for the owner's customers appear in the Scheduled Messages slide-out. The owner sees their own, and a manager with Whole Team View sees everyone's.

Ownership also answers the question every rep eventually asks: why did the person beside me get more leads? The rotation took turns, it is the same for everyone in it, and the owner on each lead shows who received what. Pay plan disputes and spiff arguments get a lot shorter when the CRM ran the split.

Rotations drift when the team changes, so LeadLocate ties the rotation to the people list. A new hire joins the day you add them as a user with the Round Robin checkbox ticked. A rep on vacation is unticked for the week and ticked again on the way back.

A rep who leaves is switched off in User Management. The offboarding handover gives their open leads and tasks to a successor you choose, or marks them on temporary leave, and the history and authorship on every record stay exactly as they were. Nothing sits in the inbox of someone who no longer works at the store, and nobody has to rebuild a spreadsheet of who owns what.

The same rotation runs on the shared team calendar. When a customer books through the store's booking link instead of one salesperson's link, the appointment rotates through team availability the same way a lead does. And when a manager loads a list of past customers through Contact Import, the Round Robin assignment option spreads the names evenly across the team instead of dropping three hundred contacts into one person's queue.

Most stores are rotating leads on their first day. Here is what the setup takes.

What we need from your store

• The salespeople who should take leads, and anyone who should not.
• Your lead sources: website forms, third party providers and any lists you load.
• Which sources rotate, which go to one person, and which stay open to claim.
• The managers who should get a copy of every lead.

What our team does

Our team sets the assignment on the feeds LeadLocate runs for your account, sets up intake for any provider with an unusual format through Intake Process Automation, and walks your manager through Lead Source Settings and User Management on a training call. Training comes with every plan: the video library, Live Training sessions and Schedule Training from the top bar.

What your manager does

1. Open Account Settings, then Lead Source Settings, and open a source.
2. Set Lead Assignment to Round Robin, choose the Default Status for New Leads, and click Save Feed.
3. Open User Management and tick or untick Round Robin on each person.
4. Send a test lead from your own phone and watch it land on the next rep.

Round robin decides who gets the lead. Its neighbors decide what happens in the next five minutes and the next five weeks.

• Lead source integration defines where leads come from, and assignment is one setting on each source.
• Automated Templates send the first text and email under the assigned rep's name.
• Follow Up Processes put a multi step plan of tasks and messages behind every lead status.
• Dealership CRM lead routing rules covers distribution lists and per rooftop routing for groups that need more than a rotation.

The buying side of the question, why a dealership CRM should distribute leads automatically at all, is on the CRM with round robin lead distribution page. The pre-recorded live demo shows a lead arriving and landing on a rep without anyone touching it.

Round robin is part of the LeadLocate CRM subscription on every plan, from CRM Only to the plans that include exclusive local leads. There is no separate routing product to buy and nothing to connect.

What does scale with a rotation is people. Each plan includes a login to start, and more users are an add-on, so a rotation of eight salespeople means eight users on the account. A manager adds people in User Management while a license is free and requests more from the account when the team grows. Usage credits are a separate line again: they cover bulk texting, phone and email validation and voicemail deliveries, not the rotation itself. Plans, user add-ons and credits are on the pricing page, and every plan is month to month.

What is round robin lead assignment in a dealership CRM?

It is automatic lead distribution that gives each new lead to the next salesperson in rotation as it arrives. In LeadLocate CRM the rotation is chosen per lead source, and the Round Robin checkbox on each user profile decides who is in it.

Can some lead sources rotate while others go to one person?

Yes. Each source has its own assignment: Round Robin, Single User, or Unassigned so the first rep can claim it. A store can rotate website leads, send one provider to a closer and leave an event list open, all at once.

How do I take a salesperson out of the rotation for a day off?

Untick Round Robin on their profile in User Management. They keep their customers and stop receiving rotated leads until you tick it again. No lead source has to change.

What happens to a departing salesperson's leads?

Switch the user off in User Management and choose a successor. Their open leads and tasks move to that person, or you mark them on temporary leave, and the history on every record stays intact.

Does the rotation work for appointments booked online?

Yes. Appointments booked through the store's shared booking link rotate through team availability the same way leads do, so the next rep up takes the visit.

Can I spread an imported list across the team?

Yes. Contact Import has a Round Robin assignment option, so a list of past customers is divided across the reps in the rotation instead of landing in one queue.

Is round robin included in every plan?

Yes. It is part of the LeadLocate CRM on every plan, including CRM Only. Each plan includes a login to start and more users are an add-on, so the size of your rotation follows the users on your account. The pricing page lists both.

Watch the pre-recorded demo to see a lead arrive, rotate to the next rep and get its first text, then compare plans and user add-ons on the pricing page.

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