How voicemail callbacks reach a dealership's CRM and BDC

When a customer calls back or replies to a voicemail campaign, that response can land in the store's CRM as a lead, the same way an internet lead from the website does. The Call Guy sends each one as an ADF lead: an email in the XML format dealership CRMs read, to the lead intake address the CRM gives each store. The BDC then sees who responded, to which campaign, and the exact script they heard, without anyone typing it in.

What an ADF lead is

ADF, the Auto-lead Data Format, is the XML format the auto industry uses to pass internet leads between systems. Every dealership CRM gives each store an address that reads it: an email sent there in ADF becomes a lead in the CRM, filed under a lead source, ready to assign. CRMs such as VinSolutions, Elead, DealerSocket and Activix read it.

Because the lead is an email to that address, there is nothing to install or connect in the CRM. The store asks its CRM for the lead intake address, and asks it to add the lead source.

What a voicemail lead carries

Each lead carries:

• The person: their name and phone number, as your list had them.

• The campaign that reached them.

• The script their voicemail said, so whoever calls them back knows what they heard.

• What happened: a missed callback, an answered callback or a text reply.

• The lead source: "The Call Guy" unless your CRM expects another name.

Which moments become leads

Three moments can each become a lead, and the store chooses which:

A few rules keep the CRM clean:

• One lead a person a day. A second call or reply from the same person on the same campaign that day updates the lead instead of adding one.

• A STOP is never a lead. A text reply waits a few minutes before it goes, so a STOP that follows it keeps it out. The store can choose to send opt-outs to the CRM as do not contact.

• A caller who isn't on the list still counts. They arrive as an unknown caller, because someone called the number the voicemail showed.

See Send leads to your CRM for the setup, step by step.

What it looked like at two real stores

• One dealership's three campaigns: 77 people called back and 33 replied by text, out of 736 delivered voicemails, and 127 leads went to the store's CRM.

• A Ford store in Western Canada, three-day private sale: 190 people called back, out of 1,157 delivered voicemails, and 282 new leads went to the store's CRM.

Both were read from the campaigns' records. They are two stores' results, not a promise. See What callback rate should a voicemail campaign get?.

How a BDC works voicemail leads

1. Call the missed callbacks first. These customers called the store and reached nobody. They are the warmest leads of the campaign, and the longest to wait.

2. Read the script before dialing. The lead says what the voicemail offered: the service that is due, the sale and its dates, the vehicle. Pick up from there.

3. Answer the line where the BDC sits. Forward the campaign line to the BDC's phones or a ring group, so callbacks are answered by people who can book. See One phone, or a ring group.

4. Treat text replies as conversations. Someone who replied "Is Thursday open?" wants an answer by text, from the same number.

5. Close the loop in the CRM. Book the appointment or log the outcome on the lead, so the next campaign leaves out the people who already came in.

What the store needs

• A campaign line. A local Canadian number for the campaign, $10 a month per number, that shows on every voicemail and receives every callback and reply. See What the campaign line is.

• The CRM's lead intake address, usually one per rooftop. A person's inbox would only see the XML, so it must be the CRM's address.

• The lead source added in the CRM, so voicemail leads are reported apart from the website's.

Common questions

Can voicemail drop callbacks go into a dealership CRM?

Yes. The Call Guy sends each callback and each first text reply to the store's CRM as an ADF lead, an email in the XML format dealership CRMs read, with the person, the campaign and the script they heard.

Which CRMs work?

Any CRM that reads ADF leads at an intake address, which is how dealership CRMs take internet leads. VinSolutions, Elead, DealerSocket and Activix are among them. Every CRM gets the same lead email, so connecting one takes one address.

Does a callback nobody answered become a lead?

Yes, if the store chooses it. A missed callback is often the most important lead of a campaign: the customer called and reached nobody. It goes to the CRM marked as a missed callback, so the BDC can call back first.

Will the CRM fill with duplicates?

Not from repeat calls. One person makes at most one lead a day per campaign: a later call or reply that day updates the same lead. A STOP never becomes a lead.

Does the BDC need to log callbacks by hand?

No. Each lead arrives in the CRM on its own, under its lead source, with the campaign and the script. The BDC works it like any internet lead.

Related

• Send leads to your CRM

• Callbacks

• Voicemail campaigns for car dealerships

• How to write a voicemail drop script that gets callbacks