How automated follow-up should work in a car shipping CRM

People who ask for a car shipping quote usually ask several brokers, then go quiet while they compare prices and dates. Following up on every open quote by hand, twice a day, is more than a salesperson on the phone can keep up with. So the routine touches have to run on their own, and they still have to come from the person the customer talked to.

One follow-up plan per salesperson

The customer got a quote from a person, so the follow-up should come from that person. Texts should go out from the salesperson's own line and emails from their own inbox, so a reply reaches the right salesperson and lands in the same timeline as the quote. Each salesperson should turn their plan on or off and pick their own send times without filing a request with the owner.

Morning and evening touches for seven days

A morning touch and an evening touch for seven days adds up to 14 touches. Two send times a day give the customer two chances to see your name when they have a minute to answer, and a set number of days keeps the plan from texting someone for a month after they chose another broker.

Keep both send times inside normal waking hours. A follow-up that buzzes a phone at midnight annoys the customer and invites a STOP. In Leader CRM, a quote text that would land at night waits for the customer's morning.

SMS and email templates for every touch

Each touch needs its own text and its own email, because a message on day one and a message on day six say different things. Look for a template for every touch in both channels, shared across the desk by the owner, with room for any salesperson to write their own version. A preview before saving catches the obvious mistakes. A check before sending catches the rest, because a broken template goes to every customer in the plan.

In Leader CRM, a salesperson can use the company's templates or write a custom SMS and email for any of the 14 touches, and preview them before saving. A template guard checks length and characters before anything goes out. Leader CRM also keeps separate follow-up, SMS, email and ticket templates.

The plan should wait when the customer writes

If a customer texts a question at 9 AM and the plan sends a cheerful check-in at 10, the customer can tell nobody read their message. When the customer wrote last, every automatic message should hold until the salesperson answers. After that the conversation belongs to the salesperson, and the plan stays out of the way.

Never text a number that sent STOP

TCPA rules and phone carrier rules restrict texting people who opted out. A follow-up plan sends a lot of texts that no person reads before they go, so the block has to live in the software. A CRM should refuse to text any number that sent STOP, whatever plan or template is running.

Leader CRM refuses to text a number that sent STOP.

Email when texts cannot go through

Some customers leave a number that cannot take texts, such as a landline. A plan built only on texts goes silent for those customers. The CRM should notice and keep the plan going by email. In Leader CRM, a number that won't take texts gets email only.

What the owner should see and control

An owner should be able to open one screen and see each salesperson's plan, how many customers are in it, the next message due and what went out today. When the system holds a message back, the owner should see the reason. And there should be one switch that pauses the plan for the whole desk, for a holiday, a template mistake or a phone problem.

How the plan handles each situation

Automatic and manual follow-up on the same quote

The plan covers the routine texts and emails. Calls stay with the salesperson, and the CRM should make them quick to log. After a call, the salesperson should record what happened and set the next follow-up in a couple of clicks, and a list of who is due today should be waiting each morning.

In Leader CRM, the salesperson taps Left message or Spoke to someone on the quote and picks the next follow-up in 1 day, 2 days, 3 days or 1 week. The quotes list has a Follow-up Today tab for the people due today. The calls themselves are worked from the auto dialer, and after-hours texts can go to the AI sales responder.

We built Leader CRM for a working car-shipping sales desk, and this follow-up plan came out of that desk's daily use.

Test a follow-up plan before you buy

On a demo, ask the vendor to quote a test customer with your phone number. Reply to the first text and check that the next automatic message is held. Then text STOP from the same phone and ask the vendor to try to text it again.

See the plan on the automated follow-ups page.