Prioritizing Online Leads: FBMP, AutoTrader, Kijiji Guide

lead">Prioritize leads by source, stated intent, and contact data — then enforce short SLAs and a simple A/B/C scoring to route the highest-value prospects to live staff first. Do that and you turn more casual chats into appointments without adding headcount.

Why this matters right now

For dealers moving 20–200 cars a month, small differences in lead handling drive real volume. A 10–minute faster reply on FB Marketplace or a clear phone script can lift appointment show-rates and shorten days-to-sell. This post gives a concrete, repeatable triage and staffing plan you can implement in a week.

Three-step triage framework (what to implement today)

Step 1 — Source + intent = an immediate score

Score every incoming lead with three quick values: source, explicit intent, and contact quality. Use one line on the lead card or a checkbox matrix in your CRM so anyone can see the score at a glance.

• Source (0–3): phone call = 3, FB Marketplace message = 2, AutoTrader/Kijiji/email = 1.
• Intent (0–3): “ready to buy / can view today” = 3, “want to test drive / financing” = 2, vague inquiry = 1.
• Contact quality (0–2): phone + SMS-capable = 2, phone-only or valid email = 1, no phone/email = 0.

Sum the score (0–8). In my experience, treat 6–8 as A-leads, 3–5 as B-leads, 0–2 as C-leads. A-leads get priority routing and live phone outreach within your SLA.

Step 2 — SLAs and routing (who does what, when)

Set measurable SLAs and map them to roles (sales rep, Internet manager, weekend closer). Examples that work operationally:

• A-leads: initial outreach within 10 minutes, phone attempt within 30 minutes, appointment scheduled same day if available.
• B-leads: initial outreach within 1–2 hours, phone attempt same business day, follow-up cadence starts.
• C-leads: auto-reply + place into 14–30 day nurture sequence; manual review if they re-contact.

Use a shared inbox or CRM queue and assign A-leads to the dealer’s most experienced closer on shift. If you run night or weekend hours, ensure on-call coverage or an automated SMS to collect a callback number.

Step 3 — Repeatable follow-up cadence and conversion triggers

Follow-up should be disciplined and tied to conversion triggers (no appointment after X attempts, price drop, or stock aging). A practical cadence that balances time and results:

• Touch 1: immediate reply (chat/SMS/email) — confirm vehicle, ask if they can view today, and offer a concrete time slot.
• Touch 2: 1–3 hours later — phone call attempt; leave a short voicemail and send SMS with a direct link to the listing.
• Touch 3: same day end — second SMS and short email with 3 photos and a confirmed appointment option.
• Touch 4: 2–3 days — price/condition update or video walkaround offer.
• Touch 5: 7, 14, 30 days — move to nurture; if price drops or recon completes, escalate the lead back to A status.

Use the pricing trigger described in our data-driven reductions post to automatically re-prioritize leads when a vehicle’s price changes /blog/when-to-lower-price-data-driven-reductions.

Staffing and inbox hygiene

Good processes succeed or fail at shift handovers. These rules keep the team consistent without adding headcount:

• Assign a single owner per lead queue each shift and hold a 3-minute standup at shift start to confirm ownership.
• Use tags: a-lead, b-lead, appointment-scheduled, watch-price. Clear tags make handoffs clean.
• Limit open-chat workers to one person per platform (FBMP, Kijiji inbox); others focus on phone and follow-ups. If volume spikes, escalate using a simple flag (e.g., red tag).
• Keep canned messages short — the goal is a real conversation, not a sales essay.

Daily and weekly metrics to watch

Track a short list of leading indicators and review them each morning and weekly. Link these to accountability and small operational experiments.

• Median response time (by source): aim for under 10 minutes on FBMP and under 60 minutes on AutoTrader/Kijiji leads.
• Contact rate: percent of leads you reach by phone/SMS within the SLA. Target improvements of +5–10% per two-week cycle.
• Appointment rate: percent of contacted leads who book an appointment. Track by rep and source.
• Sold-from-lead: cars sold where the first touch came from an online lead. Use this for channel ROI decisions.

For suggested dashboard fields and daily reads, see our guide to essential dealership metrics /blog/daily-dealership-dashboard-metrics-dealers-need.

Three short first-contact scripts you can copy

Keep copy short and action-oriented. Use the customer’s name and one question that moves them toward an appointment.

• FBMP quick reply (chat): “Hi [Name], this is [First] at [Dealer]. The [year make model] is still available. Can you come by today at 3:00 or is tomorrow better?”
• SMS after missed call: “Hi [Name], we missed you. The [model] is here and available for a quick test drive — which time works today or tomorrow?”
• AutoTrader/email: “Hi [Name], thanks for your inquiry. Quick question — are you planning to buy this week or just gathering options? If you’re free, I can hold it for a test drive at [time].”

Tools and automations that actually save time

Automations should remove manual triage, not replace human outreach. Useful automations:

• Auto-tagging leads by source and keywords (e.g., “test drive today”, “trade-in”).
• SLA alerts that ping a Slack/phone when an A-lead hasn’t been contacted within the window.
• One-touch templates that insert three photos and a short video link into SMS or chat.

If your team is evaluating software, look for systems that support flexible routing and SLA alerts so you can enforce the triage above. Our inbound workflow post contains a 30-minute playbook to set this up on a Monday morning /blog/inbound-lead-workflow-30-minute-playbook.

Common pushbacks and simple counters

“We don’t have staff to answer within 10 minutes.” Counter: prioritize A-leads only — most dealers find A-leads are 20–30% of inbound but account for the majority of booked appointments. “We lose time duplicating messages across platforms.” Counter: use shared inboxes and canned replies to reduce duplication.

What to do this week

• Audit last 7 days of leads: tag them A/B/C and calculate your current median response time by source.
• Set SLAs and assign a single owner for the A-lead queue each shift; document one canned reply per platform.
• Run a 7-day experiment: prioritize A-leads to your best closer and compare appointment and sold-from-lead rates against the previous week.