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- Dealers use WhatsApp for enquiries and test drives, finance and document collection, booking and delivery updates, and service reminders, pickups and status; all utility except launch campaigns
- A qualifier flow that books a test drive within a minute of the enquiry beats a call the next day; portal and ad leads flow in automatically
- Service reminders by due date and kilometres, with slots as buttons, fill the workshop; status updates stop the calls
- Five templates, a cost example for a single showroom with a workshop and a 30-day rollout
A car buyer's enquiry is warm for about a day, and the dealer who replies in a minute with the variant sheet and a test drive slot gets the visit. After the sale, the same number runs the service relationship for years: reminders by date and kilometres, pickups, estimates, status updates and delivery, all utility messages that stop the calls to the service advisor. This playbook gives the enquiry and test drive flow, the booking and delivery stages, the workshop messages, five templates, a cost example for a showroom with a workshop and a 30-day rollout.
The customer cycle on WhatsApp
| Stage | Message | Category | Trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enquiry | Model, variant, budget, exchange; brochure; test drive slots | Free-form (in-window) | First message, portal lead, Lead Ad, ad, QR |
| Test drive | Confirmation with executive, time, location; reminder | Utility | Appointment created, timer |
| Quote | On-road price sheet, finance options | Utility | Stage quoted |
| Finance | Document checklist with reply-to-upload; approval update | Utility | Stage finance |
| Booking | Booking confirmation, allotment, in transit, PDI, delivery date | Utility | Booking stages |
| Delivery | Delivery confirmation, documents, first service date | Utility | Stage delivered |
| Service | Reminder by date or kilometres, pickup confirmation, estimate approval, status, ready | Utility | Timers, job card stages |
| Launch | New model or festive offer to consenting customers | Marketing (consent, opt-out) | Scheduled broadcast |
The first-contact flow
Trigger: any first message, a portal lead pushed in by Zapier or the API, a Facebook Lead Ad, a click-to-WhatsApp ad, the QR on hoardings and the showroom. Steps: model as a list; variant and fuel as buttons; budget band; exchange vehicle (yes or no, with make and year); send the brochure and the on-road price sheet as documents; offer test drive slots for the next three days with home test drive as an option; the appointment is created with a sales executive and the lead lands in the model's pipeline, scored (budget in range, exchange, timeline this month score up).
Portal leads are the volume: CarDekho, CarWale and OEM portals deliver them by email or dashboard, and Zapier, webhooks or the REST API create the lead with the portal as source and start the qualifier before the competing dealer has read the email.
Booking to delivery
After the test drive a utility thank-you with the quote and finance options; the follow-up sequence runs if the customer goes quiet (day 2 questions, day 5 finance offer as marketing with consent, day 10 availability update, day 15 close question). Booking creates stages: allotted, in transit, PDI done, ready for delivery, each with a utility update and the expected date; the delivery message carries the documents list and the first service date.
Service
Service reminders fire by due date or by kilometres reported at the last service, with slots and pickup as buttons. Pickup confirmation, job card opened, estimate for approval with Approve and Call buttons, status updates and ready-for-delivery are utility messages on job card stages; the invoice and a feedback request follow delivery. Advisors work from the Android app; the workshop manager sees open job cards by stage.
Five templates that pass review
- auto_test_drive_confirmed (utility): "Hi {{1}}, your test drive of the {{2}} is confirmed for {{3}} at {{4}}, {{5}}. {{6}} will assist you. Reply R to reschedule."
- auto_quote (utility): "Hi {{1}}, the on-road price sheet for the {{2}} is attached, valid till {{3}}. Finance options inside. Reply with questions or tap Book."
- auto_booking_stage (utility): "Hi {{1}}, an update on your {{2}} booking {{3}}: {{4}}. Expected delivery {{5}}."
- auto_service_reminder (utility): "Hi {{1}}, your {{2}} ({{3}}) is due for service by {{4}}. Tap a slot: {{5}}. Reply PICKUP for doorstep pickup."
- auto_launch (marketing): "Hi {{1}}, the new {{2}} arrives at {{3}} on {{4}}. Reply DRIVE to book a test drive or STOP to opt out."
What it costs
A showroom with a workshop, 800 enquiries and 1,200 service jobs a month: test drive confirmations and reminders (600 utility, Rs 69); quotes and sequences (1,200 utility, Rs 138); booking stage updates for 150 bookings (750 utility, Rs 86); service reminders, pickups, estimates, status and ready messages (4,800 utility, about a third in-window, Rs 370); one launch campaign to 5,000 consenting customers (Rs 4,316). Meta total about Rs 5,000. VGraple CRM Growth Rs 3,499 for sales and service teams; Scale for multi-outlet groups.
30-day rollout
Week 1. Connect the number; submit the five templates; build the enquiry flow; connect portal leads through Zapier or the API and Lead Ads natively; pipelines per model; import service customers with due dates.
Week 2. Test drive bookings and reminders on; quotes on stage change; the follow-up sequence.
Week 3. Booking stages with updates; finance document checklist; service reminders for the coming month with pickup.
Week 4. Workshop job card stages with estimates and status; first launch campaign to consenting customers; review enquiry-to-test-drive, test-drive-to-booking, service bookings from reminders, and blocks.
Mistakes to avoid
- Calling portal leads hours later; the qualifier should run in the first minute.
- Launch campaigns to every portal lead regardless of consent.
- Service reminders without slots; the buttons are the booking.
- Estimates approved by phone call; a button with the amount is faster and recorded.
- One team for sales and service; separate teams and pipelines.
What VGraple CRM does here
Enquiry flows with lead scoring, pipelines per model, appointments for test drives with reminders, sequences that pause on reply, booking and job card stages with utility updates, document collection with restricted access, portal leads through Zapier and the API, Lead Ads and click-to-WhatsApp capture, broadcasts with consent handling and delivery protection, and the shared inbox with the Android app for advisors are on every plan (AI on Growth and above). The automotive solution page has the full setup.