DealerX AI sales assistant

Overview

The AI sales assistant texts and emails customers on your behalf. It answers vehicle questions from the dealership's inventory knowledge base, learns what the customer wants, notes it on the lead and hands the customer to the assigned rep when they want a person or a deal.

When a dealership gets an SMS number, DealerX creates a workflow named DealerX assistant and one agent per channel:

DealerX email assistant answers emails: it handles what the customer asked for first (for example confirms or proposes test drive times), in a few short paragraphs with one clear next step.
DealerX SMS assistant answers texts: short replies, one question at a time.
DealerX phone assistant is the spoken version, ready for phone calls.

Each reply is written by the agent for the channel the customer last wrote on, so a customer who texts and later emails gets an email-style answer. The assistant also sees the lead source (for example "Website - Book a Test Drive") and treats it as the customer's request. You can change each agent's instructions and skills under AI → AI agents. If you point the DealerX assistant workflow at an agent of your own, that agent answers every channel instead.

Steps

Turn it on for a lead

On the lead, set AI sales assistant to:

Off: the assistant never writes. Reps handle the customer.
Start conversation: the assistant sends the greeting from DealerX settings right away, or at the next opening time when the dealership is closed, then answers every reply. When the lead was created by the customer's own text or email, or by a form or e-lead with an email address, there is no greeting: the assistant answers that message by email right away. If the customer writes while a greeting is still waiting for opening time, the greeting is cancelled and the assistant answers them instead. Lead conversations never close on their own and get no "any more questions?" reminders: customers can reply days later.
Wait for customer: the assistant sends nothing first but answers when the customer writes.

When a rep sends a message from the lead, the assistant pauses (Paused by rep). Click Resume assistant to hand the customer back.

Turn it on for every e-lead

Go to DealerX → DealerX settings.
Under AI sales assistant, tick Start the assistant automatically for e-leads and pick the Default AI mode.
Click Save settings.

Escalations

When the customer asks for a person, wants to negotiate, or the assistant cannot help, it escalates:

the lead shows an AI escalated banner with the reason and appears under the AI escalated quick filter;
the conversation moves to a person and the assistant pauses (Paused by rep), so the customer's next messages wait for you and show under Needs reply;
the assigned rep is told by email or text, as set in their DealerX profile.

Click Clear escalation once you have dealt with it, and Resume assistant if you want the assistant to take the customer back.

Booking appointments

When the customer is flexible ("any day this week"), the assistant offers two or three specific times within business hours. It uses the dealership's hours, or the hours in DealerX settings when the dealership has none. When the customer agrees on a day and time, the assistant books it on the lead (kind, time and a note for the rep). It only books inside the dealership's business hours and in the future, and refuses a second appointment at the same time. When the lead's rep has a calendar, it only books times the rep is free and offers free times instead. When the customer asks for a different time, the assistant books the new one and cancels the earlier appointment. The appointment shows "by assistant" and moves a New or Contacted lead to Appointment Set. See DealerX schedule and appointments.

The DealerX channel agents come with the booking skill. Existing DealerX assistant agents get it automatically on their next new conversation.

What the assistant records

While chatting, the assistant adds the vehicle of interest, temperature, wishes and trade-in details to the lead, and notes whether the customer is buying, selling or looking for financing. Each change leaves a note starting with "Assistant".

In a website chat, the assistant can update the lead once the visitor has given a name and an email or phone, because that is when the lead is created. Before that it has nothing to update and carries on with the conversation. If a skill fails, the reason shows in AI Details on the message.

Tips

The assistant never quotes prices or discounts that are not in the knowledge base and never states financing terms.
It only reads the last 30 messages or 7 days of the conversation, so old history does not confuse it.
Customers who opted out of texts cannot get Start conversation by text.