{ "title": "Eight jobs worth a pilot", "updated": "2026-11-05", "guide": "https://www.drcanary.com/resources/building-ai-at-your-store/", "jobs": [ { "id": "website-questions", "department": "Website", "title": "Questions the site should answer", "ask": "Is the service department open on Saturday?", "consider": "Whose job is the hours page today, and when was it last touched?", "draft": "An answer from the store’s own pages: hours, departments, directions and the scheduler link for the right department.", "needs": [ "Current hours and phone numbers by department", "The scheduler link each department actually uses", "One person who owns those pages" ], "never": "Quote a price, book a time, or promise one.", "check": "Ask the question the way a shopper would, from a phone, after hours. Then open the link the answer gives. Our inspection follows every booking link a site offers and keeps the page each one opened.", "finding": { "date": "October 11, 2026", "text": "The booking link in the site header took a reservation. The second scheduler, linked from the service pages, opened to “This page is unavailable.”", "guide": "https://www.drcanary.com/resources/dealership-service-booking-paths/#observed" } }, { "id": "inventory", "department": "Sales", "title": "Is it still available", "ask": "Do you still have the white Telluride?", "consider": "How old is the feed a draft would answer from at 7 pm?", "draft": "The stock number, a vehicle link that opens on a phone, and the two closest units if it sold.", "needs": [ "A feed with sold status that updates within the hour", "Stable stock numbers and working vehicle links", "A rule for what to say when the unit is gone" ], "never": "Answer from the last feed it saw, or imply a vehicle is on the lot because its page is still up.", "check": "Pick a unit that sold this morning and ask about it tonight. The answer should know. Our inspection asks about a real unit and keeps the reply.", "finding": { "date": "October 30, 2026", "text": "A reply came inside the form’s stated 24 hours and answered the used-SUV question. It never mentioned the advertised special the shopper had asked about.", "guide": "https://www.drcanary.com/resources/automotive-bdc-checklist/#observed" } }, { "id": "trade-in", "department": "Sales", "title": "What is my trade worth", "ask": "What would you give me for my 2022 Sorento?", "consider": "What can a reply honestly say before an appraiser has seen the car?", "draft": "The range the valuation tool showed, what it rests on, what the appraisal will check, and a way to send photos.", "needs": [ "The valuation tool’s range and its assumptions", "The store’s rule on when a number is firm", "A photo route that works from a phone" ], "never": "Invent an offer, a deadline, or a number the tool did not show.", "check": "Submit a trade-in on your own site and read every email that follows for two weeks. We did; the sequence is in the follow-up guide.", "finding": { "date": "September 22 to October 9, 2026", "text": "A trade-in inquiry named a 2020 Silverado. The first reply named it too and offered an appraisal. Seventeen days later a follow-up arrived with the subject “2026 Make Unknown Model Unknown.”", "guide": "https://www.drcanary.com/resources/dealership-lead-follow-up-quality/#observed" } }, { "id": "routing", "department": "BDC", "title": "Who gets this lead", "ask": "I filled out the form on the Sportage. Who do I talk to?", "consider": "Does the CRM know who is on the floor tonight, or does a person?", "draft": "A route by department, language and who is on, and a first reply that names the person.", "needs": [ "The floor schedule, including after hours", "The CRM’s own receipt of the lead", "A rule for leads that arrive when nobody is on" ], "never": "Tell the shopper a lead arrived before the CRM has it, or let two people answer.", "check": "Send a test lead from every form on the site and find each one in the CRM. One of our inspections found the contact form saying no while the price form said yes.", "finding": { "date": "October 29, 2026", "text": "The general contact form came back “Unable to process.” The price inquiry on a vehicle page, the same day, went through.", "guide": "https://www.drcanary.com/resources/dealership-lead-form-testing/#observed" } }, { "id": "next-email", "department": "BDC", "title": "The next email after a reply", "ask": "Actually, can you tell me about the Sportage instead?", "consider": "Does the next message know what the shopper said last?", "draft": "A reply built from the whole thread and the vehicle named last, with the queued follow-up paused.", "needs": [ "The thread, not just the lead record", "The vehicle the shopper named last", "The sequence’s pause switch, and who holds it" ], "never": "Send a template with an empty field. The October 9 subject in the guide is what that looks like.", "check": "Reply to your own sequence between scheduled sends and read what comes next. Our inspection keeps every email a shopper receives, in order.", "finding": { "date": "September 22 to October 9, 2026", "text": "A trade-in inquiry named a 2020 Silverado. The first reply named it too and offered an appraisal. Seventeen days later a follow-up arrived with the subject “2026 Make Unknown Model Unknown.”", "guide": "https://www.drcanary.com/resources/dealership-lead-follow-up-quality/#observed" } }, { "id": "before-visit", "department": "Service", "title": "Questions before the visit", "ask": "Can I drop off before you open?", "consider": "Could an advisor’s answer come from one page the store already keeps?", "draft": "The drop-off instructions, where the key drop is, the shuttle hours, what to bring.", "needs": [ "One page the service manager owns", "The booked work and time", "The shuttle schedule as it is this month" ], "never": "Move or book the appointment. That stays with the scheduler.", "check": "Book service on your own site and ask the question in the confirmation thread. Our inspection books the same way, from every link the site offers.", "finding": { "date": "October 11, 2026", "text": "The booking link in the site header took a reservation. The second scheduler, linked from the service pages, opened to “This page is unavailable.”", "guide": "https://www.drcanary.com/resources/dealership-service-booking-paths/#observed" } }, { "id": "after-visit", "department": "Service", "title": "The note after the visit", "ask": "What did you end up doing, and when am I due back?", "consider": "What does the customer hear after the repair order closes, and from whom?", "draft": "A plain summary of the work done, the work declined, and the next due service with a date.", "needs": [ "The closed repair order and the declined work", "Mileage and the next-service rule", "A person to reach for a concern" ], "never": "Thank a customer for a visit the repair order does not show, or recommend work the advisor already closed.", "check": "Take one week of post-visit messages and read each against the repair order it refers to.", "finding": null }, { "id": "parts", "department": "Parts", "title": "Does this fit my car", "ask": "Does this roof rack fit a 2021 Sorento?", "consider": "Can a draft see the catalog by VIN, or only the part number?", "draft": "A yes or no from the catalog by VIN, the price, stock, and pickup or install options.", "needs": [ "The catalog with fitment by VIN", "Today’s stock", "The parts counter’s hours and who answers after" ], "never": "Place the order, or guess a fit from a similar model year.", "check": "Follow your own Parts button from a phone first. Our inspection did, and found a vendor page that would not load.", "finding": { "date": "October 28, 2026", "text": "The Parts button in the site’s navigation opened a vendor page that could not make a secure connection. The browser showed its own error instead of the catalog.", "guide": "https://www.drcanary.com/resources/dealership-vendor-link-checks/#observed" } } ] }