Your CRM Is a Graveyard: How to Revive 90-Day-Old Leads

Filter your CRM for leads older than 90 days that never bought. At most stores that list is longer than the list of people who did. Every one of them was paid for: a listing-site fee, a click, a phone call somebody answered.

Plenty of them aren't dead. They're just unattended.

Why old leads still buy

Some bought somewhere else. Plenty didn't: the timing was wrong, the credit wasn't there yet, the car they wanted wasn't in stock. Ninety days later any of that can change, and nobody told them.

Step 1: clean the list

• Remove anyone who opted out, already bought from you, or asked not to be contacted.
• Merge duplicates by phone and email.
• Check that you have consent to text each person. If you don't, start with email.

Step 2: split it by what they wanted

• A specific car, now sold: show them the closest match on the lot today.
• A type of car (trucks, SUVs under $20k): send the two or three best current fits.
• Credit-challenged: a plain, respectful "things change, want to take another look?" Never promise an approval.
• No details: one short question about what they're driving now.

Step 3: write texts a human would send

Bad: "Hi!! We have AMAZING deals this month at ABC Motors!"

Good: "Hi Dana, it's Mike at ABC Motors. You were looking at RAV4s back in July. We just took in a 2021 with 38k miles. Want me to send pictures?"

Name, store, what they wanted, one specific thing, one question. That's the whole formula.

Step 4: hand off fast, and stop when it's over

Anyone who replies is a fresh lead. Treat them like one: a person, the same day, with the history in front of them. Two or three touches is enough for a cold list. After that, let them go. Over-texting a cold list is how you collect STOPs and complaints instead of appointments.

How CarSales AI runs this

Aged leads is one of the ten follow-up plays in Automations, and the new arrival / price drop play gives you a reason to reach out that isn't "just checking in." Every text in every play is editable. AI texting runs in draft or automatic mode, only between 8 am and 9 pm, up to three texts a day per customer, honors STOP, and stops the moment a person replies.

Replies land in the salesperson's inbox with the full history, and a 0–100 lead score with the reason tells them who to call first.

Do it this week

1. Export leads 90 to 365 days old with no sale.
2. Clean the list, then split it into the four groups above.
3. Send one text per group. Count the replies, and book the ones who answer.

Then decide whether you want to do it by hand every month. Start free for 14 days and turn on the aged-leads play, or read the 4-minute rule so the new leads don't end up here.