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Message and Lead Fumbles

Understand what triggers a Fumble and how to avoid one.

Written by Madelyn O'Shea

What Counts as a Fumble

A Fumble is any lead or customer message that goes 60 minutes during business hours without a response. The timer starts the moment the lead or message hits your CRM.

What Triggers a Fumble

  • Delayed responses. A lead in at 10:20 AM and answered at 11:23 AM is a Fumble.

  • Ignored messages. Ignoring does not stop the timer. No response in 60 minutes still counts as a Fumble.

  • After-hours messages. Tracked separately, but the timer still runs. An overnight lead not answered within an hour the next morning is a Fumble.

  • Duplicate leads. If a duplicate flag isn't cleared within an hour, it Fumbles.

  • Short customer replies. Even "OK" or an emoji needs a response, unless you use Acknowledge (see below).

Acknowledge for Emojis and Reactions

For customer reactions and emoji-only messages, use Acknowledge instead of replying or ignoring. Acknowledge before the one-hour mark and the message won't count as a Fumble. Acknowledge after the hour is up and the Fumble stays on your metrics, but the message clears from your Un-Replied Sidebar.

Exceptions

STOP messages. You can't respond, so they don't count.

AI conversations. Conversations handled by DriveCentric AI don't Fumble.

How to Avoid Fumbles

  • Respond within 60 minutes. Even a quick acknowledgment stops the timer.

  • Use Acknowledge for emoji replies and reactions before the hour is up.

  • For leads with no contact info, add a store contact or mark the deal dead.

  • Check the Response Time Report regularly to catch patterns.

Reporting

Business-hour and after-hour Fumbles show up separately in the Response Time Report. Drill in for user-level and customer-level detail.

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