Test drive — send yourself a lead

By Steve Baylis

This is the closer. After this lesson, S2L is live.

You’re going to send yourself a fake lead, watch the whole flow play out on your phone in real time, and verify three things:

1. AI replies in your voice
2. AI respects your hours
3. Escalation routes correctly

If any of those three fail, you’ll know in 12 seconds and you can fix it before a real customer hits the system.

Step 1: Open the test lead form

Settings → Speed to Lead → Send Test Lead

You’ll see a small form: name, phone number, vehicle of interest, source. Use your own phone number — not the dealership’s main line. You want the SMS to land on your personal device.

Step 2: Fill it in like a real lead

• Name: anything (use your actual name if you want)
• Phone: your cell
• Vehicle: pick something you actually have inventory on
• Source: select “Manual Test”
• Message: optional — leave blank or write “Just looking around”

Hit Send.

Step 3: Watch your phone

Within 12 seconds, you should get an SMS that looks something like:

Hey [Name], it’s [Your AI’s name] from [Your Dealership]. Saw you checking out the [Vehicle], great timing on that one. What’s drawing you toward it?

Three things to check:

Does it say YOUR dealership’s name? — Hours and key notes setup correctly fed in.

Does it match your voice? — If you set “Friendly + direct” and the message reads warm and conversational, you’re good.

Did it arrive in 12 seconds? — Check the timestamp.

Step 4: Reply and watch the conversation

Reply to the SMS like a customer would. Try: “Yeah, looking for something with good gas mileage.”

Watch AI reply. It should:

• Acknowledge what you said (not generic)
• Ask a follow-up question that moves toward booking
• Sound like a real person, not a script

Step 5: Trigger escalation

Now test the escalation rules from lesson 3. Reply with: “What’s your best price?”

Within seconds, you should see a notification in Diablo: “Conversation escalated to [Manager Name].”

That’s the escalation rule firing on a financing-question-with-pricing-implication. Your team would normally jump in here.

What to do if anything failed

• Didn’t get the SMS? Check Settings → Phone System → ensure your Twilio number is registered. Without it, S2L can’t send. (We’ll cover phone setup in a separate lesson.)
• Wrong voice / wrong hours? Go back to lesson 1 and double-check those settings.
• Escalation didn’t fire? Open the escalation rules and verify they’re all toggled on.

You’re live

If all five steps passed, your dealership’s S2L is configured and live. Real customer leads will now get the same treatment you just experienced.

Course complete. Mark it done below and move on to the next thing on your Manager track — setting up your team.