The short answer: send them by ADF. ADF, the Auto-lead Data Format, is the XML standard nearly every dealership CRM accepts for inbound leads. When a Facebook lead is converted to ADF and sent to your CRM's lead address the moment the form is submitted, it lands as a native CRM record with the customer, the vehicle, and the source attached, and nobody has to type anything. You can wire that up yourself with a connector tool, or have a service like DealerDrive do it and score every lead on the way in.
Why downloading leads by hand costs you deals
Facebook lead ads keep the leads inside Meta. Out of the box, someone has to open the lead center or download a spreadsheet, then key each lead into the CRM. In a busy store that happens a few times a day at best. A lead that comes in on a Friday evening can sit until Monday morning.
Follow up speed is one of the most reliable levers on close rate in dealership lead handling. Every hour a lead waits, the buyer keeps shopping, and the dealer who calls first usually gets the conversation. Manual re-keying also loses detail: the vehicle of interest, the form answers, and the campaign the lead came from often never make it into the CRM, so your reporting cannot tell you which ads sell cars.
What ADF is, and why your CRM already speaks it
ADF is a simple, agreed format for a lead: who the customer is, how to reach them, what vehicle they asked about, and where the lead came from. Dealership CRMs have accepted it for years, which is why third party lead providers use it. Most CRMs give each store an ADF lead address, usually an email address the CRM watches, and anything sent there in ADF format becomes a lead record automatically.
That means you do not need a custom integration or a new system. You need something that turns each Facebook lead into ADF and sends it to that address the moment it arrives. Our integrations page lists the CRMs we deliver to today, and any CRM that accepts ADF works.
Three ways to connect Facebook leads to your CRM
- Manual download. Free, and slow. Fine for a handful of leads a week, but it is the source of the delay described above.
- A general automation tool. Connector services can forward each new lead. They work, but you have to build the ADF format and field mapping yourself, watch for failures, and fix it when a form changes. If the mapping is wrong, leads arrive as plain email the CRM cannot read as a lead.
- A dealership lead service. A service built for dealers, like DealerDrive, delivers by universal ADF out of the box, attaches the vehicle and the source, and checks delivery for you. DealerDrive also scores each lead, typically in under one second, before it reaches the CRM.
How to set it up, step by step
Whichever route you pick, the setup follows the same five steps.
- Get your ADF lead address. Ask your CRM rep for the ADF delivery address for your store. That request typically takes a day or two, and it is one email.
- Connect your lead forms. Give your tool or service access to the Facebook page and lead forms, usually through partner access in your Meta Business account. You keep ownership of the page and the ad account.
- Map the fields. Name, phone, email, vehicle of interest with the stock number, lead source, and any form answers such as trade-in or timeframe.
- Send test leads. Submit a few test leads and open them in the CRM. Check that every field landed where your BDC expects it before you go live.
- Watch delivery. Every lead in Meta should match a record in your CRM. If the counts drift apart, something broke, and you want to know the same day.
What to put on every lead record
The goal is a record your BDC can work without opening another screen. At minimum, every Facebook lead should carry:
- Customer name, phone, and email, exactly as submitted
- The vehicle of interest with its stock number, so the first call is about a specific car
- The source, including Facebook or Instagram and the campaign, so you can see which ads sell cars
- Form answers, such as trade-in details or purchase timeframe
- A lead score, in the comments or a custom field, so the best lead sits at the top of the list
Get the speed, keep the quality
Automatic delivery makes everything fast, including the junk. If burner numbers and bot fills land in the CRM as quickly as real buyers, your BDC still starts the day dialing dead records. That is why the handoff and the filter belong together. Score each lead on the way in, deliver the real buyers first, and hold the rest where a manager can review them. Our post on why Facebook leads are fake covers how to spot the difference.
The bottom line
Your CRM already knows how to take Facebook leads. Give it each lead in ADF, the moment the form is submitted, with the vehicle and the score attached. Your BDC calls while the buyer is still looking at your car, and you finally get reporting that ties ad spend to sold units.