Case 08 · Products · CRM · Operations · Automation
A business connected end to end, starting where context gets lost.
ZoDesk came from watching an opportunity lose context as it moves from marketing to sales and from sales to operations. It is the platform I created for car dealerships: it receives leads, assigns them, generates contracts, tracks collections and cash, and measures the journey. It has a variant for workshops.
- Project
- ZoDesk, a full-funnel ecosystem
- Context
- My own product · dealerships and workshops
- By Antonio Duque
- Reviewed against the code and documentation on
01
Context and need
At a dealership, the lead arrives on one channel, the conversation continues on another, the quote lives in a document and the payment in a spreadsheet. Every jump loses information and ownership.
Generic tools covered separate parts (CRM, spreadsheets, automations), but not the whole journey of a car business.
02
My responsibility
- I am the product's creator: I define the problem, processes, modules, rules and priorities, and direct the build with AI agents, reviewing every delivery.
- First client: the dealership where I work, in Panama. Workshop variant: its first client is a workshop in Portugal.
03
Strategy and decisions
- Design the whole journey, not an isolated automation.
- Integrate what the business already uses (website, WhatsApp, Google Docs and Drive) and retire dependencies once ZoDesk covers them, as happened with an external form automation.
- Be clear about what is ZoDesk core, what is an integration and what is another project.
- Role-based permissions and an audit log: everyone sees their own work and every action leaves a trail.
04
What I built
- A lead inbox with source, rule-based assignment, alerts and reassignment, tasks and automations.
- Sales, purchase, consignment and quote contracts generated with Google Docs, exported to PDF and filed in Drive; reading of ID and vehicle documents with AI vision.
- A credit module with cases, documents and banks.
- Issuing a sale unpublishes the car from the website via API, with a watchdog that checks it.
- Inventory, purchases, paperwork, expenses, petty cash and global cash, team and permissions, audit log and a per-person API key.
- Chat, lead-journey and advertising indicators, described in the dashboards case.
Real screenshots
Screens from the real system. ZoDesk ones come from its demo mode, with an invented dealership; those marked “Live” are public pages captured on November 14, 2026.
05
How it works
- Customer
- System
- Team
- Customer
Acquisition
The website and campaigns (other projects) send leads to the ZoDesk inbox with their source.
- System
Qualification
Financing chat and ZoChat for WhatsApp, built and evolving.
- System
CRM and assignment
Rule-based assignment, alerts and follow-up with tasks.
- Team
Documents
Quotes, contracts, letters and credit cases.
- Team
Sale
Issuing the sale, unpublishing the car, collections and receivables.
- Team
Operations
Purchases, paperwork, expenses and cash.
- System
Measurement
Funnels, journeys and lead-to-sale matching to learn and adjust.
Demo
The funnel, piece by piece
What belongs to ZoDesk, what is integrated and what is another project
Diagram
Acquisition
- Dealership website and campaignsOther projectIn production
- Forms into the inbox (signed notice)IntegrationIn production
- Inventory publisher (Freedom)Other projectIn production
Qualification
- Financing chatZoDesk coreIn production
- ZoChat for WhatsAppZoDesk coreIn progress
CRM, assignment and follow-up
- Inbox, assignment, alerts and tasksZoDesk coreIn production
- Zoho CRM (legacy lookup)IntegrationConnected
Quotes and documents
- Contracts with Google Docs and DriveZoDesk coreIn production
- Credit casesZoDesk coreIn production
Sales and collections
- Sale issuance and car unpublishingZoDesk coreIn production
- Email collections campaignZoDesk coreBuilt and tested
Operations
- Purchases, paperwork, expenses and cashZoDesk coreIn production
- Workshop variantZoDesk coreBuilt
Measurement and learning
- Funnels and lead journeyZoDesk coreBuilt and tested
- Conversions to Google (via the website)IntegrationConnected
- Conversions to MetaIntegrationPending
ZoDesk
Workshop variant
The workshop version shares ZoDesk's architecture. Its first client is a workshop in Portugal, with a documented deployment and real supplier, staff and equipment data loaded. I don't claim every module is used daily.
Work orders
The yard as an eight-stage journey, with history, a drag-and-drop board and a “my jobs” view with a timer.
Workstations
Configurable by order and role; they measure how long the car stayed and how long it was worked on.
Materials
Supply usage linked to each order, physical counts, minimum-stock alerts and paint use per part.
Quotes
Generated from the marked parts, with versions, a public link and WhatsApp sending; once approved they set the order total.
Payments
Per order, with payment messages and reminders by WhatsApp and email.
06
Tools and what they do
- Python, FastAPI and Jinja2
- Platform core and its roughly 35 modules.
- SQLite and Postgres (Supabase)
- Main database and a mirror for queries.
- Google Docs and Drive
- Contract and document generation and filing.
- WhatsApp Cloud API
- ZoChat channel, in development.
- Resend and Web Push
- Emails and team notifications.
Available evidence
- An internal, code-based platform audit (October 2026) with findings and follow-up.
- Website leads plan: forms have flowed into ZoDesk since October 21, 2026, replacing an external automation.
- Demo screenshots with invented data.
07
Current status
- In production
Inbox, CRM and assignment
In use with the first client.
- In production
Contracts and documents
Issuing contracts since September 2026.
- In production
Credit, sales, operations and cash
In use with the first client; spreadsheets remain a fallback for collections.
- In production
Financing chat served by ZoDesk
For demos and sales only; real customers use the website's version.
- In progress
ZoChat (WhatsApp)
Built; the assistant is off in production and the channel still runs on another tool.
- Pending
Conversions to Meta from ZoDesk
Built and off pending configuration.
- Proposal
Invoicing and online payments
Not part of the product.
“In production” is only used when the project’s documentation confirms it. “Built and tested” means automated tests exist, not that it is in use. “Proposal” is a documented idea, not something built.
Next steps
- Turn on ZoChat with the qualification assistant in a controlled pilot.
- Make the financing chat a module configurable per dealership.
- Bring per-vehicle ad budgeting and cost per lead into the platform.
08
Lessons learned
The most valuable part wasn't automating a task, but making context travel with the opportunity.
Replacing an external tool means running alongside it for a while and comparing results.
Being the first user of my own product forces me to prioritize what the team uses every day.
Related services
Automotive
Systems for Car Dealerships and Workshops
ZoDesk brings together acquisition, follow-up, documents, collections and operations for dealerships, with a workshop variant.
CRM and sales follow-up
CRM Consulting and Implementation
I design the sales process before touching the tool: stages, assignment rules, alerts and loss reasons, connected to the website and channels.
Systems built to fit
Custom software development
Internal systems, SaaS products and operational platforms that replace manual processes and disconnected tools.
Connected cases
Financing chatform
A credit form turned into a conversation: one question at a time, with guidance and context for the salesperson.
Monitoring and action dashboards
Dashboards that don't stop at the number: every out-of-range indicator suggests a concrete action.
Email: follow-up, segmented sends and operations
Emails built on real data, with segments, human validation, duplicate protection and delivery tracking.
SAINT ERP integration agents
A Go agent that reads each site's ERP and publishes price and stock online, without opening ports to the internet.