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March 29, 2019
How AI Changes the Auto Industry & Enhances the Dealer Sales Process
When Hollywood considers what artificial intelligence (AI) might look like in the automotive industry, the results range from the “Transformers” movies in which cars and trucks turn into giant battling robots, to a self-aware car helping David Hasselhoff solve crimes in “Knight Rider.”
Obviously, in the real world, artificial intelligence isn’t transforming robots into cars. Rather, it’s transforming the relationship between automakers, dealers and consumers by making interactions between those key stakeholders smarter, individualized and more effective for all concerned.
AI Analysis of Consumer Data Influences Vehicle Design
Most consumers think a vehicle’s lifecycle begins with a designer and a blank sheet of paper. But long before a vehicle ever begins to take form in the design studio, AI-driven data analytics are moving to the heart of automakers’ product lifecycle planning processes. Automakers increasingly use AI-generated insights as a starting point for their identification of consumer segments and development of products most likely to appeal to those consumers. This results in more cars, trucks and SUVs that consumers want on dealer lots, and fewer that they don’t.
These new vehicles will depend on the entire automotive supply chain for their success. Many of the same big data-based predictive capabilities that drive Mastermind’s sales platform for auto dealers can be turned into powerful supplier selection and management tools for OEMs, helping them identify and manage the best suppliers for specific needs. Other AI-driven tools have proven tremendously powerful at automating repetitive interactions in the supply chain, such as purchase orders, invoicing and shipment notifications, with accompanying increases in efficiency that translate to lower sticker prices in dealer showrooms.
AI’s Role in Enhanced Dealership Prospecting
For dealers, AI-driven predictive analytics have revolutionized the process of identifying, communicating with, closing and servicing customers. AI has the ability to consider every consumer in a geographic marketplace as a potential customer for a dealer’s vehicles, score and rank them by evaluating a rich range of public and proprietary data on the consumer and then empower marketing and sales teams with the right information, in the right format and at the right time to maximize sale potential. It’s reducing reliance on “spray and pray” marketing while simultaneously increasing the number of quality prospects for dealer sales teams.
Dealership AI Enables Complex Personalized Messaging
For consumers, what all this means is that they’re more likely to receive useful information and relevant offers from dealers at a time when they’re most likely to find value in them, rather than being bombarded when they’re not in the market – or not getting the right offers when they are. This is the model companies like Amazon and Netflix have used to build massive bases of happy consumers by constantly presenting relevant “you might like” suggestions through predictive analytics tools, then delivering as promised.
How the Right Dealership AI Tools Boost Car Sales
In these and so many other ways, the auto industry is being transformed as automakers are getting better and more efficient at designing and building cars, dealers are becoming more effective at selling and servicing them, and consumers are more likely to end up in the right vehicle for their needs and budget — thanks to the power of artificial intelligence. Ready to learn how you can start to harness the power of AI in your dealership? Contact us to setup a predictive analytics sales platform demo today.