1:20 pm, July 15, 2024
Car dealers need to make sure that AI is tailored to their individual needs if they are to get the best out of the technology.
That is the verdict of James Leese, of specialist firm Impel, who has been appearing on the latest episode of Car Dealer Live (above).
The AI expert told host James Baggott that is important that dealers using AI give the software access to the correct information.
He says that by doing so, dealers will give AI the best chance of answering customers’ questions and being a positive tool in the sales process.
He said: ‘The things you need to think about [as a car dealer] are that you want it to be having the right conversation with your customer.
‘So actually things like just giving it access to correct information to be able to answer the questions. Also, access to good information because what you don’t want is someone interacting with AI that then becomes hugely frustrating because it doesn’t answer questions.
‘We’ve seen those before with some chat bots and various other things that are so templated, because they’re so controlled, it never answers my question. It’s a complete waste of time and it becomes even more frustrating than if you had nothing at all.
‘So the things you got to think about are that “how do I get access to get access to the AI to have those conversations?”.
‘We have things like inventory file feed, so we can understand everything about the new and used car stock that dealers have so that we can answer those questions.
‘We have access into CRM systems where we have the appropriate integrations, so we get information out about the customer, the lead and the information and the questions they’ve asked.
‘We then have our content management system, which is where we train the AI on how to answer questions specific to those customers. Those are questions such as, “Do you offer part-exchanges? Do you do home delivery? What your servicing hours? Can I sit and wait while you service my car?”.’
Security is key
One of the biggest worries many car dealers have around AI is how to keep their business safe while adopting the new technology.
Leese says that it is important for retailers to work with the best provider in order to safeguard themselves against people out to trick the system.
He added: ‘You’ve got to make sure you’re working with a provider that takes security really seriously because we’ve seen examples in the US where there’s lots of clever people out there that will go out and try and trick the AI into giving it an answer that it wants.
‘You’ve seen it in the US where someone managed to trick the AI to sell it a car for $1.
‘Unless you’ve got some security layers and wrappers around that, and then we call it jailbreak, actually, you need to make sure that you’ve got that because plugging in just a generative AI solution, chat GPT, whatever it may be into the front of your platform is not a wise move.’
AI experts
It’s not just with security and making sure AI has the right conversations with customers that Impel can help car dealers with, but also with the whole customer journey.
US-based Impel has been operating in the UK since 2017. The company offers car dealers, wholesalers and OEMs the most advanced AI-powered customer lifecycle management platform on the market, and specialises in giving customers a seamless buying experience powered by AI.
It has thousands of dealers and OEMs of every type and size around the world on its books, and they all use Impel’s technology on a daily basis.
‘We provide dealers with a platform that enables them to enhance the consumer experience on their websites, and really enrich the experience for consumers when they are searching for used cars,’ says Leese.
‘This has developed into how we support and nurture those customers that may be in market for more than two or three days, and how do we utilise technology to support customers on that journey.
‘Ultimately, it’s about how do we help them do more with less.’
