Dealer Marketing Magazine Feature Article, January 2012

Dealer Marketing Magazine Article

January 2012 by Drake Baerresen

There was a lot of buzz in 2011 about the importance of the proper and effective internet lead engagement. There are several different opinions held by dealerships on how best to work their leads and utilize their workforce. One of the software systems dealers are using is a military grade artificial intelligence developed by our company, AutoFerret.com called AVA (Automated Virtual Assistant.) Although we are a bit biased toward AVA, we thought readers would be interested in what some of the dealers who use AVA have to say about it.

We asked Mike Cagey, general manager of Mark Christopher Chevrolet Buick GMC Cadillac what AVA does for his dealership and why he feels it is integral to his store. “For the past year I can say that my internet department has not missed one lead since starting with AVA. That’s why I use it. What dealer can afford to miss, or not have good contact with a lead? Even though she (AVA) is artificial intelligence, she has become part of our store just like any other good employee and I’m not looking to get rid of my good employees anytime soon”, says Cagey.

We asked Jeff Proctor, general manager of Metro Honda and Acura if AVA has changed his internet sales process and if it made it easier or more difficult. Proctor replied, “That’s what I like about it, I didn’t have to change my entire process. AVA automatically works for us and integrates with our CRM. AVA also has helped me as a manager to ensure my process stays in effect. She lets me know exactly what’s going on from the words of my customers, so I always know how their experience is going with us in real time. I will say that my internet sales reps spend a lot more time now actually with the customer and working a car deal because of AVA.”

When we asked Shawn Nehir, internet director of Newport Lexus, how he is measuring his results with AVA, he said, “We have access to our AVA Dashboard which gives us real time statistics and interaction with our customers. Also, they provide me with a monthly performance report that gives me a full review of AVA just like I do with my staff, such as the number of deals AVA helped us make, how many appointments she set, number of customers she engaged, amount of deals that were made, and (how many deals) were saved from mining my old leads ect. AVA helps us achieve and maintain a very high closing ratio and good customer experience.”