Everyone knows that regardless of the product or service, sales is all about relationships. For website visitors, that car dealership website chatbot is often their first point of contact and the first engagement they have with your dealership. Unfortunately, there’s only so much that a chatbot can do and a lot of the time, that’s not enough to really meet the needs of customers.
Automotive chatbots aren’t designed for anything other than canned responses that they’re programmed with. That’s when customers bounce and may or may not come back around again. Let’s talk about where chatbots drop the ball, and where Matador AI can turn that into legit car dealer lead generation.
Continuing the Conversation Beyond the Website
Imagine you’re a customer and you’ve got your eye on a specific car on a dealer’s website. The chatbot greets you, but you soon find out that it only has a set of formulaic answers to fairly generic questions. It can’t really gauge your intent or interest, it can’t handle any more-complex inquiries and it has no way of understanding your emotional tone. You have a specific question about a specific car, but the best the chatbot can do is respond with “thanks for your interest, someone will reach out to you soon.”
When you consider it that way, dealership website chatbots are really fairly handcuffed as to what they can and can’t perform. Those limitations are often what makes a potential customer move on and find another dealership to check out.
Matador’s Chat AI is much more than a car dealership website chatbot. It’s the resource that can actually carry on a conversation with a customer, and can address those specifics that can turn into a motivated lead. It’s the difference between a template and actual intelligent exchanges; it’s designed to give a customer curated, current information from your dealership. For service department visits, a customer gets offered a time and date for dropoff; for sales leads, they can book a time and date for a visit and test drive.
Capturing Leads vs Creating Opportunities
Let’s visualize a couple more scenarios…
- A customer has a question about the out-the-door price for a 2022 Volvo XC60. Chat AI then takes the customer’s number and within minutes, either AI or a rep can follow up with the customer. That’s a lead captured and a potential sale that’s being cultivated.
- A customer needs an oil change for a vehicle they purchased from your store. Chat AI offers a time and date for an appointment, the appointment is booked for same-day service and the service department’s calendar is updated.
- A story for a late arrival catches a customer’s eye, Chat AI notes their interest and sends specs for that vehicle. The customer asks about their trade-in value, Chat AI then offers a time for a visit and alerts the sales team that there’s a lead and trade appraisal on the books.
Everything that Chat AI does can be customized for your store’s branding and identity, and it’s designed to help your sales team by passing those opportunities along (including the ones that are visiting your site at 2 AM). From the customer’s viewpoint, it’s a lot more helpful and informative than a car dealership website chatbot that can’t offer much more than a list of options to choose from and a set of pro forma responses.
SMS Automation Keeps The Conversation Going
AI Reply from Matador reads the customer’s inquiries and responds via text or email (whatever the preference of the customer). If a customer shows interest in a specific vehicle, AI Reply can connect them with the information and content they need. If that vehicle’s not available, AI Reply will steer them toward other vehicles that could be a good fit. AI Reply is designed to learn your processes and your tone, and matches every potential customer based on their level of interest. You set the boundaries: quiet hours, pricing display rules, escalation to managers or sales team.
Your Website Should Be The Beginning, Not the Entire Journey
Yes, sales all turn on personal relationships, regardless of what it is that’s being sold. Developing that relationship, though, doesn’t always have to be between the lead and the salesperson face-to-face.
Matador’s Chat AI isn’t a chatbot (complete with website chatbot limitations), it’s an automated partner in your sales processes. It’s an agentic automotive resource for your sales personnel that they can use when it’s time to see that customer and develop that lead, instead of trying to establish the groundwork themselves when the customer comes in.
Dealerships that have integrated Matador’s AI solutions into their operations are reporting a boost of about 25% average in pipeline conversions. That’s how much difference it can make to have an automated sales assistant that never sleeps, never gets tired and can actually meet a customer on their own terms to answer questions and help qualify a lead. Why not set up a demo to see what Matador AI can do for you and your dealership?
