Automotive News Canada - December 2023 - S27

BEST PRACTICES 2023
27
FROM THE
JANUARY
EDITION
FROM THE
in AI
FEBRUARY
EDITION
FROM THE
MARCH
EDITION
EDITION
FROM THE
EDITION
FROM THE
MAY
S PO TLIG H T
APRIL
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
JUNE
EDITION
FROM THE
this is done in 60 seconds, "
he said.
EDITION
FROM THE
Cartelux uses 300 million
data points to analyze such
decisions and provide solutions,
Chugh said. This is
aggregate data - such as the
number of searches for eightseat
vehicles with all-wheel
drive, or two-seat sports cars -
mined through online analytics
software.
Crunching
that data
helps the
JULY
FROM THE
AUGUST
EDITION
FROM THE
SEPTEMBER
EDITION
FROM THE
OCTOBER
EDITION
FROM THE
Cartelux platform
advise
customers
which vehicles are in demand
and by which demographic
groups.
Brent Sayles, president of
Applewood Auto Group, is an
early adopter of AI. He uses it
in a variety of forms to write
vehicle listings, to help sales
staff who struggle with grammar
respond to customer texts
and emails, craft operating procedures
and target sales promotions
to the right customer at
the right time.
NOVEMBER
EDITION
Sayles, whose British
Columbia-group includes 11
dealerships from Port Hardy
at the north end of Vancouver
Island, to Surrey, just east of
Vancouver, said he has subMacDonald:
Autotrader's
Upgrade
Optimizer
AI
can help
promote
vehicles
that, for
example, may
be popular
in online
searches.
SUPPLIED
PHOTO
PHOTO: ISTOCK
scribed to 30 AI applications.
He is more interested in building
his own in-house AI solutions,
often collaborating with
vendors rather than buying offthe-shelf
applications.
Examples include using
Jasper AI to create 35 job
descriptions in one day, a task
that can often take hours per
job description.
" I don't
think I could
do 35 job
descriptions
in a year, " he
said.
Sayles
encountered
a humorous
example in
an email from
his accounting
department,
written
in a tone that
got his hackles
up.
" They
didn't mean
anything
by it, but
I thought,
maybe we
can use AI to
create emails
that don't
make you want to walk over
there and pick a fight with
someone, " he said.
Sayles' next project is developing
a system that uses the
various points of data that his
group already has to target
I don't think
I could do 35
job descriptions
in a year. "
Brent Sayles
President,
Applewood Auto Group
customers with timely promotions,
such as when service
appointments suggest
that it's time for new tires.
" We could send them a
note that says they might
want to consider replacement
- and, oh, by the way, here's
an offer for buy three, get the
fourth free. "
USING DATA TO MAKE DEALS
For Autotrader.com, which
serves dealerships of all sizes,
the just-launched Upgrade
Optimizer AI performs a similar
function automatically,
said Ian MacDonald, the company's
chief marketing officer.
Autotrader
publishes
online listings of new and
used vehicles and for added
fees can boost certain vehicles
to increase their visibility
on the site. MacDonald said
Upgrade Optimizer will, given
a dealer's budget, boost certain
vehicles depending on a
large number of data points,
such as search popularity,
as well as when a rise occurs
in the number of searches
- based on features such as
seat counts, all-wheel drive or
engine style - that match a
vehicle in inventory.
Freeing up that time
allows Autotrader and the
dealer to concentrate on what
matters most to the retailer:
How much did it cost, and
how much did it help?
" That's part of the beauty
of it, " McDonald said, " in that
we can begin to have conversations
... that's more relatable
to an advertiser - in this
case, a dealer - who can say,
'This is how much I want to
invest, and this is the kind of
ROI [return on investment]
I'm looking for. "
LGM Financial, which
provides extended-service
contracts either directly or
behind the scenes at dealerships,
recently began using AI
to expedite claims, with many
approved in as little as five
seconds.
Automating simpler claims
frees staff to adjudicate more
complex ones, said Scott
Rutherford, LGM's executive
vice-president of technology.
At the
retail level,
Rutherford
said, LGM
also provides
a " recommendation
engine "
designed to
simplify the
purchase
of extended-service
contracts
and
ancillary
products.
LGM
provides
service contracts
sold
through
dealerships
as if they
were sold by
the brand,
Rutherford:
AI is used
to expedite
some servicecontract
claims,
which
frees up
staff to deal
with more
complicated
cases.
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PHOTO
he said. Such contracts have
nine categories, but with thousands
of options.
By asking a series of questions,
Rutherford said, the recommendation
engine helps
narrow choices for
customers. - ANC
http://www.Autotrader.com
Automotive News Canada - December 2023

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