Can AI improve efficiency without risking jobs?

AI can perform many tasks far more efficiently than humans – but there is nothing like the human touch. When it comes to AI implementation in a BDC, the right training is what’s needed to ensure employees thrive alongside the technology, rather than risk falling behind.

In this episode of Dealer Confidential, host Ilana Shabtay speaks with Michael Renaud, CEO of Alan Ram’s Proactive Training Solutions, about why BDC teams shouldn’t be so wary of integrating AI. They explore the importance of mindset in adopting AI, the potential for AI to revive old leads, and the necessity for training staff to effectively utilize AI in their workflows. 

Here’s what one anonymous dealer had to say:

Dear Ilana,

My BDC team is super against bringing AI tools into our processes. I get that they might be worried it’ll take away too much of the human-ness that makes our job important or maybe they just feel nervous about learning a new technology. But I honestly just want us to evolve and make sure we are staying ahead of the game. How do I convince my team that AI could be a game changer, without making them feel like their jobs are at risk?

Sincerely,

A Buddy from the BDC

Ilana and Michael dive into:

• Why AI is not a replacement but a complement to human efforts.
• The importance of mindset in adopting AI technology.
• Who benefits and who may struggle when AI is integrated into a BDC.
• Where AI can excel in ways that humans can’t, or aren’t. 

Michael Renaud is a seasoned automotive industry expert, a former dealer-turned-trainer. With extensive experience at both the dealership and training levels, he specializes in leveraging technology, including AI, to optimize business processes and empower BDC teams.

Resources mentioned:

• Ilana Shabtay
• Michael Renaud 
• Allen Ram’s Proactive Training Solutions
• Fullpath

Episode Transcript:

Michael (00:00)

Dealers need to understand this is going to generate more business. It’s going to create more appointments. It’s going to drive more traffic, but it’s how you use it.

Ilana Shabtay (00:33)

Hello, we are here live, Dealer Confidential, our podcast where we take hot takes from the industry and talk about them with industry experts. And today I have one of my favorite guests, Mike Renaud, CEO of Allen Ram Trading Solutions, also ex-dealer of many years. So Mike, thank you so much for joining.

Michael (00:53)

Thanks for having me. I’m so excited about your new podcast. This is awesome.

Ilana Shabtay (00:57)

Yes, thank you. Yes, this is

a new podcast. It’s been really interesting so far. ⁓ It’s really cool to see these anonymous hot takes and understand what people are struggling with. Yeah, awesome. Thank you.

Michael (01:04)

they’ve been great. Yeah, no,

I’ve enjoyed I’ve enjoyed watching them. So now excited to be a part of it.

Ilana Shabtay (01:12)

Awesome, thank you so much. Well, here’s your anonymous take for today, okay? ⁓ You’ll understand when you hear the take why I chose you for the guest. All right. My BDC team is super against bringing AI tools into our processes. I get that they might be worried it will take away from the humanness that makes our job important, or maybe they feel nervous about learning a new technology.

Michael (01:15)

All right, let’s do this.

Okay.

Ilana Shabtay (01:35)

How do I convince my team that AI could be a game changer and can amplify what they’re doing without making them feel like their jobs are at risk? Okay.

Michael (01:42)

Well, and that’s the big one. That last one’s

the biggest piece of it all, right? Because, ⁓ just, BDCs are like, you know, where the gossip sits. And once you hear something like AI is coming in, everyone’s going to worry about their job and start focusing on the things you don’t want them to focus on, right? But when it comes to how, how does AI impact this? Okay. First of all, it starts with step one, which is the mindset. Okay.

Ilana Shabtay (01:59)

Yeah.

Michael (02:07)

When you are going in to look for an AI product and you’re looking to purchase that AI product for your dealership, the mindset has to be, this isn’t something that’s going to take away ⁓ employees. This isn’t something that’s going to make our lives inside the dealership easier and all that stuff. No, those aren’t the answers. And it’s not a set it and forget it kind of thing. This is something that involves human interaction. AI is not at the place where we can just set it and forget it and not be a part of. Even the best AIs like Fullpath,

we still need to be engaged, right? It is doing something that’s triggering the customer to raise their hand. It’s elevating the customer experience, but someone needs to grab that hand on the other end and bring that customer through the door. on the sales side. When you are looking at these products, you have to understand that these tools are enhancing the customer experience.

When it comes to lead, it’s digging out, okay, those older leads, those leads of that customer that might be shy, that never responded, that the staff normally says, this is no good lead, there’s no phone number here, right? Well, the AI will keep talking to them because it doesn’t look at it that way. It looks at it as every single lead is an opportunity, which is how we should look at it, but our staffs don’t always. So when it first is the mindset, the mindset is this is going to be something that’s going to compliment my team. Then when we add it to,

what we need to do every day, right? And we start adding AI into our daily workflows and tasks as a store. AI needs to be looked at as that piece. That’s okay. How is my team interacting with it? How are we working to bring that customer through the door once they raise their hand? And it comes back to the same solid principle of answering a lead. So when a lead comes in, right, every statistic, everything we read says we have to answer that lead in five minutes or less, right?

It’s the same thing with AI once it responds. Once the AI gets that customer to respond, that five minute clock starts all over again.

Ilana Shabtay (04:00)

Correct.

Meaning it’s the

same process, but it’s inserting something and the clock starts at a different stage basically. Is that what you’re saying? Right. ⁓

Michael (04:12)

Exactly. It’s basically like taking

what AI is doing fantastic right now. And I see it, you know, okay, we’re here with Fullpath. So I’m going to tell you exactly where I’m seeing it in Fullpath. It is doing some amazing things to dig out customers who  weren’t ready when they first submitted that lead and it might be submitted that lead early on in that 50, 55, 60 day buying cycle, whatever it is right now. Okay. But it’s a longer buying cycle and

our salespeople, our BDC reps have forgot about those people or they fell out of the workflow that we’ve created for them. Well, guess what? The AI just keeps going and it keeps throwing pitches and it keeps throwing pitches. And at some point that customer is going to swing and hit that ball and we got to be ready to catch it.

Ilana Shabtay (04:58)

It’s also, think, so important for dealers to understand that that type of keeps going, keeps going. Like that is what how AI is really elevating the business right now because humans can’t do that or at the same rate they can. So like you got the AI supporting the business on that. And then you still need the humans to take over when that clock starts. So it’s really about,

like you said, like it’s the mindset that AI isn’t here to replace. It’s here to bring more opportunity and bring more business. The opposite. It should be making the dealership staff and BDC so much busier. Obviously this hot take is from a BDC manager. Are you actually encountering these conversations? It sounds like you had this conversation over and over and over again.

Michael (05:32)

Exactly! That’s exactly what it does!

constantly right now.

On both fixed and variable, it’s happening on both sides. We’re here to talk about the sales side and on the sales side, this conversation is becoming one where

Dealers need to understand this is going to generate more business. It’s going to create more appointments. It’s going to drive more traffic, but it’s how you use it.

And here’s a perfect example. Okay. So we have a mutual client, BMW client. Okay. This client.

has a bunch of I-4s, I-5s, BMWs put a great program on I-4s, I-5s. I mean, and as a salesperson, you could pick up a $750 spin on these I-5s and dealers want to give them away because BMW has good incentives back to the dealer for selling these electric, okay? We were able to go in, work with the Fullpath team, create a campaign for every single customer that has submitted an I-5.

since the beginning of the year or even back further. And the AI just went and it rolled and all of a sudden it took old leads that were already paid for that would probably normally just be thrown in the trash and putting them back on the BDC’s plate as a fresh lead. Okay, because that’s what it really is.

Ilana Shabtay (06:52)

Right, so it’s like really activating

these opportunities for the BDC to work. Nope. Yeah.

Michael (06:57)

Exactly. And there really are fresh leads if you think about.

Ilana Shabtay (07:01)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I’m even thinking as a shopper what that would mean for me as a car shopper. Now, when it comes to lead handling on the AI, we’re talking about reawakening and bringing these leads back.

Now, I’m hearing a lot, obviously, you know, many companies like Fullpath are working on this AI lead handling where the AI takes it to the next level and actually tries to schedule the appointment for the BDC. So in this case, it’s kind of like what you said about starting the clock later, right? Like, okay, so they scheduled the appointment, but there’s still work to be done and

Michael (07:31)

There’s things.

Ilana Shabtay (07:32)

Or is the AI really just scheduling the low-hanging fruit? Like, I don’t know, I’m not sure. I haven’t spoken to dealers so much about it, so I wanted to know what we’re seeing.

Michael (07:40)

So it’s how you define a low-hanging fruit, right? A lot of BDC reps, a lot of salespeople look at a lead that comes in with no phone number, just an email, and they go, but that’s a waste of it. That’s a waste. That customer is not real. The reality is that customer is an introvert, okay? And the majority of Americans are not like us car people. We could go talk to anyone, anytime, anyplace, but the majority of people are introverts and they don’t put their phone number in there until they’re ready.

So the AI becomes that process. So is it low hanging fruit? Yeah, probably if the salesperson or the BDC rep stuck with that customer and kept emailing them, yes. But in our world of where BDC and salespeople are, that’s not low hanging fruit to them. That’s too much work. The low hanging fruit is the customer I call and it’s like, do you have this stock number I’m coming in right now? That’s know, right? And, but.

Ilana Shabtay (08:25)

Right, excellent.

Michael (08:28)

It’s not there yet AI to handle all that. So, but it’s grabbing it on the email side. Yes, it is grabbing that low hanging fruit. It is handling, but it’s also serving it up to the salesperson as well, right? Because what the AI is doing is, and this is where it’s pivoting on the lead handling a little bit too, is yes, it’s serving up an appointment. I have to do all the steps to confirm that appointment, make sure that customer shows up, have their directions, have the salespeople engaged, et cetera, right? But on the flip side,

it’s getting where they not making an appointment right away, but they’re raising their hand. They’re raising their hands with questions. So it’s giving the salesperson or the BDC rep, at least the majority, I mean, you have better data than I do. I just see a cross section of AI clients, but the ones I see the majority of the time when that customer raises their hand, they’re raising it with a question, which is the best opportunity for salespeople and BDC reps. Cause now I have something to leave on your voicemail. I have something to send you a video about.

Ilana Shabtay (09:03)

Yeah.

Michael (09:25)

I have a lot of stuff. When you ask me a question, it is a fantastic, even if it’s what’s the price, I don’t care. This is a fantastic opportunity to now be able to engage that introverted customer and pull them out of the shell. And that’s what the AI is good at. Sometimes does AI repeat itself a lot and sometimes do dealers do I see, you know, this is one common thing I constantly see with dealers. And I’m sure you guys do. Like there are some verbiage and things that AI uses to try to

friendly up the conversation, right? Someone submits a lead at midnight, it’s gonna write, hey boy, I see you’re up late burning the midnight oil, right? I’ve had some dealers who read stuff like that.

Ilana Shabtay (10:07)

I’ve seen that.

Michael (10:08)

Right. And I have some dealers who see that stuff and they’re like, that’s horrible. How dare like it shouldn’t ask stuff like that. It’s too personal. Like, you know what I mean? So there’s a perception. You can.

Ilana Shabtay (10:17)

Yeah, yeah. You can train, like you can train, you can identify

that. You can even set up alerts for your dealership and say like, these are the type of things I want to know what happens. And then just train the ChatGPT

Michael (10:29)

But that’s

stuff that dealers need to know going in and need to understand because it becomes, I’ve seen it, like I’ve seen dealers onboard your product, right? And have beautiful onboards, everything gets up, all of sudden email traffic’s starting to go, they’re like, I don’t like the way that’s worded, I don’t like how many emails are being sent out, like these are questions, this, first of all, it’s a normal part of the process.

Ilana Shabtay (10:32)

or if they’re hesitant now.

Right, right.

Yeah.

Michael (10:51)

especially if you

don’t ask them upfront. But there are certain questions and things that when you’re being onboarded, you need to ask and you need to go out. And some of them, you just don’t know what they are. So ask your, when you’re onboarding, be like, what questions am I not asking you that I should be asking? Like, it’s a great question to even when you’re just doing the demo, like ask, like, what am I asking you about AI that I should be asking you about? Like, what is going to impact me in the first two months in this in a negative way that I should be ready for?

Ilana Shabtay (11:14)

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Another question. No, no, no, it’s okay. I don’t want to cut you off, but I do have another question, which is, do you agree with this statement, which is AI isn’t going to replace anyone, but it will replace employees that don’t know how to embrace and or use AI.

Michael (11:19)

Those are important things. Sorry.

On the sales side, 100%, I agree with that statement. And it’s going to replace BDC managers and sales managers, not lose their jobs, per se, like that job’s going to go away. No, that job is going to be there. But the person with that mindset is what’s going to disappear. That person with the mindset is going, you have to embrace AI as another, it’s another employee. It’s an add on, doing the work that your staff isn’t good at.

Ilana Shabtay (11:41)

Okay.

But they needed an upgrade.

Go play.

It’s an angel. ⁓

Michael (12:06)

doing, replacing the mundane work. Like, we use AI here in some ways of just like reading data, like clients’ data and analyzing it sometimes, right? In a very quick, easy way, right? Where normally I’d have like, you know, six people doing that same thing. This does it. Did it replace their jobs? In this instance, yes, because it was very simple, mundane stuff that they were doing. But you need to interact with people. Sales is on a whole different thing. If we were talking about

Ilana Shabtay (12:13)

Yeah, it’s amazing. ⁓

Michael (12:34)

you know, the, the service side and just making oil change appointments. Yeah. AI is going to replace a lot of that. Okay. That’s just real. Like service, BDCs, no, it’s very simple. I need to make an oil change, all that stuff. No one wants to talk to anybody for that. I’m sorry. You don’t even want to talk to anybody about that stuff. Okay. So, right. Like it’s just that little thing is going to go away. Right. It’s like, if I can make my doctor’s appointment on my app, I will. If I can make my car appointment, I’m

Ilana Shabtay (12:41)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

again.

But yeah.

Right, right. Which is great.

Yeah.

Michael (13:04)

Right. But

if I have a complicated question about it, it’s making a funny noise. don’t know what I should do. AI is not helping me. I still need a person. So our service BDC is going to go away. Not at all. Someone still needs to be there to answer the phone, but those simple calls that jam everything up. Now guess what your BDC service advisors get to do, or even on the sales side, when the AI is cleaning that easy stuff, now we get to dig deeper. Now we get to go into our

outbound calls right on both sides. Service gets to do the right. I can spend more time. So many service BDCs. I spend so much time. I don’t have time to talk to the good customer. Now we can do all that stuff, right? Same thing with the AI here. What is the guy we have? We have another mutual client where we’ve literally took. They have a very strong, really great BDC, but we took all the emails, all the text message tasks away from the staff.

Ilana Shabtay (13:33)

And you get to give better service, because you’re not spending the time. Yeah. Yeah, so.

Yeah.

Michael (13:59)

All they do is make phone calls. Now the AI is just sending all the texts, sending all the emails. And when the customer raises his hand, boom, now they can run with it, send the text, email, whatever they need to do. But they have time to do it because their daily tasks aren’t jammed up with texts and emails. And most texts are, hey, know, Ilana if you’re in the market, give me a call back. You know, you think Ilana is going to go, hey, I’m just calling to tell you I’m in the market, Michael. Thanks so much. Bye. Like, no, like it doesn’t work like that. Everybody’s like,

Ilana Shabtay (14:20)

Right.

Michael (14:28)

It’s the AI is allowing them to spend a little more time with that customer to help you answer those customer questions, not feel the pressure of I have to get off with you to the next phone call. ⁓ And then it’s taking older leads, digging them up. Should the BDC manager who wants to implement AI freak out and run away from this? No way they should be embracing this because you are going to make more money. You are going to make more. You get paid on appointments.

Ilana Shabtay (14:38)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Michael (14:55)

you get paid on shows and possibly sold cars. So if those are the things that you get paid on, you want to embrace AI because it’s taking that lead to appointment, which is a BDC manager lead to appointment, appointment to show. Those are your two key metrics. Who cares about the sold car, right? That’s the showrooms problem. The things you have control over appointment to show. And if you’re the, this is a tool that will drive those numbers higher.

to speak to more people, you’re going to make more appointments and more of those people are going to show up. So embrace the technology, but it’s not a set it and forget it. This is something that has to be just a change to our process is what’s needed.

Ilana Shabtay (15:23)

amazing. Amazing summary.

Yeah, okay, well this was the perspective we needed. You are actually the expert in this, both as someone who worked in the dealership and someone who now runs the training solutions. So I appreciate your time. Thank you again. I love having the experts on the podcast that we can help our anonymous hot takers. And we’ll be back for more, yeah?

Michael (15:44)

Thank you.

Yeah, ⁓ definitely without a doubt. I love it. Thank you, Ilana. I appreciate about time. I appreciate being on this great podcast. Thank you so much. Okay, bye everybody.

Ilana Shabtay (15:56)

Awesome. Thank you, Mike.

Thank you, bye bye.