In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D'Arc are Mike Martucci, General Manager at Jim Ellis Kia, and Kevin Esmezyan, Chief Product Officer at Matador AI to discuss how conversational AI is turning a three-person sales team handling 700 leads a month into a machine that doubles close rates and books service appointments at nearly 90% — while most dealers are still missing after-hours calls and watching customers drive to the competition.
Mike walked into a store with a light lead count and a low close rate and used Matador AI to nearly double both.
Today, three team members handle 696 leads a month, two-thirds of all appointments are booked by AI, and his service retention rate has climbed from the 30s to 50%.
Kevin explains how a crawl-walk-run onboarding process builds an AI that learns a dealer's specific playbook, and why the compounding effect of small adjustments over time is what actually moves the numbers.
This episode of the Car Dealership Guy Podcast is brought to you by Matador AI.
Topics:
05:00 Service Retention From 30% To 50%.
06:20 How One Dealer Doubled Close Rate.
07:50 Auto's 2% Profit Margin Problem.
11:35 Why Mike Trusts AI With Customers.
12:50 The AI That Learns To Think Like Mike.
13:45 The GM's New Job In 2026.
15:50 Why Auto Dealers Hide Pricing.
17:10 AI Books Two-Thirds Of Appointments.
18:20 Three BDC Staff Handle 700 Leads.
19:10 The Phone Book Lesson Every Dealer Needs.
21:20 The AI That Covers Customer Lifecycle.
23:20 Why Most AI Tools Fail Dealers.
Matador AI - Most dealerships are losing leads in the follow-up. Matador AI fixes that. It's not generic automation. It's dealership-trained AI, built on millions of real conversations and optimized around what converts. In a thin-margin business, every conversation matters.
Book your demo today and get your first month free @ here.
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