While new-vehicle sales picked up in July 2025 thanks to sustained demand — per Cox Automotive — the automotive sector faces many challenges, from tariffs to high customer expectations for personalization and fast service. To make dealership sales teams more competitive, conversational AI has emerged as a pivotal solution, improving customer engagement, personalization and speed.
Understanding conversational AI in automotive sales
In the context of automotive sales, conversational AI is artificial intelligence that streamlines and engages customers through voice or text communications, allowing team members in both sales and service to focus on what they do best. Its key functionalities include natural language understanding, 24/7 engagement and multi-channel communication on the customer’s preferred channel, whether it’s voice, chat, email text. This technology fits seamlessly into the sales process by automating routine lead engagement for known contacts and proactively engaging anonymous, in-market shoppers on the website before they are even in the CRM, allowing the sales team to focus on closing deals with qualified buyers.
A new approach to customer engagement
Traditional lead follow-up often fails to engage the most valuable customers: those actively shopping for a vehicle but who remain unknown to your dealership. Addressing this gap required a new level of industry synergy, leading to a collaboration between STELLA Automotive AI CEO Rich Sands and Client Command® CEO Jonathan Lucenay. IntellaVoice is an AI-powered conquest solution that redefines customer engagement by turning anonymous, in-market shoppers into booked appointments.
IntellaVoice works through a seamless, two-step process. First, it leverages Client Command’s Active Shopper Network® to identify invisible shoppers in real-time. By analyzing browsing behavior across billions of web pages—not just your dealership’s website—the system identifies high-intent buyers and their specific interests in a privacy-compliant way. Once a qualified shopper is identified, STELLA’s conversational AI initiates a personalized, proactive conversation.
As STELLA CEO Rich Sands notes, “Conversations primarily revolve around listening,” and the AI excels at understanding customer intent and tone to ensure interactions feel genuine. It engages customers on their preferred channel.
The real-world impact is a dramatic reduction in friction and a significant increase in conversions. IntellaVoice handles the entire initial engagement, from instant responses to inquiries to qualifying leads and automatically scheduling test drives. When a conversation needs to be handed off to a live agent, the transition is seamless. The system uses “whisper technology” to brief the human agent, so the customer never has to repeat themselves. The results speak for themselves: a pilot program for IntellaVoice generated 12 new vehicle sales and 127 new service appointments in just 27 days.
This “rifle approach instead of a shotgun” is what sets IntellaVoice apart. Rather than spamming an entire CRM and generating annoyance, it provides timely, helpful engagement when a customer is actively looking to buy. By automating this intelligent outreach, IntellaVoice frees your sales team to focus on what they do best: building relationships and closing deals with qualified, high-intent buyers who are already on the calendar.
Faster response times drive more sales
In automotive sales, eliminating friction is critical to driving revenue. Delays and process failures cause potential buyers to lose interest and move on to a competitor. The CDK Global Friction Points 2025 report highlights these vulnerabilities, revealing that more than half of shoppers had to wait to take a test drive. This frustration is compounded when customers’ time is wasted. The same report found that a quarter of buyers who completed steps online were forced to repeat the process at the dealership, leading to a huge drop in customer satisfaction. Every minute a customer spends waiting or re-doing work is an opportunity for the sale to fall through.
This is precisely where conversational AI creates a decisive competitive advantage. IntellaVoice enables immediate, intelligent engagement 24/7, ensuring no lead is ever left waiting.
- After-hours engagement: A potential buyer browsing inventory late on a Tuesday night can get instant answers to questions, qualify for a test drive and book an appointment for the next day, all without human intervention. The lead is captured and advanced at the peak of their interest, not hours later when a salesperson arrives in the morning.
- Peak-time support: Consider a peak sales day when the entire team is engaged with customers on the lot. IntellaVoice acts as a digital front line, managing incoming calls and web chats that would otherwise go to voicemail. It guarantees every inquiry is handled professionally, capturing crucial information that flows directly into the CRM, preventing the need for repetition later.
This immediate and accurate engagement has a direct and quantifiable impact on the bottom line. By eliminating response delays and ensuring data is captured correctly the first time, dealerships can significantly increase lead-to-sale conversion rates. Furthermore, it dramatically shortens the sales cycle by automating the initial qualification and appointment setting. Ultimately, conversational AI turns process friction from a potential liability into a powerful sales-driving asset.
Increased loyalty and personalization lead to referrals
While the initial sale is important, sustainable dealership growth is built on repeat business and referrals. Conversational AI is the key to maintaining and nurturing this post-sale relationship at scale, turning one-time buyers into lifelong advocates.
STELLA AI’s solutions foster these ongoing relationships through automated, yet highly personalized, engagement long after the papers are signed. This consistent, personalized communication demonstrates that the dealership values the customer, not just the transaction. When customers feel recognized and cared for, it builds deep-seated trust and brand affinity.
Ultimately, this positive experience—starting from the speed and satisfaction of the very first interaction—becomes a dealership’s most powerful engine for growth. A customer impressed by a seamless process is not only more likely to become a repeat buyer but also a vocal advocate for the brand. They are far more likely to recommend the dealership to friends and family and, crucially, to leave positive online reviews. These reviews act as powerful social proof, building a public reputation that attracts new customers and drives sustainable growth at a fraction of the cost of acquiring a new lead.
Explore how conversational AI can enhance your sales efforts and boost your dealership’s profitability. Schedule your demo today!
