Masterminds on the Move: How AI Is Shaping Dealership Perception & Customer Experience

Author: Tracy Camacho, Director of Marketing Communications at automotiveMastermind

Two things crossed my mind when I first walked into the Grand Ballroom at the NCM Clients & Friends Digital Success Workshop.  

The first was how quickly the NCM team dove into their program of education and thought leadership, with a dealer roundtable on AI best practices already underway before many vendors had even finished laying out the swag at their booths.  

The second was how engaged the dealer attendees were—leaning in, asking questions, and taking notes in the first hours of the first day.  

It was clear that dealers and vendors alike weren’t just in Kansas City for the barbecue (though Jack Stack lived up to the hype). They came looking for practical ideas they could take back to their stores and put into action right away. I was proud to represent automotiveMastermind, Insight Keynote Sponsor for this year’s workshop.

In this blog, I’ll be covering the things I learned listening to the many speakers at the NCM Clients & Friends digital workshop—from the capabilities of AI to its limitations, how AI is changing dealership perception, and how a strong process will yield real sales results.  

Three Lessons from NCM’s Digital Success Workshop 

It was no surprise that AI was the big topic of conversation at the Digital Success Workshop, but I’d like to break this into two categories:  

1. The AI at the dealership: the sales efficiency opportunity smart AI tools can provide, as long as they are informed by high-quality, cleansed data.  
2. The AI that brings your customers to the dealership: the mechanisms within these AI models that help the average American go from “I wonder what four-door hatchbacks are available in my area” to “can I schedule a test drive for Friday?”  

In addition to the AI elephant in the room, there was a heavy interest in process (AI-powered or otherwise) that gave dealers the ability to take control of their own operations and open up more opportunities for a sale.  

AI Is Only as Good as the Data Behind It

Let’s go back to Day 1. Before I even sat down, the main stage was already addressing the importance of designating an AI champion at your dealership—an early indicator that AI isn’t just the latest tech, but also a tool that requires a practical approach to building adoption for maximum value.  

And practical, actionable insight starts with a thoughtful approach to customer data. “You can’t AI your way out of bad data,” Mike Morgan noted during his keynote presentation, The Data Problem Behind Every Broken AI Promise. “You wouldn’t half build an engine and send it out there. Everything you want to do from a customer perspective is sitting at the data level.” 

Michelle Roberts and Riley Ocker were even more direct. “Bad data is worse than no data. No data slows you down. Bad data points you confidently in the wrong direction, and you spend real money getting there.” 

Just think about all the mail shipped to the wrong address and service reminder texts sent to incorrect numbers. Data that hasn’t been reviewed and cleaned in weeks, months, or years doesn’t just result in lost opportunities. It’s a real expense for your business.  

For more on how clean data can drive real sales results, automotiveMastermind Dealer Relations Manager Amy Owens breaks it down with Bob Johnson Mazda’s Jay Haas in this “Data to Deals” blog post. Or, if you’d like to dig into how clean data can fuel predictive power, listen to Larry Goering, Vice President, IT Operations for the Ken Garff Automotive Group, explain it from the automotiveMastermind Insights stage at the 2026 NADA Show.  

AI Is Already Shaping Your Dealership’s Reputation 

“AI is summarizing your customer experience. It’s answering questions about your business, whether you’re managing it or not,” said Cuyler Owens in Which Staff Behaviors Show Up in Dollars Per RO?  

More consumers are turning to AI assistants alongside traditional search engines when researching vehicles, dealerships, and buying decisions. That means AI is increasingly helping shape first impressions of your store.  Ask yourself—or, even better, ask ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude—what do you want your potential customers to learn about your dealership as their first impression? Have you updated your About Us page? What’s on your homepage and is it easy to navigate? Do you have an FAQ populated with the most common questions customers call in to ask? Do you have a blog? Is it current? And here’s a big one: what do your store’s reviews look like?  

Reputation management is not a new concept, but with AI algorithms prioritizing Google and Yelp reviews in their outputs, dealers need to make sure they focus on creating best-in-class customer experiences, ones that car buyers feel the need to rave about.   

And while automotiveMastermind does not provide GEO support, we love giving you the tools to build a great customer experience, whether it’s supporting pricing transparency with Mobility Global’s FeeSync or prioritizing the most likely leads fast with our Behavior Prediction Score.  

Technology Helps, but Great Processes Still Drive Sales

If attendees were ready for a little break from AI, Jen Sanford was on site to lead a conversation on customer experience—specifically, the importance of a strong service-to-sales process.  

In Unlocking the Hidden Value of Your Service Drive, Sanford broke down how two automotiveMastermind stores, Porshe Marin and Hudson Nissan of North Charleston, used personalized marketing, a clear process, and consistent training to “incept” new sales into existence in the service drive.  

“The service drive isn’t just for retention,” according to Sanford. “It’s one of the largest untapped sources of vehicle sales opportunity. Dealers who master service-to-sales create growth without needing to wait for showroom traffic.” 

Fritz, automotiveMastermind’s AI assistant, can help make this process faster, more informed, and more personalized, but ultimately, it’s the humans executing the process who land the sale.   

“The dealerships seeing the greatest success are the ones that create accountability, empower their teams, and make service-to-sales a daily habit,” per Sanford. Can process really have that much of an impact? Ask Casey VW.  

The Biggest Takeaways for Dealers 

If I could summarize my experiences with the NCM team, I would give you these three takeaways: 

1. A sound AI strategy can only exist with the right building blocks. Look at how your dealership manages its data and its processes before layering on AI functionality.  
2. AI can get you 90% there, but car sales are still people-driven. 
3. If there’s a crowd hanging out at the stadium but no one on the soccer pitch, it’s probably because you’re not supposed to go on the soccer pitch. 😉 

Enjoying the Signature Social at Sporting KC Park

Photo not relevant at all, why do you ask?