One Store Got 19% More Contacts From Its AI. The Rest of the Group Got 3%.

What's new: A Pasch Group study of dealers overseeing 200+ stores found the same AI system produces wildly different results depending on whether anyone planned the rollout — one store lifted contact rates 19%, while others in its own group, on the identical system, managed just 3%.

Why it matters: If you're blaming the vendor for a flat AI rollout, check your scheduler integration and your pay plan first. The report, covered on Automotive State of the Union with author Glenn Pasch, says the gap between stores isn't the software — it's whether the store rebuilt its workflow around the tool or just flipped a switch.

• The three ways rollouts stall: no plan (treating AI like a software patch instead of a process change), systems that don't talk to each other (AI books a service appointment the scheduler never sees, or a CRM closes a lead at 30 days while AI follow-up runs to 51), and no written policy — only about 1% of stores had one, and some dealers didn't realize their own team was already using AI with customers.
• What the 19% store did differently: connected every system before launch, told staff up front how AI would change their day and who gets commission credit when it books the appointment, and named a single owner — a "champion" who manages the AI the way a manager manages a new hire.
• Nobody got laid off. Across every store interviewed, headcount changes came from attrition only. The logic: dealerships have always had more leads than staff could chase, so AI absorbs the routine follow-up and lets salespeople work the shoppers who are actually ready to talk.
• The metric that changed: one dealer stopped obsessing over speed-to-lead — the AI already replies in seconds — and started tracking the handoff instead: how fast a human reaches the customer once AI flags it needs help.

Bottom line: the tool is table stakes. The planning is the product.