Three Actionable Strategies to Future-Proof Your Dealership
The Western Canadian Dealer Summit in Lake Louise this past week was a critical check-in for the automotive industry, shifting the conversation from if the market will change to how dealer principals and general managers must adapt now. The key themes were clear: managing the cost of inventory, mitigating risk from cyber threats, and mastering the shift to AI-driven customer journeys.
The consensus from the stage, reinforced by speakers like Maddy Murray, Taras Shuper, and the Fixed Operations Panel discussion, is that the modern dealership cannot afford to be passive. Success hinges on adopting a proactive, data-first strategy.
Here are the three most actionable takeaways from the Summit that directly impact your sales and service profitability.
1. AI Has Changed Search: Focus Your Strategy on Quality Inputs
Breanne Schroder from Google Canada delivered one of the most essential messages for every marketing manager: AI is extending the customer journey and raising the standard for content quality.
- The Longer Journey: New car buyers who use AI tools take 90% longer to make a decision and use 41% more sources for research than non-AI users. This means shoppers are more informed, and they are using AI Overviews to pre-screen your business before they ever click on your website.
- The Quality Mandate: SEO has not changed at its core: the goal is to provide outstanding, original content that adds unique value. The shift is in how you deliver that content. Search queries are becoming longer and more complex, moving from “best family SUV” to “what’s the best SUV to fit 3 car seats that has great mileage”.
Actionable Strategy: Master Your Digital Inputs for AI
- Anchor Your Campaign to Actions: To avoid getting “garbage back,” you must tell AI-powered campaigns, such as Performance Max (PMAX), exactly what specific actions you want: calls, finance applications, form fills, or chat. The adage “I need more leads” is not specific enough.
- Optimize Your Vehicle Feed: The quality of your vehicle data in Google Merchant Center determines if you show up in Vehicle Listing Ads (VLA). Stand out by ensuring your vehicle feed has better product titles, high-quality photos, and videos.
2. Inventory Management is a Marketing and Lead-Handling Problem
Jason Rice of Lot Pop highlighted a massive leakage point in dealership operations: inventory that is sold but is still receiving lead activity. A significant 60-70% of leads received in the last 30 days are for cars a dealership no longer has in stock. This directly impacts BDC productivity and customer experience.
Rice’s powerful message for dealers was to “control what you can control”. This means looking inward at your own operations first, rather than instantly cutting the price or blaming the market.
Actionable Strategy: Align Marketing and Sales Processes
- Stop the BDC Leakage: Ensure your BDC’s follow-up activity is focused on selling the cars you have in stock today, not units that are sold. This requires immediate inventory updates and lead management that correlates directly with current stock.
- Focus on Segmented Switches: If a shopper submits a lead on a vehicle that is sold (or subsequently sells), your process must immediately look for other vehicles in their segment and price range to offer them. This is about lead management correlating with inventory management.
- Address Friction with AI: Speakers on the AI and Fixed Ops panels pointed out that AI’s best early use cases are taking redundant tasks out of the employee’s day, such as first contact, automated updates, and data mining, allowing your people to focus on relationship building and problem-solving.
3. Leadership Must Lead the Tech and Culture Shifts
The message from the Fixed Operations Panel and the Cybersecurity session was unified: technology adoption and risk mitigation are leadership issues, not IT or management tasks. The panelists agreed that removing customer friction is key to maintaining and retaining customers and profits.
- The Culture of Time: Damon Egan stressed that the modern currency you deal with is time, not money; customers will be loyal if you can save them time.
- The People Pipeline: To retain technicians, leadership must be flexible and evolve the pay structure away from flat-rate to reflect the complex computer skills needed for EVs. Grant McNeill emphasized that leadership defines the culture, and the culture defines the success.
Actionable Strategy: Lead with a Proactive Mindset
- Embrace Evolving Needs: With increased service needs and requirements, and a changing workforce, managers need to emphasize understanding their staff and knowing what motivates them. The “we’ve always done it this way” or paid our team that way mentality isn’t going to cut it anymore.
- Govern AI Responsibly: Do not assume your team is using AI correctly. Leaders must identify what AI tools are and are not to be used in the retail environment to ensure consistency and control. Where you may not have a policy around AI use and adoption yet, it is recommended to build the groundwork for who, how, and when your team will use AI.
- Acknowledge Cyber Risk: Cybersecurity is a matter of when, not if. Leaders must create a business continuity plan and test it with a tabletop exercise. Don’t rely on a single control; implement multiple layers of technical, procedural, and human controls.
This year’s summit was enlightening and a great way to end the year on a high note. We’re already looking forward to next year’s Summit, which will be back at the Banff Springs Hotel.
Ready to move from learning to action?
The path to maximizing profitability in 2026 demands a strategic partner who understands how to turn these complex industry shifts into measurable growth.
Book a No-Obligation Demo to see how sMedia can help you clean up your digital inputs and drive higher-quality leads today!
➡️ Claim Your Exclusive Show Offer Here!
Want More Insights Like This?
Get our monthly newsletter packed with proven strategies, fresh trends (just the good stuff) to drive traffic, leads, and revenue right to your inbox.
👉 Sign Up Now or Subscribe on LinkedIn
Recaps You May Have Missed:
