Every month, World Hyundai and World Kia, two Chicago-area stores, welcome 2,000 people through their doors. They sell a combined 450 to 550 cars. What happened to the other roughly 1,500 people who walked in, talked to a salesperson, and left without buying?
For most dealerships, the answer is simple: nothing.
Scott Falcone knew that answer wasn’t good enough.
Scott owns World Hyundai Matteson and World Kia Joliet. I’ve known Scott for over 25 years. His stores have been among our longest-running partners at Subprime Marketing Group, a relationship built on a shared belief that the right data, delivered at the right moment, changes outcomes. But Scott always understood something most dealers don’t: getting customers through the door is only half the battle.
“I knew we had a lot of showroom traffic that wasn’t being followed up on,” Scott told me recently. “I needed a solution that would contact those unsold visitors and convert them into sales.”
Less than a year ago, Scott met Muhammed Saleeq, CEO and co-founder of Lokam.ai. He liked what he saw enough to become a principal investor. Today, Lokam.ai runs in both of his stores, and the results are hard to argue with.
Here’s how it works: Every week, World Hyundai and World Kia send Lokam.ai a list of unsold showroom visitors. Lokam.ai contacts those consumers in a survey format, gathering data on who they are, what they’re looking for, and what prevented them from buying. The system doesn’t just follow up. It learns.
“We’re building a database of information,” Scott explained. “So, in addition to additional sales, we’re building something valuable for the long term.”
Scott says those conversations show which salespeople need training and in what areas. After enough calls, patterns emerge in the unsold desk log: the same salespeople appear repeatedly in customers’ accounts of why they did not buy. The dealership would not have seen those patterns without the agent making the calls.
The numbers:
– 1,000 showroom visits per month, per store
– 225 to 300 vehicles sold per month, per store
– Approximately 700 to 775 unsold showroom visits per store, estimated from those figures
Since implementing Lokam.ai, World Hyundai and World Kia are converting 10 to 15 of those unsold visitors into sales every month at each location. At a conservative $3,000 gross per deal, that’s $30,000 to $45,000 in additional gross profit per store, per month.
The cost? $1,500 per month for sales. $1,500 per month for service. Because Scott uses both, Lokam.ai discounts each to $1,250, a combined $2,500 per month.
Do the math. A $2,500 investment generating $30,000 to $45,000 in additional gross profit. Every month. And that doesn’t include improvements in the service department: measurable increases in CSI scores and service revenue since Lokam.ai was introduced there as well.
Scott sees the same learning opportunity in service. Follow-up calls reveal patterns in customer feedback about advisors, giving managers a clearer picture of who needs coaching and in what areas.
The question I always ask
I asked Scott what he’d say to a dealer sitting on the fence about AI.
He didn’t sugarcoat it.
“If you’re skeptical about AI, you were probably the same person who wasn’t sure how the internet was going to work out. You can be AI enhanced. Or you can be AI replaced. Those are the two choices you have in life right now.”
The complete loop
What struck me most about this conversation is how Lokam.ai completes something most dealers treat as separate systems.
At Subprime Marketing Group, we work with dealerships to identify and engage subprime consumers who are actively in the market. Our job is to put the right people in the showroom. Lokam.ai picks up exactly where that ends, following up with the visitors who didn’t buy, gathering intelligence, and converting second chances into closed deals.
For Scott, that combination means he’s not just generating more showroom traffic. He’s extracting more value from every single visit.
That’s not a better sales process. That’s a fundamentally different way of thinking about customer acquisition.
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To learn more about Lokam.ai, contact Muhammed Saleeq at saleeq@lokam.ai or visit lokam.ai.
To connect with Scott Falcone directly about AI strategies for your dealership, reach him at scott@worldkiajoliet.com.
For a free Subprime Market Analysis of your area, no strings attached, just data, reach out anytime.
Denny Long President, Subprime Marketing Group denny@subprimemarketinggroup.com | (330) 685-5664
