How AI Doubled Operational Margins for Martin Management Group

Executive Summary:

Martin Management Group, an Automotive News Top 150 Dealership Group operating 16 dealerships nationwide, faced increasing inbound call volumes that strained their BDC and service teams, challenging their ability to maintain an exceptional customer experience within automotive retail's tight margins. By deploying Toma’s AI Agents to handle their inbound calls, they transformed their call handling processes. In the first 90 days, Toma scheduled over 9,000 service appointments (over $2M in revenue), automated 22,000+ calls, and reduced their BDC workload by over 40%, significantly improving operational efficiency and allowing staff to focus on higher-value customer interactions.

The Challenge: Balancing Growth, Experience, and Efficiency

Martin Management Group needed to manage rising call volumes across its 16 locations without compromising the customer experience or increasing BDC headcount. The key challenges were:

• High Call Volume: Increasing calls, especially for service scheduling, strained BDC agents and service advisors.
• Customer Experience: Hold times and call transfers were increasing and maintaining consistency at scale is a challenge even for simple questions like those about pricing or routine service scheduling.
• Operational Costs: Due to rising costs of recruitment, wages, and training, expanding the BDC team to address growing demand was not a viable option.
• Staff Burden: Repetitive call tasks diverted skilled staff from complex customer needs and relationship building.

Martin Management Group required a scalable solution to enhance efficiency and customer satisfaction simultaneously.

The Solution: Toma’s Fully Customizable Voice AI as a Virtual BDC Agent

Martin Management Group partnered with Toma to automate and optimize inbound call handling. Toma’s fully customizable voice AI Agents functioned as an intelligent virtual BDC agent integrated into their workflow:

• Automated Scheduling: Toma autonomously handled the high volume of inbound calls for booking service appointments, understanding natural language and integrating with the service scheduler to fulfill requests.
• Intelligent Routing: The AI distinguished between calls it could handle (like new appointments) and those needing human expertise (warranty processing, status updates), routing appropriately.
• "Clawback" Safety Net: If a transferred call wasn't answered by a human agent, Toma automatically retrieved the call, took a message, and created a detailed follow-up ticket in their task tracking software, preventing lost leads and customer frustration.

This allowed Martin Management Group to manage calls efficiently 24/7, ensuring prompt responses and seamless handling.

Undeniable ROI in 90 Days

The integration of Toma yielded significant, quantifiable results within the first three months:

• Service Revenue: Over 9,000 service appointments booked by Toma, generating over $2 million.
• Call Automation: More than 22,000 calls handled end-to-end by AI without human intervention.
• Operational Efficiency: Enabled a 40% reduction in BDC workload, improving operational margins while increasing call handling capacity without compromising on the customer experience at all
• Improved Staff Focus: Human agents were freed from routine calls to concentrate on complex customer inquiries, follow-ups, and relationship management.

“We were looking for ways to make our BDC more efficient without increasing headcount or compromising the customer experience—and Toma delivered. It picked up the repetitive workload, handled tens of thousands of calls across our group, and gave our team room to focus on higher-value interactions. It’s been a game changer.”

— Chadwick Martin, President, Martin Management Group

A Blueprint for AI-Powered Dealership Groups

Martin Management Group's successful implementation of Toma demonstrates a reality where AI Agents can augment a dealership’s staff and operations. By leveraging intelligent automation, they addressed critical challenges related to call volume, customer experience, and operational costs. This strategic move not only yielded impressive immediate results in revenue and efficiency but also established a scalable model for future growth. Martin Management Group's experience serves as a compelling example for other dealership groups seeking to modernize operations, enhance customer satisfaction, and improve profitability through AI Agents built specifically for dealerships.