·S5

AI Is Only as Smart as Your CRM

June 4

13 mins

Episode Description

Live from ASOTU CON 2026, Michael Cirillo sits down with Travis Hafer of Reynolds and Reynolds and Perla Romero of Herson’s Auto Group to explore the intersection of AI, dealership data, and customer experience. The conversation centers on a challenge many dealers overlook: before AI can improve performance, the underlying customer data has to be accurate, actionable, and trustworthy.

Travis and Perla share real-world examples of how bad data can create embarrassing customer interactions, while clean, unified customer profiles can help sales teams focus on what matters most—building relationships. They discuss how AI-powered tools are helping dealerships identify hot leads, personalize outreach, streamline workflows, and free employees from manual research so they can spend more time creating meaningful customer experiences.

Timestamped Takeaways

0:00 Intro

0:11 Why Customer Experience Starts With Data

2:00 The Problem With Dirty First-Party Data

3:11 When AI Creates Customer Experience Disasters

4:40 Using AI to Improve Sales Workflows

5:48 Moving From Research to Human Connection

6:08 How Data Insights Shape Team Training

6:58 Helping BDC and Sales Teams Prioritize Leads

7:14 Personalization at Scale Through AI

8:33 Applying Customer Intelligence Across New and Used Inventory

10:17 The Power of Unified Customer Profiles