The integration means that dealers using Impel’s Sales AI management technology will be able to manage the Impel AI leads data while operating from Pentana’s DealerSocket system with data flowing seamlessly between Impel and DealerSocket. 

This avoids duplication of effort. Without integration, dealers wanting to manage their leads from within Pentana systems would need to physically transfer data from Impel into DealerSocket. Under the arrangement, this process will now be seamless. The companies say this will enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the customers’ sales processes.

As the market leader, the majority of Australian dealers manage their business on a Pentana DMS.

Impel says it has begun taking orders to supply its Sales AI under the new arrangement and IT development of the integration has now entered the pilot testing stage. It will be operational on dealer DMSs next month.  

Impel is a leading provider of end-to-end AI operating systems to the automotive retail industry. It uses proprietary consumer behavioural data and generative human-like conversational AI technology to deliver hyper-personalised sales, marketing and service experiences at every customer touchpoint.

Pentana said in the statement: “We are thrilled to integrate this AI sales management technology with our DealerSocket solution. This new two-way integration delivers a seamless AI solution that engages internet leads 24/7, enhancing sales conversions.

“This partnership unites two automotive leaders to deliver a seamless customer experience, resulting in greater productivity and increased revenue.“This new bidirectional integration ensures seamless lead verification between Impel AI and DealerSocket, effectively eliminating inefficiencies and ensuring accurate lead tracking,” the Pentana statement said.

“Additionally, lead updates are automatically entered into DealerSocket, including all activity information, providing your sales team with comprehensive insights to drive conversions.”

Pentana said that key features of the integration are

• All leads nurtured by Sales AI are entered directly into DealerSocket
• Status updates transfer to DealerSocket. The updates capture all activity details
• Lead verification is performed to eliminate duplicates 
• The liaison drives showroom appointments and live calls
• Hands ready-to-buy shoppers to dealership sales teams
• Enables sales teams to focus on high-value leads and closing deals 

Michael Clarke, general manager APAC at Impel, told GoAutoNews Premium that the partners set out to create a continuity of experience for dealerships rather than creating more and more platforms for them to engage with.

“We know dealers are stretched across too many disconnected tools. By embedding Impel’s AI directly into DealerSocket, we give every sales team a single, unified platform for lead engagement – from first internet enquiry to final sale.”

“Our bi-directional integration means every AI-driven conversation, lead status update and customer insight flows in real time into the dealer’s DMS. Sales teams instantly see prioritised, hyper-qualified leads and can act immediately – cutting out manual data entry and dramatically improving productivity.”

Michael Clarke

“With everything surfaced natively in DealerSocket, reps never need to leave their CRM. They get full visibility of AI conversations and leads, driving faster responses, higher conversion rates and true operational efficiency.”

Mr Clarke said that without such a system, if a dealer wanted to use Impel’s Sales AI would have had to have used the Impel dashboard.

“Without this integration, dealers would still log into our dashboard, manually copy AI conversations and paste them into their CRM just to keep records up to date.

“By automating every step—syncing all AI interactions back into DealerSocket—we ensure no lead slips through the cracks, databases stay clean and sales teams can focus on customers instead of administration,” he said.

By John Mellor