---
title: "AI for dealer networks and after-sales service | ekory"
description: "Price lists, superseded part numbers and manuals in several languages: how to give dealers and workshops answers with the source, with data and EU rules."
url: https://ekory.ai/blog/ai-for-dealer-networks-and-after-sales
language: en
italian: https://ekory.ai/it/blog/ai-for-dealer-networks-and-after-sales.md
updated: 2026-10-08
---

Industries 8 October 2026 11 min read

# AI for dealer networks and after-sales service: price lists, parts and manuals always at hand

In after-sales service the answer almost always exists already: in a price list, a parts catalog, a manual. What’s missing is a way to reach it that doesn’t go through your most experienced person. An AI agent that reads those documents and answers citing the page gets the answer to your network in seconds, even on a Saturday. At Tohatsu Italia, 156 people across the network used the company’s AI agents in 30 days.

- **78%** of the car mechanics Italian firms sought in 2025 were hard to find
- **10 years** online, at least, for digital machinery manuals from 2027
- **2,283** conversations in 30 days across the Tohatsu Italia network

## Key takeaways

- **In after-sales, the bottleneck is not the information but the path to it**: overlapping price lists, superseded part numbers and manuals in several languages sit in different documents, and often only one or two people know where to look.
- **The people who know are hard to find**: in 2025 Italian companies rated 47% of their planned hires hard to fill, 61.6% among skilled workers and 78.3% among car mechanics and repairers (Excelsior).
- **From 20 January 2027 the EU Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 allows digital-only instructions**, if they can be downloaded and stay online for at least ten years, in the language set by each country; importers and distributors must check they come with the product.
- **An answer that cites the page changes how a network works**: the dealer checks before sending the quote, and the expert only gets the questions the documents can’t answer.
- **At Tohatsu Italia**, an exclusive importer with more than 140 workshops and dealers, 156 people used the AI agents in 2,283 conversations in 30 days; the most used one answered 138 people across the network.

## Why after-sales service turns into a bottleneck

After-sales runs on precise questions. A workshop asks which number replaced a discontinued part, a dealer which price list applies to a customer, a technician the torque setting for an older engine series. The answer almost always exists, in a catalog, a service bulletin or a manual. The problem is reaching it in time, without mistakes.

Often the path runs through one or two people, the ones who have known the catalogs for years and remember the exceptions: we wrote about it in [The bottleneck is your best person](https://ekory.ai/blog/the-bottleneck-is-your-best-person). Italian wholesale trade, which Eurostat counts at 338,575 enterprises and 1.12 million people employed, averages three people per enterprise: in firms that small, technical knowledge can only live in a few heads.

Yet after-sales is where much of the money is made. In a February 2025 BCG study of roughly a hundred industrial machinery companies averaging over $2 billion in revenue, those that prioritize services earn a third or more of their income from them, at gross margins twice the 15-25% typical of equipment sales. Among the causes of underperformance, the study cites a lack of information about installed equipment: its condition, location, usage and service history.

And experienced people are hard to replace. According to the Excelsior survey by Unioncamere and the Italian Ministry of Labour, in 2025 Italian companies rated almost one in two of their planned hires hard to fill, and far more among repair and maintenance profiles:

Hires rated hard to fill in Italy, 2025

| Profile | Share hard to fill |
| --- | --- |
| All planned hires | 47.0% |
| Technical professions | 54.8% |
| Skilled workers | 61.6% |
| Car mechanics and repairers | 78.3% |
| Mechanics and fitters of heating, plumbing and air-conditioning equipment | 74.7% |
| Repairers of industrial electronic and measuring equipment | 72.6% |

Source: Unioncamere and Ministry of Labour, Excelsior information system, report on the professions and training demanded by Italian companies in 2025. Shares of planned hires; individual profiles among those with at least 2,000 planned hires.

When someone who knows retires or leaves, replacing them is slow. And the newcomer learns by asking questions of the very person they were meant to relieve.

## Which questions dealers ask every day

Anyone who runs a network knows them by heart, because they hear them every day by phone, on WhatsApp and by email. At Tohatsu Italia, before the project, they sounded like this:

- “Which propeller is mandatory on a 140?”
- “What’s the carburetor part number for a 3.5, and which one replaced it?”
- “Compression ratio, MFS30C vs 30D?”
- “What’s included in the 70 Special Edition program?”
- “Which price list applies to this customer?”

They fall into four families: **parts and compatibility** (which part, what replaced it, what comes standard), **prices and terms** (which list, which discount, which promotion), **procedures** (how to enter an order, how to open a warranty claim) and **technical data** (torque settings, pressures, diagrams). The answer is written down somewhere, and a wrong answer costs more than a slow one.

The worst moment is Saturday afternoon: the dealer is ready to close a sale, a part number or a stock confirmation is missing, and the technical office reopens on Monday. For Tohatsu Italia it was one of the starting problems.

## Overlapping price lists and superseded part numbers: where mistakes start

The first trap is price lists. A network often uses several at once: direct dealers, sub-dealers, retail, seasonal promotions. Using the wrong one means redoing a quote; letting a network-only price reach an end customer is worse.

The second is superseded part numbers. **A superseded part number is the new number a manufacturer gives a part it has modified or updated**; the old one stays printed in manuals, on labels and in customers’ memory. Whoever answers has to know which number is valid today, since when, and whether the two parts are interchangeable.

For an AI agent this becomes two rules. It must read only the documents meant for the people using it: if the dealers’ agent has their price list and not the net prices, a reserved price can’t end up in an answer, however the question is phrased. And it must always show the page a price or a part number comes from, so whoever prepares the quote can check it in a moment.

## Manuals in several languages: what changes on 20 January 2027

The third pillar is manuals: user, workshop and installation manuals. Whoever imports or distributes machinery gets them from the manufacturer in several languages and editions, and has to make sure users can understand them.

From **20 January 2027** the EU Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 applies, repealing Directive 2006/42/EC. Instructions for use may then be digital only, on three conditions: the machine, its packaging or an accompanying document must say how to access them; they must be downloadable, printable and storable, so they can be read during a breakdown; and they must stay online for the expected lifetime of the product and at least ten years after it was placed on the market. Anyone who asks for paper at the time of purchase gets it free within a month, and for products non-professionals may use, the essential safety information stays on paper.

On language the regulation is clear: instructions and safety information must be in a language users can easily understand, as set by each member state. Importers must make sure the instructions come with the product, and distributors, before selling it, must check that they are there and in the right language. For anything meant for consumers, Italy’s Consumer Code also requires all information to be given at least in Italian.

For a network that means a library of digital manuals, in several languages and versions, that must stay available for years. It is only useful if someone finds the right page at the right moment: the job where an AI agent pays off most, as long as it cites document, version and page.

## What changes when the answer comes with its source

In a trade of part numbers and prices, an AI that answers without a source gets used once and dropped: no dealer sends a customer a part number on the strength of a sentence they can’t check. When every answer carries the document and the page, three things happen:

1. **The dealer checks before sending.** They open the price list or catalog page cited in the answer, verify it and send the quote: mistakes stop before they reach the customer.
2. **The expert only gets the hard questions.** The ones with an answer in the documents no longer reach their phone; what is left are the exceptions, which are their real job.
3. **Gaps in the documents become visible.** When the AI says the answer isn’t in the documents, you know which sheet is missing or which bulletin nobody ever wrote.

To see whether it works, two numbers are enough, both visible in the first week: how many questions still reach your most experienced person, and how long a dealer waits for the first useful answer. Two counts, before and after, rather than estimates of hours saved.

## The Tohatsu Italia story: from “only Raffaele knows” to “the whole network knows”

M3SN, M3 Servizi Nautici, is Tohatsu’s exclusive importer for Italy, based in Andora (Savona), with a network of more than 140 workshops and dealers. Questions always reached the same people, there were four price lists, with a public price and overlapping promotions, and every technical course started from scratch.

The company put price lists, product guides, manuals, homologation files, catalogs and procedures into one knowledge base, with five Ekos on top, one for each audience: “Assistente Tohatsu” for sales agents, “Avatar di Raffaele” for dealers, “Service Ai” for the workshop, “Marketing Ai” for marketing and “Esperto Liqui Moly” for a partner product line.

Tohatsu Italia, 30 days of activity: the three most-used Ekos

| Eko | For | Conversations | People |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Avatar di Raffaele | Dealers | 1,552 | 138 |
| Assistente Tohatsu | Agents | 489 | 11 |
| Marketing Ai | Marketing | 149 | 4 |

Source: ekory customer story on Tohatsu Italia. In total, in 30 days: 156 active users, 2,283 conversations, 3,198 messages.

The most used is the digital twin of one of the company’s most experienced people, asked by 138 people across the network. The rules matter as much as the answers: a confidential discount mentioned in a chat stays in that conversation and never becomes a rule for the whole network. Raffaele Dayan, CEO of M3 Servizi Nautici, put it in one line: “perfect memory is a mirage”. The [full story](https://ekory.ai/case-studies/m3sn) also tells how the company produced a whole technical course with AI.

## How to start with your network

1. **Collect the real questions.** One week of your network’s calls, messages and emails is the best test there is.
2. **Start with the documents that answer the most.** Usually the parts catalog with its supersessions and the network price list.
3. **Separate the audiences.** Dealers, agents, the workshop and marketing need different documents: one AI agent per audience, each with its own.
4. **Measure two numbers.** Questions reaching the expert, and the wait for the first useful answer, before and after.

This is the work we built ekory for. Price lists, parts catalogs, manuals and procedures stay where they are, in Google Drive, SharePoint, OneDrive or Notion, and Ekos answer dealers, agents and workshops with the page each figure comes from; each group sees its own price list and nothing else. After the demo we set up an Eko on your price lists and catalogs within one business day, and you try it for two weeks with part of your network: see the examples on the page for [distributors and dealer networks](https://ekory.ai/distributors).

## Methodological note

- **Hiring difficulty**: Excelsior, _La domanda di professioni e di formazione delle imprese italiane nel 2025_ (2026), shares of hires planned by companies; individual profiles from its table of the 30 most critical professions, among those with at least 2,000 planned hires.
- **Wholesale enterprises**: Eurostat structural business statistics, NACE division G46 (wholesale trade, except motor vehicles and motorcycles), 2024.
- **The weight of after-sales**: BCG’s third services benchmark, about a hundred industrial machinery makers averaging over $2 billion in revenue. Large companies: the figure shows what after-sales is worth, not how Italian small firms behave.
- **Manuals**: Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Articles 10, 13, 15 and 54; the date of 20 January 2027 is set by the corrigendum of 4 July 2023 (the original text said 14 January). Italian Consumer Code, Article 9.
- **Tohatsu Italia**: figures from the customer story published on this site and approved by the customer, over 30 days. The questions quoted are from the story; the four families are our own grouping.

We left out statistics on self-service resolution in customer support: they are widely quoted, but we could not open their original release when we checked.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can an AI agent tell a dealer which part number replaced another?

Yes, if it reads the parts catalogs and bulletins where the supersessions are written: it answers with the number valid today, the old one and the page it found them on. If a supersession isn’t documented it must say so, which also shows you which document is missing.

### How do you stop dealers from seeing reserved prices?

By giving the dealers’ AI agent only the documents meant for them: a price list that isn’t among its documents can’t end up in an answer, however the question is phrased. With groups, each type of dealer sees its own price list and nothing else. Discounts mentioned in a chat should stay in that conversation.

### From 2027, can machinery manuals be digital only?

Yes. From 20 January 2027, Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 allows digital instructions for use, as long as they can be downloaded, printed and stored and stay online for at least ten years after the product is placed on the market. A paper copy requested at the time of purchase must be provided free within a month.

### In which language must the manuals be for products sold in Italy?

In a language users can easily understand, as set by the country where the product is sold: that is what the Machinery Regulation requires, and distributors must check it before selling. For information meant for consumers, Italy’s Consumer Code requires at least Italian.

### Do we have to move catalogs and price lists into a new system?

No. A tool like this should read files where they already are, in shared folders or document systems, and update when a price list changes. Asking to move everything first is the surest way never to start.

### How do you measure whether AI in after-sales is working?

With two numbers visible from the first week: how many questions still reach your most experienced person, and how long a dealer waits for the first useful answer. They are counts you can check yourself, more useful than any estimate of hours saved.

## Sources

1. Unioncamere, Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, Excelsior information system, [_La domanda di professioni e di formazione delle imprese italiane nel 2025_](https://excelsior.unioncamere.net/sites/default/files/pubblicazioni/2025/Domanda_professioni_formazione_imprese.pdf) (in Italian), 2026.
2. Francisco Salmerón, Michael Dahle, Jonathan Brown, [_Aftermarket Services Drive Growth and Higher Margins for Industrial Manufacturers_](https://www.bcg.com/publications/2025/aftermarket-services-drive-growth-for-industrial-manufacturers), BCG, 18 February 2025.
3. [Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 on machinery](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32023R1230), Arts. 10, 13, 15 and 54, EUR-Lex, with its [corrigendum](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32023R1230R(01)) of 4 July 2023.
4. [Legislative Decree no. 206 of 6 September 2005 (Consumer Code)](https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:decreto.legislativo:2005-09-06;206~art9) (in Italian), Art. 9, Normattiva.
5. Eurostat, [Enterprises by detailed NACE Rev. 2 activity and special aggregates (sbs\_ovw\_act)](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table?lang=en), wholesale trade (NACE G46), Italy, 2024, updated 30 September 2026.
6. ekory, [Tohatsu Italia: from “only Raffaele knows” to “the whole network knows”](https://ekory.ai/case-studies/m3sn), customer story, 2026.
7. ekory, [The bottleneck is your best person](https://ekory.ai/blog/the-bottleneck-is-your-best-person), August 2026.

## More research and articles.

- [AI onboarding: the first 90 days of a new hire](https://ekory.ai/blog/onboarding-with-ai-first-90-days): Guide 7 October 2026 What to prepare before day one, what to do in the first week and month, and where an AI agent on company documents saves colleagues’ time.

- [AI for publishers and literary agencies: rights, catalogs, royalty statements and manuscripts](https://ekory.ai/blog/ai-for-publishers-and-literary-agencies): Industries 7 October 2026 8,645 translation rights sold abroad in 2025, three publishers in four already using AI: where it helps with contracts and royalties, and where the copyright line runs.

- [All research and articles.](https://ekory.ai/blog): Resources Data, regulation and cases, in English and Italian.

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