Welcome to the premiere issue of LeadKeeper News.  This newsletter is dedicated to increasing auto dealers' profitability.

We want this to be a valuable monthly addition to your reading list.  If you have any suggestions, story ideas, or criticisms, please contact me directly - either at the number below or by email by clicking here.  Jay Goth, President

Marketers consider themselves fortunate to receive a 1.5-3% response on direct mail. Recently we saw one client receive a 15% response to their campaign.  Perhaps more significantly, we are still seeing responses months after the campaign.

McDonalds does it. So do Sears, Nabisco, Bank of America, every professional sports franchise, and now your corner restaurant. Do you?

Stink?  I'm not talking about look or navigation or design, I am talking about what your web site does for your business.  There are two main functions that a good website should perform for a dealer:

We know that dealers spend massive amounts of money to get people to the showroom.  Over $7 billion dollars were spent on auto advertising last year, with the average dealer shelling out $444 per new unit sold - for advertising alone (source: NADA).  What a shame that many of those ad dollars are going to waste!

There is no doubt that consumers and regulatory agencies are getting serious about spam.  With drastic laws being proposed and Internet Service Providers developing new spam blockers, it is vital to every legitimate businessperson to know the rules and how to effectively market via email ethically and efficiently.

Top Auto-Related
Websites

Where are people going on the web to get information on automobiles?

Consider this:  according to Nielsen/Net Ratings, in one week in March eBay Motors had a whopping 2,453,000 unique visitors.

The runners up:

Kelley Blue Book         690,000
AOL Auto                    479,000
Auto Trader                 471,000
MSN Autos                  396,000
Autoweb.com              344,000
Yahoo! Autos              301,000

Where are your ad dollars going?

Maybe Next Year...

Almost half (43%) of the people looking to get a new car this year are going to put it off for a year, according to a survey by Harris Interactive.

The reason given by most of the people is that their personal financial situation must improve before making a new car purchase or lease (53%).

Other reasons cited were economic instability, waiting for better factory incentives, and waiting for new models.

...Definitely Next Month

Don't miss next month's issue of Leadkeeper News!  Some articles we will be presenting:

• Addressing the Hispanic Market

• How To Collect Email Addresses

• Effects of Do Not Call Lists

• and MORE!

Do You Know?

Do you know someone who could use this newsletter? 

Do you have a good "war story" that you would like to share with other dealers?

Do you know how we could improve this newsletter or our Leadkeeper service?

Click here  to send us an email, or call us today at the number below.  We love feedback - both good and bad!