Happy St. Patty's Day!

I'm not Irish--but how can you not love a day that promotes all things green? It seems today just about anything that can be died or dressed in the mossy hue--is. I've always been a big fan of the color as Kelly Green is the official color of the New Castle Chrysler High School Trojans. Yes, I proudly cheered for the only high school in the country with a vehicle manufacturer in the name for six years. New Castle's other claim to fame is the largest high school fieldhouse in the world-I mention this, only because, it's mandatory as an alumni to bring it up. In addition to my fascination with green, we also had a "baked potato bar" at lunch which was pretty awesome in itself. This St. Patty's Day I'm seeing things a little differently, with the current uptick in the market and used car sales continuing to increase--I think this "lucky day" may be just what we all need. Have some fun this afternoon - all of our luck is changing!

The Fieldhouse at New Castle Chrysler High School-Can seat up to 10,000 fans!

The Canal here in Downtown Indianapolis dyed this morning by the mayor:

Marketing to your Database

People call and ask me for the most effective mailing lists we can get our hands on. ...and we don't have it--you do! Your own, in house, sales & service database is really the very best list you can market to. If all you are doing is having the sales people put together some personal letters to a handful of people every month there is a huge opportunity for you! We recommend hitting your database once a quarter with some kind of sales offer and keeping up with them that often or more with service mailers. In addition to sending them mail via the Post Office--it's also a great idea to email them on a monthly basis. Email newsletters with info about vehicle maintenance, recipes & specials at the dealership are a great way to stay in touch and offer relevant information. Database mailers produce a higher ROI than any other type, if you haven't contacted yours, as a group, in the past 3 months--it's time.

Make the most of YOUR Direct Mail Week-Day 5

It's Friday, and "Make the Most of your Direct Mail Week 2009" is drawing to a close. I tried to keep these tips short & sweet, and things you can incorporate into any mailer with any company. Below is the most important thing of all.

Day #5 Tip

Set the tone for your team.

One of my first managers in this business used to say "speed of the leader, speed of the team." I love that. I talked to a dealer today that had 200 people in over the course of 2 weeks off of 10,000 pieces of mail. They sold "a couple" cars a week. He was complaining about how everyone coming in just wanted a gift and the mail just "didn't work." That was the leader of this group. If the leader accepts that 200 people through the door is a failure what kind of a response will he get from his team? These are not the glory days friends, things take a little work. If you don't think your team is able to turn some gift grabbers into buyers, than DO SOMETHING. Change the team, hire some outside help, but don't give up. As you go into your next mail sale make sure your attitude is positive about the possibilities for your sale, and you're able to relay that to your team. Happy selling!