Part Two

The target: The great thing about direct mail is the capability of delivering the right message to the right person, unlike using TV, radio, print, billboards, and even the Internet. The two targets we will be addressing here are your existing customers and your potential customers.

#1: Your existing customers

This list is a gold mine. They have already bought from you, and are the easiest to close. Frequency and rhythm play a key role in mining this list. If you fail to contact them enough, they will soon forget about you. If you contact them too much, they'll wish they never bought from you. If you contact your existing customers correctly and appropriately, you will be amazed at the results. Approach it wrong, and you will have chosen the path of making your customers dislike you.

One of the main reasons customers are not contacted correctly is because of the dealer. Why? Because most dealers keep hiring different companies to mine their data and the new company has no idea what the last company did. This creates a too frequent/not enough scenario thats almost guaranteed to aggravate your customers.

#2: Potential customers

There are numerous lists available for this category. My favorite list is vehicle registrations- however, availability depends on your state. Other lists are based on the target you want, like leases or loans expiring, and a few others based on vehicle probabilities. However, probabilities are really guesses, and sometimes that's the best you can do.

I am not a big proponent of mass mailings by zip code, but in large enough quantities, they can be effective. A few more targeted examples would be- new parents looking for a mini van offer- men turning 50 looking for a sports car- a child turning 16 for their first car, graduating students list for a graduation present, etc. The key is to look at what you have to work with and offer it to the most probable prospects.

But I have built in mailing capabilities with my CRM&hellip- Our feeling is that CRM mailings are often lame, and for what you get, they are grossly overpriced. The concept is a sound one but in most cases, the direct mail experts in the industry had no hand in designing the direct mail and letter templates. Your results can be much better. It may seem like a bargain now but it is not. You are playing save a nickel, lose a dollar. As we stated before, find a direct mail company with proven results and one that you're comfortable with-and stick with them.

Ó-David Alan The Automotive Direct Mail Guruä- is CEO of MAIL-RITE INTERNATIONAL INC., a direct mail advertising company. David is also the author of the best selling book The $100 Million Dollar Playbook. He can be reached at 440-519-1515 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .