Happy New Year to all! Well, it is the start of a new year (can you believe it?) and with the granddaddy of retail automotive events-NADA 2007-looming on the horizon, I am starting to get a little excited. Are you planning to attend? Are you sending your GM or sales manager? Whether you send your lot attendant, financial controller, or plan to attend yourself, kudos to you! You are the dealer who understands the importance of remaining competitive and gaining any and every advantage available in order to operate a successful and profitable store. Unfortunately, there are some dealers who feel theyve seen it all, heard it all before, or simply cant afford to send someone for fear that their store will implode in their absence. For some smaller operators, you might have a point, but for most the NADA convention and exposition represents an opportunity-a real opportunity-to learn, interact with other successful dealers, and evaluate products and services from industry vendors whose goal is to help you succeed. Whats not to like? Dealer Marketing Magazine will proudly again have a booth at the show and look forward to seeing many of our readers, advertising partners, as well as learning about new and innovative ways to advertise and market your store in 2007. Last year it was all about search engine marketing, the year before-CRM, and for this year&hellip-stay tuned. I suspect that we will continue to see an emphasis on the role of the Internet and technology in finding and keeping customers, particularly as dealers look to reduce their advertising investment per vehicle sold. We will just have to wait and see.

If you do plan to attend and are idly walking the lanes of the exhibit hall, we encourage you to stop by the Dealer Marketing Magazine booth (#395) to say hi. Tell us how were doing, your likes and dislikes about the magazine (there wont be any dislikes, right?). And if youre wondering who the must see vendors are, we will be distributing a helpful NADA exhibit hall map highlighting the Must See Vendors and where you can find them.

In addition, with 620 booths jammed into the hall, this is a handy resource to help you seek out the vendors who have products and services designed to make you more successful. In fact, if you are a franchise dealer you will find a copy of Dealer Marketing Magazines NADA Must See Vendors exhibit hall map inserted in the center of both this issue and next months magazine. Please take the time to visit each of the vendors highlighted- they just might have the magic pill for sales success in 2007.

Good luck!