NADAs 89^th Annual Convention and Exposition is now in everyones rear view mirror as we move forward into the month of March with the hope of warmer weather and increased sales. If you were one of the approximately 30,000 auto dealers or other industry-related attendees who, over the course of five days, gathered in Orlando for the industry event of the year, youll either be armed with a ton of new solutions from the nearly 600 exhibitors or, if you are a vendor, youll be busy following up with dealers who stopped by your booth ready to do business. Irrespective of the reasons for attending, NADA proved once again, that it is the forum for dealers interested in improving their business.

Sales of new cars and light trucks are forecast to be down slightly from 2005 according to NADA Chief Economist Paul Taylor. Speaking at the show, Taylor projected that sales will total 16.8 million units in 2006 down slightly from the 16.94 million sold in 2005. Most signs in the economy and market point to another strong year for sales of new cars and light trucks, says Taylor. So, dealers armed with this knowledge and a desire to increase used car sales in 2006 should continue to examine new ways of doing business more efficiently and profitably. Competition for new customers remains fierce and, despite the relatively strong economy, dealers must align their business with the right tools to help ensure sales success. After walking the NADA exhibit hall and chatting with both dealers and vendors, we believe that some of these right tools may include the following NADA vendors, who offer just about every solution you can think of!

@utoRevenue

@utoRevenue&trade- is one of the nations leading full-service, fully automated automotive CRM companies. @utoRevenue offers a suite of permission-based, integrated CRM communications services that include email, voice messaging, direct mail communications, database cleaning and management, and eNewsletter services. With @utoRevenue, dealers have earned over $80 million in service and parts revenues.

Autosave/Dell Financial

Autosave promoted to dealers their popular 5-year/100,000-mile engine and transmission warranty for any year or any mileage, new or used vehicles. Underwritten by Great American Insurance Group, Autosave is available in the U.S. and Canada.

AutoTrader.com

The premier online classified provider introduced Find Your Dealer, a search tool found on the homepage (www.autotrader.com) providing in-market consumers with easy access to comprehensive and useful dealer information pages. Once they find the dealership that matches their individual needs, they can view the Dealerships detail page with complete dealer information, a description of the dealership, and links to specials to the dealers entire inventory and to summary statistics about the vehicle inventory. In addition, AutoTrader.com launched a free online educational site, Advertising Essentials. (www.AdvertisingEssentials.AutoTrader.com). The modules teach practical skills and tactics to merchandise cars such as writing good copy, taking quality photos, the importance of pricing, and reviewing listings to improve results. The site will be regularly updated with new information, and you can download the training session to your mp3 player!

AutoTrader Magazines/AutoExtra.com

AutoExtra.com, the year-old Website, unveiled an array of new site enhancements, including new Enhanced and Premier packages for dealers. The sites new Premier package gives dealers the largest vehicle ad with bolded dealer information in colorful highlights on every Search Results page, links to both a dealers online inventory, and links to their own Website. Another new feature is the Intelligent Metro Banner. In addition to linking to a dealers Website and providing one-click instant email capability, the Intelligent Metro Banners match a buyers search request directly with that dealers online inventory. With Intelligent Metro Banners, a Featured Ride box prominently highlights and displays the subscribing dealers vehicles above all other search results. Launched at the NADA Conference in February 2005, AutoExtra.com has seen a 74 percent increase in site traffic between March 2005 and January 2006.

BZResults

BZ Results is a digital marketing and consulting company working with some of the top 10 eCRM dealers [AB1]. BZ offers a host of tools that include CRM, Websites, Web marketing, email marketing, search engine marketing, and consulting solutions specializing in BDCs. BZResults booth was a popular destination for attending dealers.

DealerOn

DealerOn is another Website design and online marketing solution provider for auto dealerships. DealerOns Website designs captivate customers with cutting-edge features like Virtual Assistants and No-Click inventory, and help dealerships maximize their marketing efforts with innovative online marketing tools like Internet lead management, pay-per-click, and search engine optimization.

Dealerskins

Dealerskins, a division of Trader Publishing Company, is a leading Web solutions provider for the retail automotive industry. Capitalizing on its staffs experience working with and at auto dealerships, Dealerskins develops unique Websites and backs them with superior customer service, all so that dealers sell more cars.

DealerTrack, Inc.

DealerTrack is one of the leading providers of sales and finance on-demand software with 200 active financing sources connected to the DealerTrack network. We are excited to arrive at this milestone, says Mark ONeil, chairman and chief executive officer of DealerTrack. It took about four years to connect our first 100 financing sources, but less than a year to connect the second hundred. Providing dealers with the largest network of automotive lenders helps dealers sell more cars and provides greater origination potential for these finance sources. Dealers can electronically submit credit application data to a diverse network of financing sources, including eight captives, credit unions, and the 20 largest independents.

IMAC

If reducing recon expenses while making money interests you, chances are you stopped by IMACs booth. IMAC®-, an originator and industry leader in the paint chip and scratch repair technologies offers dealers a process that is easy to learn- in fact, any employee can do professional quality work in two hours or less. Your dealership can now touch up any car-any time! No more vendors to wait on, while reducing your cost by 75 percent or more per vehicle.

Kelley Blue Book, (Kbb.com)

Launched LeadDriver&trade-, a new Internet-based dealer solution that enables a dealer to capture leads when offering the well-known Kelley Blue Book Trade-In values on the dealers Website. LeadDriver helps turn car shoppers into buyers by keeping consumers on the dealers site, presenting recognizable Kelley Blue Book information and trade-in values, and allowing the dealer to customize links driving shoppers to other areas of their site. In addition to the car shoppers contact information, LeadDriver provides the dealer with information on the car shoppers trade-in vehicle (including Kelley Blue Books trade-in value) and new vehicle of interest.

OnStation

OnStation has joined the ranks of automated customer communications solutions provider. The company offers auto dealers e-Advantage, an automated email-based customer lifecycle management tool that strategically times and targets emails throughout 22 unique customer lifecycle management touch points. They work with dealerships to achieve a 100 percent email penetration goal.

Passtime

PassTime can help you change the way you do business. NADA is a prime opportunity to streamline profits and increase your overall efficiency. With a wide range of products and services offered, PassTime is one of the industry leaders in starter interrupt technology. They have proven that their Guaranteed Payment Solution results in reliable business security and peace of mind for both new and used car dealers. According to CEO Stan Schwarz, there was intense interest from new car dealers interested in learning more about the high risk, high reward buy here, pay here industry.

ProResponse

ProResponse offers total showroom control with ProScan®-, prospect tracking, five-year sold follow-up, database management, data cleansing, data mining, and target marketing. They pull data from R&-R, ADP, and others, are email-enabled, OFAC, and FTC compliant, provide on-site training, as well as monthly visits. Services also available in Spanish and French. Current alliances include WhosCalling, CallSource, CallBright, and CallCommand.

RouteOne LLC

RouteOne is a Web-based credit application management system created by the captive finance arms of Daimler Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, and Toyota to improve efficiencies in the automotive financing arena for dealers, customers, and finance sources. RouteOne connects dealers to all their subscribed finance sources, including captives, prime and non-prime lenders, and credit bureaus, all within a single desktop. In fact, Michael Schwartz, director of finance, Galpin Motors, North Hills, CA says I can process all my deals within the RouteOne system, giving me more time to sell cars. Best of all-its free to all dealers.

Safelite

Safelite of America, Inc. showcased aftermarket products and services to attending auto dealers, including the Stealth&trade- Security System, navigation and tracking systems, and GM-owned VehicleOne service contracts. Safelite of America helps dealers increase their bottom line by providing the highest quality aftermarket products to supplement or augment existing factory products. You simply cannot ignore this profit center.

Whos Calling, Inc.

Whos Calling, a leader in the call measurement and monitoring space, announced the completion of its acquisition of ClickPath, a Sacramento-based cross channel analytics provider. ClickPath provides a link between search and offline conversions by offering dealers a comprehensive call tracking solution that enables them to optimize their online marketing campaigns with call conversion data. ClickPath links phone call responses to the original advertising source, captures those analytics, and provides a complete picture of online and offline conversions.

XIGroupAuto

XIGroupAuto, a Trader Publishing Company, offers dealers inventory display and management solutions, lead generating tools, and search engine optimization at affordable prices. Brian Burns, XIGroupAutos GM noted that while there appeared to be less traffic than at previous NADA shows, dealers who stopped by XIGroups booth were better educated about Web marketing and were interested in learning about search engine marketing solutions.