I now find myself in my 5th decade as a sales professional. I am old enough to remember when having an 800 number was a big deal. I remember when postage was $0.20 and you needed to make every direct mail letter count. I am old enough to remember newspaper ads and paying to have a business listed in The Yellow Pages. I remember when a car dealership would call it 'an up'.

At a car dealership, an "up" refers to a potential customer who has arrived at the dealership and is ready to be greeted and assisted by a salesperson. {Hey Joe Salesman, you're up!}  An 'up' is essentially a lead, a prospective buyer who can be converted into a sale. Car dealerships often have systems, like "up rotation" or "open floor," to manage how these customers are assigned to salespeople.  Back in the day, 'ups' could cost $100 to $500 PER UP. So, if you were the owner of the car dealership, you would spend good money to get 'ups' to come to your shop. There was no such thing as Carvana or Facebook or Google Ads or any such thing. The Sunday Newspaper was your primary marketing machine to get your ups.

If your Car Dealership spent $10,000 per month on the Sunday Newspaper ads and you got 100 people to respond to those newspaper ads and these folks physically drive to (and then enter) the car dealership showroom - then those 'ups' cost the owner $100 each. Get it?

When I was in my 20s early on in my sales career I met one of my mentors Denny Hatch. During the years 1984-2017, Denny and his team tracked and analyzed roughly 1,800 mailings a month and revolutionized the science of how to measure the success of other people's direct mail. Over the years, Denny has been a publicist, magazine and book publisher, ad agency account executive, copywriter, designer, journalist, marketing consultant, blogger and gadfly. Looks like Denny is still kicking and teaching everything he knows...   https://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/

https://gijoefanclub.com/registration check this out. But for goodness sake - don't send them any money. Imagine the database they created over the years. All the households (with kids) with parents that have an extra $75 to burn. THAT G.I. Joe Fan database was GOLD at Christmas time. Get it?

I remember getting The Sharper Image catalog in the mail. Every. Month. I remember calling their 800 number, and also checking out their retail stores at the mall. I was a very good customer. As I think about the 80s now in 2025, they were my (adult version) of the G.I. Joe Fan Club.

Here is the point. The rules of the game have not changed. In 2025, standard-sized, rectangular envelope stamps start at $0.78. And yet, I still get junk mail. Why? Because it works. Did you ever see an annoying commercial on TV... like a million times? Maybe a TV ad for reverse mortgages? Or medicare coverage? You see them every damn day, right? Why? {TV ads are EXPENSIVE!!!}

You see these ads, you get the junk mail because they work. Once these ads stop working, you will stop seeing them. 

Hey Tommy...... you're up! 

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