The Southwestern Company Internship Difference Blog
As I have mentioned previously on this blog, and chronicled in past posts (example here), traveling magazine crews often use unethical and false pitches to deceive their unsuspecting victims. They play on people’s sympathies in order to peddle their subscriptions. Doing so is the classic mark of unscrupulous sales.
Another example is chronicled in an article entitled “COC does not endorse magazine sales,” posted September 24 in The Signal, out of San Clarita, CA.
Some residents have let the College of Canyons (CoC) know about solicitors that have claimed they were CoC students selling magazine subscriptions to help pay for expensive textbooks. According to CoC, they do not have students engaging in door-to-door solicitation.
Apparently, the increasing cost of already expensive textbooks was a hot issue in the area for several years (recent Signal article about textbooks). Conniving crew leaders often use current topics and weave them in to their sales pitch to try to make a quick sale.
If only Pinocchio were true...traveling sales crews would need lots of rhinoplasty
What continually gets my goat about this slimy sales tactic, is it makes those that really are selling a product door-to-door or running a legitimate business directly to consumers seem disreputable as well. I know the college students who participate in our Southwestern Company summer selling internship get turned away at the door sometimes because of negative experiences created by the traveling sales crew in San Clarita and other just like them.
Yes, a few bad apples (another recurring theme of this blog) is all it takes.
I like the link between traveling sales crews and Pinocchio – very clever! It’s too bad a magazine sellers nose does not grow with each lie they tell at the door. That way, they would be easier to distinguish by consumers.
Ha! You are right about that. It’s just a shame the bad rep door-to-door has because of the traveling sales crews.
I’ve encountered the magazine guys coming to my home over the years–I usually get to talking with them, and I’ve yet to meet one whose “approach” was real/true. The end (the sale) always justified the means (their pitch). Always sympathy, always.
In my years selling books, I sat down with families who had gotten scammed by the magazine crew and it was always great to see them purchase Southwestern products because it provided an opportunity to show them an honest door to door salesperson.
Joe – you make my point for me – excellent observation. There are honest, hard-working door-to-door sales men and women who abide by the law and have ethics. And, there are more good ones than bad ones!
Gets my goat?
Yeah.. Hi, i was a a crew member once.. for only like a month.. i’ll tell you all about it if your interested..
Rachelle – I would love to hear your story. You can contact me at trey.campbell@southwestern.com. By telling your story, you may be able to help others.