Southwestern Company was officially recognized as a participant in the inaugural Direct Selling Association (DSA) Code of Ethics Communications Initiative.
The program was set up to continually encourage and promote the education and commuication of the DSA Code of Ethics to its member companies, their independent sales forces and the general public.
Southwestern Company was one of only nine companies to be recognized this year at DSA’s annual conference.
For more information about the DSA Code of Ethics, go to http://www.dsa.org/ethics/.
Southwestern Company was honored with a national ACE Award at the National Association of Consumer (NACAA) 34th Annual Conference on June 29 in Madison, Wisconsin.
The recognition was for Southwestern’s consumer awareness blog (this one),
www.southwesterndifference.info, which sets out to educate about door-to-door safety, the dangers of traveling sales crews and to distinguish between legitmate and disreputable door-to-door direct sellers.
NACAA, based in Nashville, represents over 160 government agencies and 50 consumer offices in the U.S. and abroad. The Association supports the role of government agencies, its members, Corporate Partners and consumers in ensuring an honest, safe, informed marketplace, and in promoting consumer protection, education, enforcement and business responsibility in a competitive economy. Southwestern Company has been a long-time friend to the Association and a NACAA member and Corporate Partner for the past three years.
The ACE Awards, “Achievement in Consumer Education,” are NACAA’s annual awards program available to government, nonprofit or educational organizations, private companies, media professionals and International agencies. Eligible entries are made up of consumer-based educational materials, programs or media features.
The award was presented by Elizabeth Owens, Executive Director of NACAA and Jim Rabbitt, 2009 President of NACAA and Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. I was able to attend the conference and accept on behalf of Southwestern at the NACAA awards luncheon.
This is the second award this blog has won. In April, it and five other Southwestern blogs, were recocognized by the Public Relations Society of America - Nashville Chapter as a 2009 Parthenon Award winner in the New Media - Blog category.
It’s a great feeling to know the hard work and research put into this blog has not gone unnoticed. The effort to safeguard all consumers, communities and young people by equipping them with information, resources and awareness will continue to be a top prioroity of our company. Being service-minded and a corporate citizen is the right thing to do. It’s what we teach the student dealers who sell out products and how we lead by example.
Thank you to all who subscribe, are regular readers and contributors!
Casting an overly-wide net to a specific audience can capture both the tuna and dolphin.
In the span of several days, a published release in the Hickory Daily Record from the Better Business Bureau and the Catawba County Schools in North Carolina went from “scam” to clarification. The over-riding message - NOT ALL DOOR-TO-DOOR SALES ARE SCAMS. Ah… the murky waters just got a little clearer.
The first mention was brief, titled “School district warns of possible scam” on June 11. While not much information was included, it did inform the public of a possible scam saying: “deceptive door-to-door magazine and educational book sales crews are hitting the pavement and looking to earn a quick buck this summer.”
It further went on to say that several individuals had reported to the school district the “salespersons have said they are representing Catawba County Schools when making their sales pitch to parents with children.”
For the full, initial release from Cawtaba County Schools on their website, click here. The schools system correctly disassociated themselves from any endorsement or recommendation of the products being sold in their community.
However, just a few days later, the Hickory Daily Record, upon some research by reporter, Richard Gould, was able to clear the waters left murky by the previously and somewhat vague released statements in his article titled, “Door-to-door sales not all a scam.”
Gould was able to track down the four Southwestern student dealers at their breakfast spot they eat at each morning. Straight from the source, he was able to obtain facts about the summer sales program they are participating in and their approach to potential customers in the community. Scott Bradeen, from Washington and Benji Graybeal from Idaho, both in their fourth summers with the Southwestern program, briefly discussed the issues presented by the releases.
Kudos to Gould for his research, including locating the young men, checking Southwestern Company’s website and Better Business Bureau rating and speaking with me prior to his deadline. It once again proves, after the muddy waters settle, the facts can be as clear as day - thus the dolphin eludes the tuna net.
As a sidenote: It is reassuring knowing the Southwestern dealers are working and living in a community where the school district cares enough to alert the community when reports of deceptive selling are made. Perhaps another case of traveling sales crews tarnishing the reputation of door-to-door sellers… after all, not all door-to-door sales are a scam!
Like to count?
Let’s count the number of unethical and unlawful violations reported in a recent news article in the New Hampshire Union Leader when police in Salem took nine traveling sales crew members into custody. The article was titled, “Police arrest ‘aggressive, rude’ door-to-door salesmen.” It was published May 28, 2009.
(1) May be connected to four salesmen arrested in area last year for assault (read below for more on this)
(2) None of the nine had the required solicitor license
(3) They had not registered with the town or police department
(4) They were not carrying identification
(5) A 29-year-old from Detroit, MI had an existing warrant for providing police in another jurisdiction false information
(6) Another 20-year-old from Baltimore, MD is being held for also providing false information
(7) A 26-year-old from Norristown, PA was driving without a license
You can't count the number of unethical violations with this traveling sales crew on just one hand.
This article is not very long. Nearly all of it is about the things the magazine-selling crew was charged with (I counted seven). This illustrates the irresponsibility of traveling sales crews and the potential danger posed to not only communities, but the crew members themselves. The million dollar question - how do you police the bad guys if they refuse to obey the pre-existing laws?
Violence tends to often be a way of life on the road with traveling sales crews. The article also says the four arrests made in June of last year were in a Wendy’s parking lot where two men, a supervisor and co-worker, were beating another and refusing him food because he did not meet the sale quota for the day. This happens quite often.
This article had a count of seven things wrong with how this crew operated above. Want something else to count? Count on them moving to another state to do it all over again.
Southwestern Company alumnus, Robert Bugai, sent me a news story from KIRO-7 Seattle I thought was worthy of a mention. It dealt with a traveling sales crew that is ripping off homeowners by claiming a portion of the proceeds will go toward a charity. The story was titled “Beware of door-to-door seller pretending to be charity.”
Members of the traveling sales crew, Fresh Start Opportunities, have claimed part of the money paid for magazine subscriptions will be directed towards helping young people get a “fresh start on life.” Oh, how original. You see how “clever” these traveling sales crew operators really are? They always have some positive-sounding, motivational company name. In this instance, they really did come full-circle to have the unimaginative name fit with a bogus charity - all in the name of trying to sell their precious subscriptions.
The problem? The Washington Attorney General is on to them (as are many consumers) as they have numerous complaints registered against them in multiple states and a slew of ignored calls and letters from regulatory agencies.
When I checked out the Fresh Start Opportunities’ website, I was actually not surprised to find vague and unusual answers filled with typos on their FAQ page (http://www.freshstartopportunities.com/order_info). See the following text copied directly from the Fresh Start Opportunities website:
FACTS, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1) How do I cancel my order?
- We do not take cancellations over the phone or via email. You need to mail a copy of the front and back of your receipt to the address listed on your receipt and we will gladly cancel your order.
2) How long will it take to begin receiving my subscriptions?
- It nomally takes 60 - 90 days but however we ask that you allow 90 - 120 days.
3) What do I do if I have not received anything and it has been over 120 days?
- We ask that you send your receipt to the listed address and we will gladly refund your money.
4) Can I change my subscriptions?
- Yes, If at anytime your not completely satisfied with your subscriptions we will gladly send you another one in it’s place.
5) Why is the price different with you than with another publisher?
- The main reason is because our program is designed to give young adults a second chance and fresh start so they are earning a commission as well as bonus’ and points to help them get to where they wna to be in life.
6) Can i just donate to your compny?
- No you can not because that would take the purpose of what we are doing away from the young adults who need this opportunity.
7) Why dont your workers just go get a regular job at McDonalds or etc. etc.
-Well if alot of people’s background no longer counted against them it would be possible .
Notice question #7. Why would they even put this on there? Charity-schmarity. According to the Washington Attorney General’s Office and the Secretary of State’s Office, the company has failed to actually register as a charity. Whoopsie-daisy! That would also explain the lame answer for #6. No legitimate charity is going to refuse a monetary donation.
As the news story states, if you have a question about a specific charity claim, check it out. For Washington, they list the website, www.secstate.wa.gov/charities or you can call 1-800-332-4483.
Robert, thanks for bringing this to our attention. Saying part of the order goes to a charity is a commonly-used pitch traveling sales crews often use to play on the emotions of their victims. Not cool!
At a recent “Sales School,” where independent student dealers who sell Southwestern Company products are trained, one student showed me a copy of USA Today he received at his hotel room. On the cover of the May 14th Money section, there was an article with a subject matter all to familiar to those who are affiliated with the direct selling industry.
The title was “Direct sales (like Avon, Mary Kay) offer recession proof jobs,” written by Charisse Jones.
The article highlighted real-life examples of people who have experienced personal success based on the expansion of direct sales in a weak economy. A primary driver of this is just that - the weak state of the economy. Neil Offen, President of the Direct Selling Association, was quoted as saying, “We’re recession-
resistant in the sense that more people come to us during economic hard times for supplemental income or replacement of a lost job.”
The article notes how the recession serves as a recruiting tool of sorts, as more people are looking to running their own business through direct sales as a means to offset lost income or make an additional buck to get through hard times.
The article was an excellent example of the economy driving entrepreneurship and vice-versa via the direct selling business model.
However, I do take exception with only one teeny-tiny, itty-bitty part of this otherwise on-point article. It had to do with the part that states, “Knocking on doors is history.” While the majority of generating new customers in direct selling nowadays is, just as Ms. Jones says, through “referrals, gatherings and parties, spontaneous meeting on the street and the Internet,” we musn’t forget the most basic of direct selling principles: it is all face-to-face, person-to-person and all about relationship building.
The older companies all started with some form of door-to-door. And some, even today, have representatives that prefer that method. Old-fashioned? Old school? Maybe, it’s all in the eye of the beholder. But, I can tell you this, knocking on doors is not only a part of history… for some, it’s a part of the American dream.
I thought I would share the following letter from Dan Moore, President of Southwestern Company. It was in response to an April 30th article in the New York Times by Jacques Steinberg entitled “Goal Is College. Hurdle Is Finding Financial Aid.”
The article focuses on young Brennan Jackson, a graduating California high school student whose family 
has fallen on rough times. With a father out of work and a mom with a part-time income, life is a struggle - not to mention what to do about the burden of rising tuition. The process is stressful and Brennan has taken it on by seeking out scholarships and grants and taking the occasional baby-sitting opportunity. The article reports he still needs $25,000 to meet his goal… and that is just for the freshman year at Berkeley!
All over the nation, the current economic downturn has put tens of thousands of families in a similar position. They are all scratching their heads, asking themselves “How are we going to pay for our kid’s education?”
The reason I share Mr. Moore’s letter is because Southwestern has offered a legitimate summer opportunity for college students to help pay for their education for over 140 years. The way I see it, running your own business while in college is taking matters into your own hands. You have the power to make what you’re worth and reach goals you set for yourself, not ones that are dependent on an hourly wage or limited amount of hours.
I think Mr. Moore got it right. Read for yourself:
Dear Mr. Steinberg,
I read with compassion your story about Brennan Jackson and his struggle to find a way to pay for college. This story is playing out in hundreds of thousands of homes right now. We wish him the very best.
For more than 140 years, college students who want to take the financial bull by the horns and pay their own way have spent their summers running their own businesses selling Southwestern products. This includes many students who attend Berkeley, where Brennan plans to attend.
The average gross profit for college students from the U.S. and Canada who sold our products for the first time last summer, and who worked all summer, was more than $8,000. The average second-time participant made more than $14,000, third-timers made over $19,000, and fourth summer and higher made more than $25,000 during three months.
My first summer was after my first year at Harvard, when my family and I were uncertain how I would pay for my second year (my first year scholarships were generally non-renewable awards). That first summer was during the oil embargo-driven recession of 1974. I was able to make enough profit selling Southwestern books door to door to cover my tuition during the rest of my time there. This is my 35th year now with Southwestern.
The work is incredibly challenging. Not everyone succeeds financially. Successful students motivate themselves to work six days a week, twelve or more hours a day. There are no guarantees: they are in business for themselves. Consequently, it is not for everyone. But for the right student, it can provide the financial means to achieve an education and set them on course for lifetime financial security.
Recently, one of our fourth-time dealers from Wisconsin told me she got a call from her mom. She said, “Hayli, your stepdad has lost his job, your sister is losing her job, and your dad just lost his job. I’m the only one working. I really need to know if you can bring back at least $15,000 this next summer.” Her daughter said, “Mom, you can count on it.” There is no way to calculate the relief her family feels.
More important, these young people are learning what it means to take responsibility for their lives and futures.
Graduates of our program gain success characteristics that far transcend the money they make. U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions, U.S. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, Texas Governor Rick Perry, as well as tens of thousands of successful people in all walks of life are testament to the value of their experience selling books.
We have great empathy for families struggling to pay for college and are proud to provide this opportunity. College students in our program have made more than $100 million profit for themselves over the past five summers.
Critics sometimes deride door-to-door selling. While I respect their opinion, perhaps they were never in a situation where they had to work their way through college. I believe they miss the point: opportunity sometimes IS the knock.
Thank you for the good work you do in highlighting education issues for the public.
Sincerely,
Dan Moore, President
Southwestern Company
Nashville, Tennessee
In my routine research of traveling sales crews, I found a blog post from West Seattle Blog that had a 
resident describe his experience with a traveling sales crew selling magazine subscriptions. Dated April 28, 2009, it was entitled, “Another door-to-door alert: read the fine print.”
Per the usual modus operandi, two youthful males made two often-used pitches. (1) First, they claimed to be with the University of Washington (UW) baseball team. They said they had “won their season” and were selling subscriptions to win points to go to the playoffs in Hawaii. (2) The young man, who was also wearing a UW hat and jacket, mentioned he was local, claiming to be the son of a woman who lived around the corner who walks her golden retreiver each morning.
After a short time, the resident realized it was a little early for baseball season to be over. He decided to check some facts. Looking up the UW baseball website, he discovered a full month of games left and the young man’s name not on the roster.
When searching for the young man, Matt Tekach, the resident came upon an article from North Carolina in The News & Observer, “Fund-raising teen raises suspicion in Cary,” published Sept 27, 2005. Yep, you read right - 2005! This guy is still using the same scheme!
When the North Carolina resident did some research, she soon discovered the sketchy past of the company behind the traveling sales crew, Ultimate Power Sales.
“Lawsuits, consumer complaints, police reports and news accounts from customers in Kansas, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, California and Georgia provide a picture of how Ultimate Power Sales operates with youthful salespeople, who often concoct phony pitches to make a buck.” - News & Observer
The article says the parent company is United Family Circulation, based in Georgia, which has quite the history of complaints and a web of other names it operates under such as Ultimate Empire Sales.
I guess this is just another example of the same old dog using the same old tricks.
Learning to overcome rejection is probably one of the most under-rated skills in both life and business. At Southwestern Company, we assist college students in not only overcoming that fear, but in running a business to gain life skills to achieve their goals. It’s almost like a package deal!
A recent article in The Boston Globe entitled “Accepting Rejection” (click here for article) was sent to me by Yael Cohen, the mother of Southwestern Corporate Recruiter Eliav Cohen and a great Southwestern supporter.
The article talks tongue-in-cheek about how Harvard students are having to face more rejection - even though they attend such a prestigious, ivy-league school. The Office of Career Services even hosted a seminar on how to cope with rejection - something increasingly more common in a slumping economy.
This is not an issue with any of the student’s who have participated in Southwestern’s summer sales program. Anyone who has knocked on doors for a summer or more can tell you rejection is part of life. It comes with the territory. While shocking at first, you learn to overcome and deal with it.
Dan Moore, President of Southwestern, graduated from Harvard in the mid-1970s. He participated in the Southwestern Company’s summer sales program and was rejected numerous times daily while selling educational products to families door-to-door. In fact, he will tell you that rejection helped make him who he is today. Not only did he het his undergrad degree in three years, he later earned a Masters from Vanderbilt and has found success in the work place due to the perseverance, attitude and confidence he gained by accepting and overcoming rejection.
Southwestern’s summer internship is definitely a crash course in life. Anything that takes more “no’s” to get to a “yes” has a learning curve you can’t learn in the classroom. Nowadays, that degree, even if it is from Harvard, may not be enough. A legitimate, hard-working experiential education in sales can transfer to any field of study. And that is just one reason students choose to voluntarily run their own business selling Southwestern products.
If any students from Harvard are reading this… now might be a good time to consider a summer internship that will set you up to teach the campus seminar on rejection in the fall semester.
The other day a coworker told me about a blog she ran across called The White Oaks Blog. The blog post which drew our attention was entitled, “Door-to-door Solicitors in San Carlos: A Mere Nuisance or a Growing Danger?” (in California) and was written by Chuck Gillooley, dated March 18, 2009.
Chuck’s blog is very observant, and even humorous when it came to identifying the magazine-selling traveling sales crews that have canvassed his neighborhood over and over. Towards the end, he questions the “local kid” pitch he received at the door saying, “But when I see the aforementioned “neighborhood kid” jump into a white panel van at the corner (with a group of other “local” kids that I’ve never seen before,) the legitimacy of some of these operations should certainly be called into question.” Exactly! Chuck, through sarcasm to make his point, hit the nail on the head.
At the end, several questions are left for readers to ponder. The one that struck me the most was not one of the questions in bold. It was “Is door-to-door selling even relevant any more?” Representing a company that is the nation’s oldest direct seller and still does sell door-to-door, it just struck me as odd. It shouldn’t I guess, because I have heard it before. In fact, many times.
The way I see it, it is as relevant as ever. This method of sales offers byproducts in the form of experience, communication and success traits desirable in all fields. For many of the young men and women who do this (the legitimate ones), it is generally for reasons other than having a life-long dream to be a door-to-door salesperson. Most people do not choose this as a full-time occupation or go to college to study this as a major of emphasis (sorry, not offered). I think through door-to-door sales, there is a means to an end. You see, the skills and life lessons learned through actually interacting with others can form who you are and build character traits for the future. What do I base this on? The tens of thousands of college students who have benefitted from it and are now successful in their professional career.
The other questions that were in bold are as follow.
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Are tighter restraints needed to control soliciting?
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Should residential soliciting be totally banned in San Carlos?
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Or, is it not an issue to be concerned with?
I’ll briefly provide my unsolicited opinions. Contrary to a posted comment to Chuck’s blog, there is an ordinance for the City of San Carlos that defines and regulates peddlers and solcitors (Chapter 5.44: Peddlers and Solicitors - click here). After reading through it, it is very straight-forward. The Chief of Police approves the permit and has the right to revoke, there is a time restriction (9am-6pm) and there are penalties for violation among other things.
This seems to be a solid ordinance, and similar to those of thousands of other towns all over the country. The question, to build on Chuck’s questions above, is:
How do you regulate someone or some “company” that does not follow a law that already does exists?
This is an issue faced by homeowners and law enforcement everywhere. Luckily, many do see it as more of a nuisance than a threat. But remember, there are many who also welcome door-to-door solicitors - as evidenced by the success of many Southwestern student dealers, Edward Jones clients or even your local cable carrier. A total ban would not hold up constitutionally in court, as it violates the First Amendment. In San Carlos, the “real” solicitors, other than the local kid who really is fundraising or a Girl Scout, should have a permit. Ask to see it and ask questions about the company they are associated with, what they are selling, etc. You can also check out the company via the Better Business Bureau. Look for odd behavior. If you are uncomfortable, contact the police to be safe. Most of all, it is okay to say “No, thank you.”
It’s a shame traveling sales crews and other misrepresenting operators have such a lasting and profound affect by their dubious intentions and actions. All industries have bad apples, I just hate that the same tainted fruit keeps being delivered to great places such as San Carlos. To Chuck - thanks for your observations and the love you have for your community! I found your blog post to be witty and on point with your observations of the sales crews.
