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Don't tell them door-to-door is dead

For years, being told "no' has turned book-selling college students into our nation's conservative leaders.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Southwestern Co. started selling Bibles just after the Civil War, and the sales model hasn't changed much since.

They don't sell many Bibles anymore, but determined students still tramp around neighborhoods and knock on doors, even though the door-to-door book sales model is nearly extinct.

Those who have gone through it say Southwestern prepared them for the brutal world of business and politics. As proof, the company boasts a surprising list of alumni who have risen to prominence in conservative circles - including Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Clinton special prosecutor Kenneth Starr.

"You learn persistence, endurance, dogged determination. To keep on going even though the going is a little rough," said Starr, a Southwestern salesman in 1966.

"You're getting told no," said Starr, whose son sold books for Southwestern in 1998. "The door is slammed in your face, but you keep on going."

Southwestern recruits on college campuses, and its sales force represents about 390 schools in North America and Europe. The students often work up to 80 hours a week and make 20-30 presentations a day.

Toting a satchel full of books house-to-house in 90-degree heat can pay off for the students, who get the merchandise wholesale from the company and resell it for about 40 percent more.

Founded originally as a Bible publishing company in Nashville, Southwestern didn't start its book-selling program for college-age young men until 1868.

Since that time, it has always been privately owned except for a 13-year period in which it was part of the Times Mirror Communications Group until management and employees took it private again in 1982.

Door-to-door book sales started to wane when the publishing industry began to consolidate about 15 years ago - about the same time encyclopedia salesmen stopped going door-to-door, says Robert Baensch, director of New York University's Center for Publishing.

Major chains like Barnes and Noble and Borders represent half of all retail sales of books in the United States while a significant portion of the other half goes to less traditional outlets like Wal-Mart, Costco and Price Club. Online book-selling accounts for about 9 percent of the market and door to door sales 1 percent.

Southwestern, a subsidiary of the fundraising company Great American Opportunities Inc., accounted for 15 percent of the corporation's revenue last year, with $60-million in retail sales - its biggest year. Revenue for the private business was $36-million, said Dan Moore, vice president of marketing.

Door-to-door sales is a dying practice, Baensch said.

"It doesn't pay for itself. It made sense when you could sell encyclopedias because the purchase made was large enough to make a viable commission. Today it's difficult for consumer titles unless they have an education value," he said.

Part of what keeps Southwestern successful, its company leaders and student book dealers say, is good products - which include educational books and computer software at every grade level, from SAT study guides to U.S. history books.

Another key element to success is the company's legacy of producing leaders in business, entertainment, medicine, sales, and politics - particularly conservative politics. Alumni include Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn and Dortch Oldham, Republican candidate for Tennessee governor in 1974.

Blackburn, who sold books for four years while attending Mississippi State University in the early 1970s, said she was the first woman to sell books for Southwestern in the South.

"I can remember you would have people literally screaming at you," Blackburn said. "Sometimes people would be unkind and you choke back the tears and you say to yourself "that's another no.' But hearing that repeatedly builds a resilience and tenacity within you."

Why this small publishing company attracted so many people who went on to become conservative political heavyweights has to do with the company's public mission, Baensch said.

"Their thinking is, "I'm helping families get their kids to read,' " he said.

Matt Aschoff, a 23-year-old University of Nebraska student, is in his fifth summer selling books for Southwestern. His first summer, he made about $13,000 but built that up to nearly $20,000 his third summer.

But there are reasons besides money that kept Aschoff selling.

"I was having a horrible day. I was asking, "Why I am doing this?' because you hear all these nos." Then, Aschoff said he visited a Douglas, Mass., mother and her five kids, who bought several items: "It made my day. I still get Christmas cards from them. The families you have an effect on is amazing. I do feel like we make a difference with what we do."

Southwestern Co. sellers made $24-million in 2004. Here was the average gross profit per month for sellers last summer:

First-year sellers: $2,733.

Second-year sellers: $5,131.

Fourth-year sellers: $9,500.

[Last modified July 22, 2005, 00:32:15]