Presenting the Good News—By Offering Subscriptions on Return Visits
1 While it is true that many subscriptions are obtained as we offer them in our house-to-house ministry, many publishers have been very successful in obtaining subscriptions on return visits. These calls may be on people who promised to subscribe, those who indicate they might subscribe, persons for whom we have expiring-subscription slips, individuals we have on our magazine route, or people we have studied with in the past. How can we follow through on such calls?
2 If someone indicates he wants to subscribe but does not have the funds at the time, we can fill out the subscription slip and have him tell us when he wants us to call back to pick up the contribution for the subscription. Of course, we would not turn in the subscription until the person contributes for it. But many have found that by filling out the slip on the first call and then returning at the time the householder suggests, they are able to obtain subscriptions.
3 If someone wants to read a single copy before deciding whether to subscribe, we can place the current issues and arrange to call back. When we return, we can remind the householder of what we talked about before and share some additional thoughts with him. Then we can mention that he said he might subscribe after having had the opportunity to read the current issue. Subscriptions have often been obtained on such calls.
4 The Society sends notification to the congregation when subscriptions are nearing expiration. The brother who handles subscriptions in the congregation checks to see who obtained the expiring subscriptions and gives the slips to those individuals. If the publisher has moved away, you might be asked to call on a person from whom someone else obtained the subscription. When making such calls, we can highlight some beneficial point that was covered recently in the magazine and then encourage the subscriber to renew right away so he does not miss any issues.
5 There may be persons on our magazine route who are not always at home when we call. Or it may be that we have much territory to cover and we are not able to get to these individuals every time we have new issues of the magazines. We can tell them that by having the subscriptions they would never miss an issue of the magazines, and in this way we might be able to obtain subscriptions.
6 Then there are those who used to study but who stopped for one reason or another. The Society has suggested that we get in touch with such individuals occasionally to see if their interest can be aroused again. We could call and give them the opportunity to subscribe if they are not already doing so. Perhaps something they read in one of the magazines will rekindle their interest in again studying the Bible with us.
7 We have the best magazines in the world, and we certainly want to do all we can to help others to benefit from them too. When a person subscribes, everyone in that household will have the opportunity to read the Bible-based information in The Watchtower and Awake! and may be helped on the road to eternal life.—1 Tim. 4:16.