Presenting the Good News—Following Up on Expiring Subscription Slips
1 Calling on people whose Watchtower and Awake! subscriptions are soon to expire provides an excellent opportunity to give a further witness. The groundwork has already been laid, and the householder has been receiving one or both of the magazines regularly for some time. Although some will not have read everything in each issue, they have had spiritual food coming into their home on a regular basis to remind them about Jehovah and his Kingdom blessings.
2 Expiring Subscription slips should be given to the one who obtained the original subscription. But because of publishers moving or subscriptions being sent in by someone from another congregation, you may have opportunity to follow up on an Expiring Subscription slip. What view should we take toward making one of these return visits?
THE PROPER VIEW
3 We should go with a positive attitude toward giving a further witness and, of course, encouraging the person to resubscribe. Maybe the householder was not ready to study when he originally subscribed, but now, after receiving the magazine for a year, his viewpoint may have changed.
4 What can be done to give subscribers the best possible service and to help the Society process subscription renewals promptly? Some points for consideration are: (1) Those handling subscriptions should be prompt in getting the Expiring Subscription slips into the hands of the brothers so that a return visit can be made to renew the subscription. (2) Publishers should have the slip with them when making the return visit and use it if the person resubscribes, rather than using a blank subscription slip. This makes it unnecessary to return the address portion of the magazine wrapper. (3) All subscriptions should be turned in at the very next meeting if at all possible. In turn, these should be mailed to the Society EACH WEEK even if there is only one to be sent.
WHAT COULD YOU SAY?
5 When calling on someone whose subscription is about to expire, what could we say that would stimulate interest in reading the magazine? Would a direct approach be best, just advising the person that the subscription is to run out soon and inviting him to renew it? This may bring results in some cases. However, it is often found that the subscriber’s interest has waned if someone has not been calling on him regularly. So it may be necessary to revive the initial interest.
6 After introducing yourself, you might say: “I am making a special effort to visit people in the community who have been receiving The Watchtower (or Awake!) through the mail this past year. I hope you have been enjoying it as much as I have.” A brief pause at this point would give the householder an opportunity to comment on whether he has been able to read many of the articles. You could then go on to say: “Here in the current issue is an article I especially enjoyed. [Give subject or title of article. A few additional comments about the article may be appropriate.] We have just received a notice that your subscription will soon be expiring (or has expired) and we do not want you to miss a single issue. I would be happy to send in the renewal for you. The cost is just $4.00 for the entire year.” The householder may choose not to renew at that time, but if you discern there is still some interest, arrangements could be made to call again.
7 Remember that our purpose is to teach people the truth and to share in the vindication of Jehovah’s great and holy name. Aside from The Watchtower and Awake! there are no magazines on the face of the earth that serve the divine purpose. What a blessing comes to the household receiving and regularly reading these magazines! Let us do our part by making good use of the Expiring Subscription slips.