Business Glossary

subscription agent that works in cooperation with schools, using students as salespersons for magazine subscriptions. The subscriptions are sold at the basic rate, and the school earns a commission that may be as high as 40% of the selling price. The publisher receives a small portion of the price, averaging 20%. The students receive no direct compensation other than prizes for various sales levels. Most school agents have two campaigns a year, coinciding with the fall and spring semesters, and each campaign lasts only a few days. The average sales per student are low, but cancellations are also relatively low and the orders are sold on a cash-withorder basis. This is a profitable source of business for the publisher.

business that makes and/or receives telemarketing calls for another organization or individual. Telephone agents frequently specialize in either incoming or outbound calls and in either consumer or business products and services. Telephone agencies are usually paid on a commission basis as some percentage (usually 15%) of the gross or net revenue generated, or they may be paid a fee based on the number of calls, contacts, or completed calls made. Agencies paid on a net basis usually take responsibility for collecting payments from the buyers. A telephone agent will generally work with its clients to develop a script to be followed by each caller that fulfills the objectives of, and represents the style of, each client.

subscription agentthat sells magazines door-to-door. There are two types of cash field agents. "Crew team" agents (so named because they utilize teenage salespeople transported in groups from town to town) are the least desirable type, with a reputation for deceiving and abusing the teenagers hired to sell magazines. Some crew team agents have also been accused of collecting payments for subscription orders that are never passed on to the publisher. The other type of cash field agent is a "mom and pop" operation that sells only in the local community and often successfully renews subscriptions for individuals, libraries, and reception rooms in the same community, year after year.

Because of the small volume they sell, cash field agents generally pass on their orders to a larger agent, such as a direct-mail agency, which deals directly with the publisher. The large agents take a 10% commission in addition to the cash field agent's commission. Cash field agencies usually sell subscriptions at the basic rate, unlike most other types of agencies, who sell at discounted rates.

Since cash field agents offer publishers only a small volume of orders at some risk of lost revenue and subscriber goodwill, most publishers will authorize only a few, if any, cash field agents to represent them. In any case, cash field agents are a very minor subscription order source.

subscription agent that sells subscriptions through the mail. Most direct-mail agencies use sweepstakes promotions offering high-value prizes, and can mail in larger quantities than any one publisher could afford. Promotion packages used by direct-mail agencies usually include stamp sheets showing all of the magazines they sell and the price of each. The commission taken by agencies usually ranges from 75% to 95% of the selling price, and they typically offer the lowest price available from each publisher to the general public.

Publishers often use special renewal promotion offers and packages to renew subscriptions sold by direct-mail agencies because these subscribers tend to be very price sensitive. Sweepstake promotions are especially effective in renewing sweepstake-sold subscriptions. Direct-mail agents tend to be the largest and most reputable subscription agencies.

subscription agency that sells magazine subscriptions, via a catalog, to libraries, schools, and institutions. Catalog agents usually offer a relatively high remit rate of 50 to 70% of the basic rate. These subscriptions also renew at a very high rate; once a library begins receiving a magazine, it usually continues to do so indefinitely. As a result, catalog agencies are a highly profitable subscription source.

subscription agent payment agreement whereby the publisher is paid in full by the agent when the subscription order is submitted to the publisher, and the subscriber is required to pay the agent in full when ordering. Most subscription agents are PIA agents.

subscription agent payment agreement whereby the subscriber is billed in installments as the subscription is serviced, and periodic payments are made by the agent to the publisher over the same time period; abbreviated PDS. PDS agents generally sell several magazines as a package, with long terms of three to five years'duration. The average order can be as much as $300 to $400. Cancellations of PDS-sold orders are relatively high and renewal rates are low, since every bill is an opportunity to cancel and the sale is frequently made with a high-pressure telephone sales pitch.