Dear Colleagues,
We have suffered Hobsons' sales techniques for several years
now. As the convenor of the Midlands Skill group said at the end of the
first year, "It seemed that every time I answered the phone, there was a
salesman from Hobsons on the end of it"
Our response was quite simple: We refused to take paid advertising in these
publications (or any similar ones) from that point on. This was a considered
policy decision worked out in discussion with our Head of Admissions and our
Dir. of Publicity and Communications. Disability-relevant information
features in our general advertising of courses, and there is good sense in
ensuring that the Disability Statement etc is linked to the CANDO database.
Our "recruitment" of disabled students is "academically-driven" and not
"disability-driven" and so does not need and cannot afford this sort of
money for advertising of this kind.
I was once faced with a straight choice between £1700 for a powered hoist
for a severely-disabled student and roughly the same amount for a glossy
advert with Hobsons. No prizes for guessing which option triumphed!
We also seem to have been troubled recently by yet another such publisher
(or subsidiary). The latest caller began by talking about what we were doing
and whether we thought it would make an interesting article in such-and-such
a magazine (a colleague took the initial call so the name hasn't stuck).
Only after a long conversation did it emerge that the whole purpose of the
call was to sell paid advertising.
My philosophy is to try and do a decent job and then rely on "the bush
telegraph". It's a lot cheaper! (--- and seems to be pretty efficient, too)
Yours, Ron Hinton
Dr R.A.L.Hinton
Director, National Centre for
Tactile Graphics in Higher Education
& Senior Tutor to Students with Disabilities
Education Dept.
Loughborough University,
Leics. LE11 3TU
United Kingdom
Tel: 01509-222770 Fax: 01509-223912
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