School & Library - Visit with Librarian

Please note: You must be an "Educational Consultant" to service public and private K-12 schools and libraries. Only Educational Consultants may conduct RFTS at schools and libraries, Book Fairs at schools and libraries, set up in teachers lounges, make direct sales to schools & libraries or work in any way within or to schools or libraries. Please refer to the EC manual (in the EC kit) for specific details. You may order the EC kit on the supply order form.

More than half Ruth's sales most years are to libraries. This may be an avenue you would like to pursue. After calling ahead to make the appointment, here’s how the visit might go:

Arrive on time, dressed nicely; friendly & confident that she will fall in love with these books. Have a catalog & pen for each of the people you're meeting. It may be just the children's librarian, or also young adults' librarian, a teacher or principal, or a buyer. Let them know it is fine to circle things in the catalog if they'd like & that you're be happy to write up orders for them, or work with whatever procedure they want to use.

I usually start at the front of the catalog. (I have my books prearranged in catalog order.) As I hand them one book & let them look at it, we look at that page in the catalog together so they can circle the whole series! You want them to use the whole catalog to order from rather than just the samples you brought. Then we look on those pages at information about books I don't have with me. I point out ones that are new, revised, or that I particularly like.

I bring books I particularly like, but probably not sticker, flap & slot books. As we get past the board books, I tell her that most of the books come in both paperback and library binding. I let her hold a library bound book & show in the catalog the (P) & (L) and mention that I brought mostly paperback editions so I could bring more for her to see. Even though the librarian's time is precious, we take quiet time to look at & even read books if she seems to want to.

Sticking with my sequence through the catalog prevents skipping over something she may want. I continue handing her a book & looking at that catalog page together, letting her ohh & ahh & circle the series, then look at the others on that page before moving on to the next book or page.

I draw her attention to Conspiracy 365, Anna Hibiscus, fiction and non-fiction, Kane Miller and Usborne. Mention the First 1000 Words series, she will want all of those in library binding. She may already have them in hardback before the nice revisions which include multiculturalism and more modern illustrations. I point out the internet linked books, noting that we have the most current, up-to-date editions published. Overall, we don’t have to say much about the books. She familiar with books & knows what she likes and needs.

I comment on the Library Bound Value Packs, as these are convenient for her and many are at quite a savings. I don't go through the Kid Kits, telling her we are finished, that the rest of the catalog includes kits and novelty books. I tell her that the books come within 2 weeks or can come with processing if she would rather. If she is interested in that, the order form for all cataloging products is in the front of the S&L catalog. The form will answer her questions about that. (short training video about cataloging)

I reiterate that I will work with whatever ordering procedure she wants to use. (EVERY S&L order I've had has used a different procedure.

She may give you a purchase order right then
She may need to request a PO from the school or library acquisitions office where you to come back in a few days to pick it up.
She may not have access to funds for months
She may need to spend her money now or loose it
She may need to send it directly to the company - make sure she includes your ID# on her order.)
She may want more than one copy of books she expects will get high circulation.

She may request "to be invoiced" This is just fine. Our Home Office is happy to do that. Just fill out the Purchase Agreement with her. Please note - When you transmit a S&L order in OrderPro, you MUST also scan and email or fax a copy of the Purchase Order or Purchase Agreement to the Home Office, unless the order is paid with a credit card. When you provide this PO or PA to the Home Office, be sure to clarify that you have just submitted the order in OPOL and that this document is simply for documentation purposes only, so you don't have a double order shipped. The order won't be shipped until Home Office has the PO, PA or credit card payment.

Again, I offer to write up her order from what she has circled in the catalog & I ask if there are titles she would like in multiple copies.

Listen to what she says & see how you can service her the best. While not taking up too much of her time, remember to smile, ask her about herself & be friendly enough that she will want to see you again. You will probably get an order from her every 6 months when the new titles come out or when she gets her money. It is OK to ask her when her funds are available or when she does her buying or when you should contact her next. She has money that she HAS to spend on books; we have books she wants. Just help her make it as easy as possible. You can ask her if there are other librarians or Library Media Specialists she recommends that you visit.

Smile & be confident that we have the best books and the best bindings available.
Giving your service to the librarian will help more children have access to these great books.

With librarians that I've met with multiple times here's what I do:

I go through all her invoices & highlight all the titles in the catalog that she has bought from me so we know what she already has.
As we go through the catalog, I say "Looks like you didn't get any of this series last time, so I brought one in case you'd like another chance at it" or "I brought one from this series in case you need them at this point"

Purchase Orders may be mailed or faxed from the school district or library directly to the Home Office, if needed:

EDC Educational Services
Attn: (your name)
PO Box 472037 (or 10302 East 55th Place)
Tulsa, OK 74147
Fax 800-747-4509

Please note - When you transmit a S&L order in OrderPro, you MUST also scan and email or fax a copy of the Purchase Order or Purchase Agreement to the Home Office, unless the order is paid with a credit card. When you provide this PO or PA to the Home Office, be sure to clarify that you have just submitted the order in OPOL and that this document is simply for documentation purposes only, so you don't have a double order shipped. The order won't be shipped until Home Office has the PO, PA or credit card payment.