UC Berkeley Visit
May 2011
Leslie Allen
Why UC Berkeley?
Although I live only 3 miles away, I didn't expect to do my campus visit at UC Berkeley. It is a notoriously difficult school for reps to get into. There's one story involving a rude professor, a slamming door, and Pearson rep with a broken finger. I planned to go to SF State or Sac State for my project. In fact, I planned to stay far away from Cal until I had a bit of training under my belt. So how on earth did I end up there?
I started out with the big picture. What disciplines are the biggest profit drivers for Sage? I took a look at the company website and found a section for key texts on Blackboard. I know that we here at Pearson don't set that up for all our titles, only the biggest ones, so I thought this section would give me an overview of the largest disciplines.
Sage’s Primary Disciplines:
- Business and Management
- Communication
- Criminology and Justice
- Education
- Psychology
- Research Methods
- Sociology and Social Work
- Statistics
I have access to Bowker’s Pub Track, which is an adoptions tracking system. Using it, I can see what books schools are using, how many new and used units they use, and even which professors teach the course. I logged in to see which books Sage published in their primary disciplines. From there I looked in greater depth the top two or three books of each discipline. I then narrowed the adoption list down to see which of the adopting schools were in my area, and created a spreadsheet sorted by school and course. The results showed a pattern I couldn’t ignore.
Sample Adoption Report
| Title | Author | School | Dept. | Course | Enroll | Instr. | ISBN 10 |
| Proposal Writing: Effective Grantsmanship (P) | Coley | UC Berkeley | SOC WEL | 107 | 28 | CORNET | 1412937752 |
| Proposal Writing: Effective Grantsmanship (P) | Coley | UC Berkeley | SOC WEL | 107 | 25 | CORNET | 1412937752 |
| Proposal Writing: Effective Grantsmanship (P) | Coley | UC Berkeley | SOC WEL | 107 | 28 | CORNET | 1412937752 |
Again and again, I came up with UC Berkeley. Other nearby schools often had several notable adoptions or robust departments that could potentially use Sage texts, but Berkeley was always a leader on the list. I knew it would be the best place to go; I couldn't do anything less.
How did I arrange to meet with professors?
The adoption reports I pulled from PubTrack included professor names, which I quickly discovered were wrong when I tried to find them in the UC Berkeley directory. Instead, I took a look at the course number listed in my adoption report and used the course catalog to pinpoint the professors who did actually teach the relevant classes. I sent out my bevy of emails, eagerly awaiting responses.
A sample email:
The first response I got included an ominous line: "This is a bad time to get a hold of us." I took a look at the academic calendar and sure enough, it was commencement week. I glanced at my calendar to see if I could reschedule, but I really only had one available week to do my project before summer began in earnest. If I was going to do my campus project at Cal, it was going to be commencement week or nothing at all.
Knowing that I'd be pitting myself against the craziness of graduation week, I widened my search to include all the professors who teach upper div classes in their respective departments. Since Sage books are best represented at Cal in the Psychology and Education departments, I made an extra effort to get in contact with them. After many emails, I had set appointments with three professors and a bookstore manager.
Joseph Campos
Psychology Professor
Director of Infant Studies Laboratory
Joseph teaches a course on emotion and emotional development. He does not currently use a textbook and he explained his reasons to me at great length.
Joseph wants his students to think like behavioral scientists. Psychology, he says, is simply what happens between your ears. Behavioral science is what happens when you take that mindset out into the world to interact with other people. In the beginning of the semester, his students are able to recite theories, but the higher levels of understanding often escape them.
The majority of textbooks currently available reinforce that kind of recitational learning. The texts present the facts, but never teach students how to connect the dots. Joseph would prefer a book that covers fewer of the broad theories but in a far more holistic fashion. The book becomes an example of the type of critical thinking the students will need rather than a mere depository of facts. Although he does not teach from a book currently, he frequently reviews textbooks and works on the supplements and seems to be quite in tune with the current options in the market.
Currently, Joseph’s students are assigned readings in the primary literature, they have discussions, and, for the coming semester, there will be a film lab wherein they analyze the emotional responses of the characters. This film lab was especially interesting to me because Joseph is legally blind—I can’t help marveling that he studies emotions without being able to see the subtle nuances that I use to interpret other people’s feelings.
Joseph told me that the book was important to him, but increasingly professors are interested in the supplements. Professors want tools to make their lives easier. They want high level test banks, thoughtful instructor guides, and a variety of ideas for lecture activities and lesson plans. Though he cannot use online systems himself, he is a huge fan of the idea. This was my real take home message from the entire campus project: do whatever you can to make the professor’s life easier, while maintaining the quality of your books
In my capacity as a Sage rep, my first goal would be to find a book that helps Joseph achieve his goals. I would also get him involved in some of our review and supplement projects. He’s smart, eloquent, and his approach to teaching is becoming increasingly prevalent throughout higher education. It would also build a sense of loyalty while creating the exact product he, and many other professors, are asking for. Upon the adoption of one of our books, I would be sure to provide as much supplementary material as we had—to be sure that using our book is as easy as I can possibly make it.
Alisa Crovetti
Education Professor
Cognition and Development
Alisa teaches a two-hour didactic course on school psychology using the DSM and Gabbard's Psychodynamic Psychiatry in Clinical Practice by the American Psychiatric Press.
Alisa's goal in her class is to teach her students to work effectively with children in a school psychology setting. When students begin her course, they often have no background in school psychology whatsoever; by the end of their two semesters together, they are in the field making diagnoses.
As it is often the first class students have had on the topic, Alisa gives them a broad overview of the theories of the field and then builds to diagnosis and treatment of patients. In addition to their two hours of seminar, her students are required to spend one day a week in a community-based mental health clinic as interns.
In the classroom, Alisa uses many of the very techniques she is teaching her students about. While her courses do include lectures, she also includes student presentations on the readings, role-plays, and low-stakes group quizzes. Throughout the two semesters, the students present on the cases they interact with in their clinical internships.
Alisa chose her textbook because it follows the same structure as her class: theory to practical application. It is, however, overly technical and she told me her students often get lost in the more abstract theories because the book breezes over them.
Ideally, Alisa would like a book that hits the few major theories but goes into greater depth when explaining them. She also said that she would appreciate having access to more case studies and activities in her class.
As a Sage rep, I would work with Alisa to find something in our book bag that satisfies those needs. If she liked one of our texts, but found it too encyclopedic, perhaps we could work together to create a custom edition that only reflected the chapters she requires. I would also be sure to communicate with the in-house team about the kinds of supplements she finds helpful. Perhaps we would be able to pick up similar case studies in a psychology text for this purpose.
Diane Anderson
Psychology Professor
Clinical Psychology
Diane teaches two courses on developmental psychology, using The Development of Children by Cole, Cole, and Lightfoot published by Worth Publishers. She also occasionally teaches the introductory course.
Diane’s goals in her courses are to teach her students to learn how to think and evaluate critically about developmental processes, research methods, and the major theories in the field. She uses the textbook as a touchstone for the facts, then goes beyond the text to teach the students how to really analyze and apply the concepts they’ve learned to situations they have never seen before.
For example, in a weekly assignment, students analyze NY Times psychology articles for research methodology that might cause misleading results. They are then asked to determine whether the article accurately represents what was done in the study. All of Diane’s exams are open book take home tests, but they ask the students to apply what they’ve learned to new cases and situations.
As a mother of four, Diane has frequent anecdotes to share with her classes, but she is always on the lookout for more activities that truly engage her students. Some current class favorites are taking a variety of IQ and EQ tests, and performing Piaget tasks. These, she feels, bring the concepts to life from the pages of the readings. It’s very important to Diane that the students are not just discussing ideas, but putting them into action.
Though Diane has been using her current book for a long time and though the students like it, her text has a major shortcoming. Many graduate level psychology programs require a development course that covers infancy through adulthood and hers stops at adolescence. She also wants more instructor resources, like lecture presentation slides and more engaging lecture activities that show different applications of the material in the text.
I feel confident that with Sage’s focus on quality materials we could find a book from our list that would satisfy Diane’s need for a text that both keeps the students interested and examines the appropriate range of ages. Since she is very interested in lecture activities, I would certainly set her up with as many instructor materials as possible. Since Diane also places a heavy emphasis on research methodology, I would either try to found a developmental psychology book that included a great deal of research or perhaps look to some of our research books for case studies and lecture activity supplements.
Wendy Johnson
Bookstore Manager
San Francisco State University
Wendy is a friend I’ve made over the course of many on-campus experiences. I’ve worked with her during first day of class presentations, media sign up booths, and I worked with her in the bookstore on freshman rush day. Throughout all of these activities, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with her and get a manager’s perspective on how to create and maintain happy publisher/bookstore relations.
They key to this happy relationship is reciprocity; sometimes the bookstore needs an order at the last minute and sometimes a rep needs just a few more study guides to be adopted to make their goal. Bookstore managers, I’ve learned, hold the real key to making your numbers. In cases when it is simply more cost efficient for the bookstore to order used books, a good relationship may mean ordering used books, but a batch of new study guides or eBooks.
When I got in touch with Wendy, the bookstore manager at San Francisco State, and explained that I was doing a campus project for Sage, she sounded puzzled for a moment. “Sage? But they don’t have any outside reps.” I told her that was changing and she sounded delighted. Sage textbooks are well respected at SF State for their quality, especially the research methodology texts, but without a personal contact, it has not always been easy for the professors to adopt the books and get them up and running. If Wendy needs a rush order or has some kind of circumstance requiring a little extra attention, it has been a challenge to work with a remote team. And, while she said that even that aspect has been improving over the past few years, she seemed delighted that there was going to be a field rep to work with more closely.
So what am I going to do about all of this?
There is huge opportunity for growth here in California, and especially in Northern California. Over and over again I heard professors tell me that they want publishers to make things as easy as possible for them to adopt and use a book. While the quality of Sage’s publications have always been acknowledged, I think providing personal customer service will take the business to a higher level. Indeed, the schools in Northern California seem ripe for the picking.
When I was working with the adoption reports, there was a noticeable lack of schools here in the area. There are certainly schools that would provide fertile markets for the types of upper level products in which Sage specializes. There are 5 UCs, 11 CSUs, as well as many highly renowned private schools. These are all markets that have not yet had an outside rep to help smooth the way for professors to use Sage products. They have a slew of other publisher’s reps bombarding them with information, but there isn’t yet a voice for the Sage products the professors would love, if only they knew Sage has the products they need.
When the professors like those books, I will be there to smooth the way to an adoption and ordering. If they seem uncertain, I will work with them until I can find something that suits their needs. My tactic in these campus visits has been to learn as much as I can about what these professors are doing, what challenges they face, and what they want. I think the best initial approach to any sales situation is to find out what the customer wants and work from there.
Of course, because this sales position has not always been in the field, schools in Southern California would enjoy the same benefits of a personal point of reference for the first time, but judging by the adoption reports, those schools have not recently suffered for want of attention. Even with the time Mark has spent on them, everywhere I look, I see room for even more expansion.
I am hungry to learn more about the strategies that Sage uses to expand its business, as well as about the products we have to offer. Whenever I ask professors or other people in publishing, the words I hear are “quality” and “integrity.” I am eager to become a member of such a great team.
