Chapter 86
As 1987 begins, we thought you would like a recap of new records set during 1986. Some of the more outstanding are these: * Largest number of WATS calls received in one year – 1,996,494. A record total of 1,661,226 came in response to the telecast alone.
* Highest number of calls taken by volunteers on the WATS In-Home Program in one year – 224,896. Our record weekend was November 8-9 when in-home operators took 8,996 calls.
* Over 96 million publications were mailed in the United States.
* Highest mail income for one year.
* Largest semiannual ever sent out. Your fall letter went to 3,377,316 people on our mailing list.
* Largest direct mail offer. We offered The Plain Truth to 3.5 million people on purchased mailing lists as well as to those who had let their subscription lapse in 1985.
We have witnessed a marked change in the number of Plain Truth subscribers who respond to the telecast each week. We felt you would be interested in knowing that about half of our responses, including both phone calls and mail, now come from subscribers to The Plain Truth.
The new speakers, new programs and new literature offers have helped generate this increase. More than half of the 37 books, booklets and brochures we offered on the program last year had either never been offered before or were being offered for the first time in at least a year. Just two years ago, only about a third of the response to the telecast came from those on our mailing list.
Although the work has taken measures to control the expansion of the mailing list, last month a record 175,686 names, the highest number for any February in our history, were added to the Plain Truth list.
This increase is 6.5 percent higher than last year’s growth for the same period, when we put 164,912 new names on file. The two primary sources for these new adds were the World Tomorrow telecast and Plain Truth blow-in cards.
Telephone call volume in the WATS area continues to grow at a record pace. By the end of March 1, we had already received more than half a million calls for 1987, which is more than we have ever received in the first two months of a year.
A breakdown of our new records follows: Percentage Calls Jan/Feb 1986 Jan/Feb 1987 Increase – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – TV Calls 276,298 404,915 46.6 Total Calls 337,574 470,519 39.4
The World Tomorrow telecast and radio broadcast produced excellent responses in international areas in 1986. Since Mail Processing has statistics available from our offices around the world regarding these responses, we thought a compilation would be useful.
Our international offices received 89,930 responses in 1986 as a result of the telecast and radio program. This number is 75.6 percent higher than the 51,202 responses they received in 1985.
U.S. responses for the same period were up 88.9 percent. The work of God is certainly continuing to grow!
