Sept FTC Ban on Voice Broadcasting Includes Any Telephone #

[myinsurebiz]

Ut Oh . . .

My attorney and I just finished a conference call (yes - on friggin Labor Day) about voice broadcasting laws.

Houston we have a problem . . .

The ruling found here:

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2008/08/R411001tsrfrn.pdf

. . . specifies "consumers" not being contacted - not just "residential consumers" . . .

The interpretation we've concluded to be law is that ALL calls to "consumers" without prior permission will be illegal with voice broadcasting - whether that consumer answers a residential phone or a business phone.

This is HUGE . . .

We have run this all the way up the flag pole over the last week and it's clearly stated many times "consumer" - not once does it mention a "residential" phone line - ut oh . . .

As of today - we are out of the voice broadcasting business - too much risk to bend the rules . . .

Good luck to everyone.

Tom

 

[mcmillian-1]

Ut Oh . . .

My attorney and I just finished a conference call (yes - on friggin Labor Day) about voice broadcasting laws.

Houston we have a problem . . .

The ruling found here:

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2008/08/R411001tsrfrn.pdf

. . . specifies "consumers" not being contacted - not just "residential consumers" . . .

The interpretation we've concluded to be law is that ALL calls to "consumers" without prior permission will be illegal with voice broadcasting - whether that consumer answers a residential phone or a business phone.

This is HUGE . . .

We have run this all the way up the flag pole over the last week and it's clearly stated many times "consumer" - not once does it mention a "residential" phone line - ut oh . . .

As of today - we are out of the voice broadcasting business - too much risk to bend the rules . . .

Good luck to everyone.

Tom

I know you don't like voice broadcasting but not all states are the same. And all of this crap is just that crap!

Give me a break. The FTC can go to hell how about that! they exclude themselves and tell everyone else that they can't do something to hell with them. Small business in america is dying and america is going to hell in a nice media hand bag!!!

 

[hockeyday]

Tom how will you produce health leads now?

 

[myinsurebiz]

Tom how will you produce health leads now?

We won't be able to broadcast. Vendors will have to use a predictive dialer and just have human intervention,

Rates just increased I imagine . . .

 

[Thatguy]

We won't be able to broadcast. Vendors will have to use a predictive dialer and just have human intervention,

Rates just increased I imagine . . .

I heard the same thing form my TM company a few days ago. They told me they were stopping all Voice Broadcast calls across the board; business or residential. I also got the word that prices will be increasing due to more work needed to generate the leads.

 

[Guest]

I know you don't like voice broadcasting but not all states are the same. And all of this crap is just that crap!

Give me a break. The FTC can go the hell how about that! they exclude themselves and tell everyone else that they can't do something to hell with them. Small business in america is dying and america is going to hell in a nice media hand bag!!!

I disagree. This is a good ruling. People (including myself) hate robo-calls.

As far as being competitive, this levels the playing field. The large companies will have to spend as much as you do (probably a lot more) for lead generation. True, they can hire more callers, but that is a function of size, not ability. Most small biz could not afford the high-cost of robo anyway, so there is no great loss here.

As for the politicians exempting themselves, well if you keep electing the same politicians you are going to get the same results.

Truthfully. How many of you out there who used robo made big money from it? It seems to me the only guys making money were the providers of the service or the equipment. But I could be wrong.

Al

 

[Josh]

Truthfully. How many of you out there who used robo made big money from it? It seems to me the only guys making money were the providers of the service or the equipment. But I could be wrong.

Al

I know some folks were making some serious coin of the VB leads. Like anything else, it didn't work in all markets, but some folks could turn $300 of leads into $7k premium on a regular and frequent basis.

 

[Mark]

I bet a lot more people will start using a telemarketing company now that autodialers are so hard to use.

 

[Josh]

. . . specifies "consumers" not being contacted - not just "residential consumers" . . .

The interpretation we've concluded to be law is that ALL calls to "consumers" without prior permission will be illegal with voice broadcasting - whether that consumer answers a residential phone or a business phone.

I think it's entirely possible that something is getting lost in translation here. The do-not-call registry rules, enacted by the FTC, are to protect consumers. In our vernacular "consumer" is the same as "c" in a "b2c" campaign, meaning a business to consumer. When we're calling other businesses, "b2b", we don't have to scrub against the do not call list because the FTC doesn't have any jurisdiction over it. The "consumer" that is talked about in the legislation is th "c" in a b2c campaign. For example, you shouldn't VB businesses and play a message asking the first person that answers the phone if they'd like to extend their car warranty, but if your message was asking them if their business would like to save on their group health insurance that is absolutely not a consumer, but a business.

Since a part of what I do is run a small call center, it'd be better for me if it was banned altogether. With all due respect, I think the point of confusion you and your attorney may have had was the definition of "consumer" as it pertains to the FTC.

Hope this helps, but if you still don't want to use your autodialers feel free to contact me and I could get you going with a team of live telemarketers calling for you in less than two weeks.

 

[pomfin]

I bet a lot more people will start using a telemarketing company now that autodialers are so hard to use.

It is good time to start a telemarketing services for insurance or any other field. I bet that high cost of marketing will filter through to consumers.