New TCPA Rules for Oct 16 2013 Telemarketing

[Bob Klee]

Oct 16 is 7 days away.

We are notifying all our agents that any lead bought before that date absolutely cannot be dialed by anything other than their fingers! I'm not going to get into the "how will the consumer/plaintiff attorney know if..." argument.

All our leads as of Oct. 16th will be TCPA compliant. We will not sell any lead that the consumer does not opt in.

We already have lead forms up & have done tons of A/B testing to find out what works or does not.

Good news IMHO, is that this will help weed out the crap in the industry.

Please, don't play games with this new law as it is not worth it. Aged lead inventory is dead as of Oct 16th. Any lead you have in your CRM tool is "dead" to anything but hand dialing. Please make sure you have processes in place so you don't get in trouble with this law. Plaintiff attorneys will be aggressively looking to make money off those that don't do things the right way.

I reserve the right to get smarter!

 

[Thad.Sipple]

What if Siri dials the number?

 

[Josh]

According to the text of the law it doesn't matter, the fact that your cell phone can store and recall numbers to dial them makes it a violation to call a cell phone using your cell phone because it does meet the FTC's definition of an "ATDS".

 

[Bob Klee]

What if Siri dials the number?

How good is your defense attorney how deep is your financial pocket to fight a lawsuit?

Seriously, if I click the link on my iPhone, I don't dial the individual numbers & depending on what attorney you ask & the time of day...you get different answers. From what our attorney says...no:(

 

[VolAgent]

According to the text of the law it doesn't matter, the fact that your cell phone can store and recall numbers to dial them makes it a violation to call a cell phone using your cell phone because it does meet the FTC's definition of an "ATDS".

That is what will probably do it in. Too many ways to turn a perfectly innocent call into a violation with that rule.

 

[bobsmktg]

Why is my post not being approved? This is VERY valid

Ok, first off, I've been doing TM for years. Those who are panicking need to understand a few things. If I'm wrong, I'm not to be held accountable, and, as always, YMMV. THAT SAID....

Do any of you know the INTENT of this law? What problems was it created to solve?

The reason this finally exists is because of ROBO-CALLS to CELL PHONES in the mid-2000s. Back then, especially with regard to presidential campaigns in Ohio, and other battleground states, literally dozens of computer-generated calls could be received by someone on their list, including cell phones.

Let's also understand, in the mid-2000s, most cell phones did not have unlimited minutes. So, the intent of the law is to stop unsolicited robo-calls from running up people's phone bills with no way to stop them. Got it? That's the intent.

I'm sure we've all received a "press 1 to b connected to a live agent now to buy Bob's Widget of the Day." Right? We've all gotten those calls?

Let me ask you something: are any of you using robo-calls via non-humans to call prospects? I didn't think so. If you don't see the merit in what I'm saying, then perhaps you will consider these points as well:

#1 - we are not computers, we are LIVE
#2 - If you are using a dialer that requires you to put in a phone number to use for your caller ID, the person sees a local phone number and hears a live person when they answer - they have NO way of knowing you are on a dialer!
#3 - for this to be a problem, a) the person has to somehow magically know we are using a dialer, b) has to be familiar with this law, and c) has to actually be willing to make a complaint to the FCC. 1 in a million odds at best

Finally, the last person who commented before me sells leads. He claims his list has been "scrubbed and FCC compliant." If it's his job to sell you something, then he benefits by scaring you into believing millions of American business owners are going to be sued into insolvency, Mojo/Salesdialers/Callfire will be forced out of business, and telemarketing will cease to exist as we know.

This ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN! This will be tied up in the courts for YEARS until it is GUTTED. Common sense people. The sky is NOT falling.

How many people were sued by the RIAA for using Napster, versus how many people actually used Napster and never got sued? Unless you have terrible luck and somehow the odds got stacked against you, it simply isn't going to happen. By the way, the RIAA gave up on that effort a couple years ago, because it is unenforceable, punitive and counterproductive for the Feds to sue every Bobby Joe Insurance Agency for picking up the phone (or dialer) and talking to a client about his business.

Be paralyzed and stop telemarketing, live in fear, or continue to have live conversations with your customers or prospects about new lines of insurance, and continue to live your life happily.

 

[bobsmktg]

For some reason, my long post is not getting approved, but here's the deal:

1) this law was created to stop robo-calls to cell phones. Automated calls to cell phones, back in the mid-2000s when most cells did not have unlimited minutes, was a big problem.
2) We are not computers, we are live people, and you're using something like Callfire/Mojo/Salesdialers, you can plug in your number for caller ID. The end receipient has NO way to know if you're using a dialer. None.
3) The RIAA went after a few people for using Napster a few years ago, then stopped. How many people used Napster vs how many got sued? The feds do NOT have the time or resources to go after business owners either!
4) It would look UNBELIEVABLY BAD and the small business community would be UP IN ARMS if the feds prosecuted Your Friendly Neighborhood Agent for offering lower rates to someone in their community. Let's keep in mind what kind of calls and this law was designed to stop - it's not designed to stop us, it's designed to stop robo-calling scammers overseas.
5) If you want to manually dial numbers using your own phone, then that is totally legit. If you want to stop using a dialer that has that exact same caller ID number on it, that's your prerogative.

The guys here saying blood is about to be let by people who don't fall in line are SELLING LISTS. Keep in mind, 2 of the previous posters profit by scaring you, because they claim to be selling lists that are "FCC compliant."

I'm really surprised at all the nervous comments here.

 

[Thad.Sipple]

We should video every single phone call, that is the only way to prove how it was dialed.

 

[TwiLight]

Yeah. I have many unhappy agents as we are pulling down our Telemarketing next week.

Biggest problem is that I have been to 3 Telemarketing attorneys and all 3 give a different answer and make it impossible to risk the business. This is costing 14 telemarketing jobs from our agency. Great progress.....BS.

Been planning on bringing it down since the summer. Our predictive dialer and live telemarketing has been very successful and will be missed. Hopefully, some case law will allow the dialer to be used very soon.

 

[bobsmktg]

We should video every single phone call, that is the only way to prove how it was dialed.

I hope, seriously, that you are kidding. My god, some of you are quaking in your wingtips.

How many insurance agents are there in the US? How many businesses in general?

You guys (and ladies) are smart enough to know that millions of business owners who will not comply will not be sued. Not even hundreds of thousands. Not even tens of thousands. Not even thousands. Hundreds? Maybe. Do you really think Your Friendly Neighborhood Agent is a priority for this law?