. . . 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
------------------------------------ [COLOR=Red]" If you must Hate - Hate the Game and not the Players"
[/COLOR]
. . . 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!!!
Last edited by mcmillian-1 : 09-08-2009 at 10:47 AM.
Re: Sept FTC Ban on Voice Broadcasting Includes Any Telephone #Go to Top
Originally Posted by myinsurebiz
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.
Re: Sept FTC Ban on Voice Broadcasting Includes Any Telephone #Go to Top
Originally Posted by mcmillian-1
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.
Re: Sept FTC Ban on Voice Broadcasting Includes Any Telephone #Go to Top
Originally Posted by al3
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.
Re: Sept FTC Ban on Voice Broadcasting Includes Any Telephone #Go to Top
I bet a lot more people will start using a telemarketing company now that autodialers are so hard to use.
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Re: Sept FTC Ban on Voice Broadcasting Includes Any Telephone #Go to Top
Originally Posted by myinsurebiz
. . . 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.
Re: Sept FTC Ban on Voice Broadcasting Includes Any Telephone #Go to Top
Originally Posted by Markingriffin
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.
Re: Sept FTC Ban on Voice Broadcasting Includes Any Telephone #Go to Top
Originally Posted by pomfin
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.
How is that going to happen? Name one carrier that ever raised their rates (or paid a higher commission) because the cost of sales TO their indie sales force went up?
Re: Sept FTC Ban on Voice Broadcasting Includes Any Telephone #Go to Top
Originally Posted by al3
How is that going to happen? Name one carrier that ever raised their rates (or paid a higher commission) because the cost of sales TO their indie sales force went up?
I wish I was wrong, but I don't see how.
Al
Al, I just love how you're always looking at the positive side of things!
Our friends at Arcadian Health Plans opened their very tight purse strings to throw out some extra marketing dollars for their top performers in light of the changes in the Medicare Advantage commission structures. I'll agree with you when you say that's an isolated incident, but occasionally carriers do try to help out their agents.
Re: Sept FTC Ban on Voice Broadcasting Includes Any Telephone #Go to Top
Originally Posted by MedicarePlanSolutions
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.
Think what you wish - I'm just going by the "interpretation" that was explained by a FTC division head to my Attorney on Friday.
No where does this ruling mention the DNC nor does it specify "residential" - it states "consumer."
Feel free to interpret it as you wish. Be sure to put back a few grand to cover the fines and court costs of defending your "interpretation.
Originally Posted by pomfin
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.
Yea right.
A good time to start a unique direct mail solution and get out of telecom lead biz quickly.
Re: Sept FTC Ban on Voice Broadcasting Includes Any Telephone #Go to Top
Originally Posted by myinsurebiz
Yea right.
A good time to start a unique direct mail solution and get out of telecom lead biz quickly.
the FTC only bans the autodialer, not predictive dialer. Why not using the telemarketer to do the dialing and get leads? I think if we use the predictive dialer properly, it should be cheaper with predictive dialer than the direct mail drop solution.
Re: Sept FTC Ban on Voice Broadcasting Includes Any Telephone #Go to Top
Originally Posted by myinsurebiz
No where does this ruling mention the DNC nor does it specify "residential" - it states "consumer."
Feel free to interpret it as you wish. Be sure to put back a few grand to cover the fines and court costs of defending your "interpretation.
I'm not going to lose any skin on the deal because I've never really done too much with autodialers, but you're missing my point. The point is that the DNC is to protect "consumers" using the same definition of "consumer" that the new law does. Check out Federal Trade Commission - The Do Not Call Registry if you'd like, but the language "consumer" is what they used on that and we don't need to scrub businesses against the DNC lists. If you end up on the phone with your attorney sometime and feel like asking him why we don't need to use the DNC registry to scrub the numbers of business off our marketing lists, but the new ban affects the same group referred to as "consumers" I think you'd find his explanation of the difference between the two interesting because there is none.
I'm not going to lose any skin on the deal because I've never really done too much with autodialers, but you're missing my point. The point is that the DNC is to protect "consumers" using the same definition of "consumer" that the new law does. Check out Federal Trade Commission - The Do Not Call Registry if you'd like, but the language "consumer" is what they used on that and we don't need to scrub businesses against the DNC lists. If you end up on the phone with your attorney sometime and feel like asking him why we don't need to use the DNC registry to scrub the numbers of business off our marketing lists, but the new ban affects the same group referred to as "consumers" I think you'd find his explanation of the difference between the two interesting because there is none.
Proceed if you wish. It's your 16K per call not ours. I'll tell you this - counsel from a VM company I've been using for blasts came back last Thurs and said "robocalls" cannot be used, period - residential or BtoB. They stopped all campaigns.
It'll be those calls you're making "BtoB" that actually go to a residence that'll cause the liability. "I didn't know" or blaming it on the list will not get you out of the fine.
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