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The National Do Not Call Registry Stops the Ringing In My Ear
How many times have you been interrupted from watching your
favorite television show, tucking the kids with a bedtime story
or unwinding with your significant other, with a call from
someone offering a free estimate on new windows? Perhaps you
were the lucky winner of a Las Vegas vacation (if you attend a
special seminar on timeshares). Maybe you were really unhappy
with your current long distance provider?
The telephone is the most immediate personal mode of
communication but often the most intrusive. Unsolicited
telemarketing calls have been a national problem since the
coupling of telephones with free enterprise. The telemarketing
industry has evolved through a series of technological
advancements that spun the growth of unwanted calls out of
control.
After receiving countless complaints throughout the nation about
uninvited calls, the federal government took action. Two years
ago the National Do Not Call Registry was launched. It is
managed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's
consumer protection agency and enforced by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) and state law enforcement
officials.
Telemarketers who call a number on the national Do Not Call
registry could be fined up $11,000. The new FTC rules also
require that telemarketers have Caller ID enabled and limit
abandoned 'hang up' calls from predictive dialers. Consumer
phone numbers will remain on the registry for five years from
the date of registration. Telemarketers must register to obtain
the list and pay a small fee per area code for the privilege.
According to the FTC, during the 72 hours before the Do Not Call
Registry became available to telemarketers, more than six
million consumers added their telephone numbers to the list.
Since inception the total number of consumer telephone number on
the list has soared to approximately 88 million.
Exempt from the law are political organizations, banks,
airlines, insurance agencies, realtors, telephone carriers,
charities, telephone surveyors or companies with which you have
an existing business relationship. Thank goodness I still have
the choice of switching my long distance provider!
Shrewd telemarketers have turned
to other venues including
internet & email advertising, direct mail and sales promotion.
Other firms are working within the confines of the law by
utilizing the loopholes. Telemarketing firms have started
implementing new and innovative ideas to bypass the list. Some
are offering special discounts or payment terms if customers
agree to accept telemarketing calls. Others are making strategic
mutual agreements using the "established business relationship"
clause to market product to each other's customers.
Conglomerates that own many companies to market their products
are consolidating their marketing strategies in order to sell
products to channels of all their affiliated companies.
Additionally, if a consumer makes an inquiry, telemarketing
firms still have the right to solicit their business for a
period of three months. Indeed some consumers may get even more
calls because the pool of available numbers is shrinking.
Some surveys suggest that eventually 97 percent of all homes
will sign up to the registry. But are consumers really opposed
to telemarketing calls? The key is relevance to the consumer. If
a consumer has an interest in the product then the call may not
be seen as intrusive. A common example is buying a car. During
the purchasing process the consumer might contact a number of
dealers about information. But once he has purchased a car,
calls from dealerships may be considered a nuisance.
The Do Not Call registry seems to have a number of loopholes
that can be exploited but the registry seems to be reducing
annoying calls. In a survey released in February of 2004, Harris
Interactive found that 92 percent of those who signed up for the
registry had fewer telemarketing calls, and 25 percent of those
registered indicated they had received no telemarketing calls
since signing up.
Now if only I could get my mother in law to stop calling...
About the author:
Rito Salomone is the president of Resource Software
International Ltd. (RSI). He has 17 years experience in the
field of communication management solutions.
For more information you can review: http://www.telecost.com or
contact the author at rsalomone@telecost.com.
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