Telemarketing Related Information

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The following is an article relating to the telemarketing industry including products and services in our business areas.

News Story by Patrick Thibodeau
DECEMBER 23, 2002
(COMPUTERWORLD) - WASHINGTON

When a telemarketer calls, there's usually a few seconds of silence from the time you say hello to the beginning of the pitch. That "dead air" isn't just irritating -- it may now be illegal, under new telemarketing rules that were announced last week by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The commission detailed plans to create a national do-not-call list that will let people opt out of receiving telemarketing calls, as well as reduce the problem caused by dead air and abandoned calls that ring but aren't completed by the telemarketer.

The silent pause is caused by a type of software, called predictive dialers, used to automate call centers. IT managers are going to have to ensure that this software follows the new FTC rules or risk big fines for their companies.

But the rules will also simplify one aspect of management. With a national list, telemarketers will have one source of do-not-call information instead of having to collect such lists from each of the 28 states that have them. "There will be less potential for mistakes," said Elizabeth Ussher, an analyst at Meta Group Inc.

And mistakes can be costly. The FTC can impose fines of $11,000 per violation if someone on the do-not-call list is called. Moreover, the FTC can penalize companies if more than 3% of calls are abandoned per day, a rule that also imposes a record-keeping requirement on telemarketers.

And if the dead air lasts longer than two seconds, a recorded message must begin stating the seller's name and telephone number.

Predictive dialers improve efficiency by ensuring that agents aren't routed to busy lines or answering machine recordings. Calls are dropped or abandoned when an agent isn't available to take them, according to officials at two predictive dialer makers, Stratasoft Inc. in Houston, and Concerto Software Inc. in Westford, Mass.

Reducing the number of dropped calls means adjusting the predictive dialing software so that it abandons fewer calls, said Fred Cote, an official at Stratasoft. The FTC rule will also force firms that "haphazardly" dial phone numbers to pay attention to the rate of abandoned calls, he said.