Federal Do Not Call Laws…
And How MarketSharp M Can Keep You In Compliance
Why Should You Comply With The Federal Do Not Call Laws?
A consumer who receives a telemarketing call despite being on the registry will be able to file a complaint with the FTC, either online or by calling a toll-free number. Violators could be fined up to $11,000 per incident.
Does The Do Not Call Law Apply To You?
The National Do Not Call Registry applies to any plan, program, or campaign to sell goods or services through interstate phone calls. This includes telemarketers who solicit consumers, often on behalf of third party sellers. It also includes sellers who provide, offer to provide, or arrange to provide goods or services to consumers in exchange for payment.
Who Can You Call?
A telemarketer or seller may call a consumer with whom it has an established business relationship (a Customer) for up to 18 months after the consumer’s last purchase, delivery, or payment – even if the consumer’s number is on the National Do Not Call Registry. In addition, a company may call a consumer for up to three months after the consumer makes an inquiry or submits an application to the company (a Lead). And if a consumer has given a company written permission, the company may call even if the consumer’s number is on the National Do Not Call Registry. If a company DOES NOT have an established relationship with a consumer (a Prospect) then the company can only call the consumer if they are NOT on the National Do Not Call Registry.
How Often To Process (Scrub) Your List?
Telemarketers and sellers will be required to search the registry at least every three months (beginning January 31, 2005, once every 31 days) and drop from their call lists (scrub) the phone numbers of consumers who have registered. The dedicated, fully automated and secure Web site at www.telemarketing.donotcall.gov will provide this information to telemarketers and sellers.
To Obtain and Process a Do Not Call List
When an organization accesses the National DNC registry for the first time, they will have to create a profile (register) and provide some identifying information, such as organization name and address, authorized representative, and the representative’s telephone number and email address. If an organization is accessing the registry on behalf of a client-seller, the organization may need to identify the client (or clients).
Once an organization creates a profile they will be able to download the phone numbers (by area code) listed on the National Do Not Call Registry. To register your organization with the National Do Not Call Registry, go to https://telemarketing.donotcall.gov/ and click on the button that says “Register New Users”. Then simply follow the instructions.
After registering, you can click the “Download Phone Numbers” button, enter your ID and password, and begin downloading phone numbers. You will download a separate file for each area code you want to scrub from your database. Select the “Full List Download” (NOT the “Change List Download”). Full List Download contains all the registered phone numbers in the area codes you have selected. You will also want to select the “Flat Text” format (NOT XML tagged file) to be able to process the list in MarketSharp. When you receive the file(s), they will be in compressed (zipped) format. You will need to unzip the files before processing
To process the DNC list:
2.Choose “Do Not Call” from the list on the left.
MarketSharp M should now begin processing your DNC list. When it’s done processing you’ll notice the matching records in your Prospects, Leads, and Customers databases will be marked (or flagged) as “Currently DNC” in the Phone & Fax area in a customer record view, and (if the phone numbers are being displayed) in the customer list view (see picture to right) further indicating the phone number is currently on the National Do Not Call list.
When to Run The DNC List:
To view a list of the type of DNC list, the date that it was uploaded, and the employee that completed this follow the below instructions.
- Click on the “Admin” link in the upper right hand corner of MarketSharp M.
2.Choose “Do Not Call” from the list on the left.
3. According to the type of list you downloaded (Federal, Change, or State), Click “Browse…” to locate the .txt file you have obtained from the National Do Not Call Registry website
4. Choose “Process File”
MarketSharp M should now begin processing your DNC list. When it’s done processing you’ll notice the matching records in your Prospects, Leads, and Customers databases will be marked (or flagged) as “Currently DNC” in the Phone & Fax area in a customer record view, and (if the phone numbers are being displayed) in the customer list view (see picture to right) further indicating the phone number is currently on the National Do Not Call list.
When to Run The DNC List:
To view a list of the type of DNC list, the date that it was uploaded, and the employee that completed this follow the below instructions.
- Click on the “Admin” link
- Choose “Do Not Call”
- And click on “Audit Report” on the right hand side (see image to the right)