Telemarketing & the The Two-Second Rule
Ofcom, which is the broadcasting and telecom regulator, has created new rules for the world of telemarketing and you should be aware of them!
They have now issued the statement that firms that use automatic dialers as a way to make cold calls for clients, are now allowed a longer amount of time between when the phone is answered and before they have to play a recorded message.
The reason this is even in question is because something automatic dialers can result in silent calls, which happens when more phones are answered than there are telemarketing agents to handle them. Before this new ruling, Ofcom has said that recorded messages must be played within two seconds of the phone being answered. The change is there. Now the two second rule begins after the person who has answered the phone, starts to talk.
The Confederation of British Industry issued a document in July arguing against the two-second rule and its possible negative effects on business, since two seconds is not adequate time to allow answering machine detection technology time to operate.
Predictions say that this nonetheless will still be a controversial move on Ofcom, considering consumer groups have been campaigning for silent calls to be banned completely, and not just regulated.
If this sounds like something you were planning on ignoring, don’t. There are serious fines associated with this that could venture up to 50,000 pounds. If you are hiring an outside firm to do your telemarketing for you, make sure that they are in compliance with these regulations.
To read the entire article via Marketing Direct: http://www.marketingdirectmag.co.uk/news/964209/Ofcom-lengthens-silent-call-time-CBI-makes-case-outbound-telemarketing/
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They have now issued the statement that firms that use automatic dialers as a way to make cold calls for clients, are now allowed a longer amount of time between when the phone is answered and before they have to play a recorded message.
The reason this is even in question is because something automatic dialers can result in silent calls, which happens when more phones are answered than there are telemarketing agents to handle them. Before this new ruling, Ofcom has said that recorded messages must be played within two seconds of the phone being answered. The change is there. Now the two second rule begins after the person who has answered the phone, starts to talk.
The Confederation of British Industry issued a document in July arguing against the two-second rule and its possible negative effects on business, since two seconds is not adequate time to allow answering machine detection technology time to operate.
Predictions say that this nonetheless will still be a controversial move on Ofcom, considering consumer groups have been campaigning for silent calls to be banned completely, and not just regulated.
If this sounds like something you were planning on ignoring, don’t. There are serious fines associated with this that could venture up to 50,000 pounds. If you are hiring an outside firm to do your telemarketing for you, make sure that they are in compliance with these regulations.
To read the entire article via Marketing Direct: http://www.marketingdirectmag.co.uk/news/964209/Ofcom-lengthens-silent-call-time-CBI-makes-case-outbound-telemarketing/
Back