The Do Not Call legislation is upsetting many people whose living depends on calling people. This on-again, off-again legislation being battled over in the courts is backed by so much popular demand that politicians finally have something they agree on. It would be political suicide not to support it. And before you Canadians out there think this does not pertain to you because you have no such legislation, stick around. There were reasons this law came about and those same reasons affect you, with or without this law.

It’s the consumer, stupid

The consumer is always right, and the average consumer does not want to be harassed by rude telemarketers. The surveys that preceded drafting the law found that consumers generally did not mind telemarketers who were polite, considerate, called during normal hours and left clear messages, which consumers say they would return if they were interested and the caller was clear. What they object to—vehemently—is calls during dinner hour; telemarketers who drone on reading a script and not listening; telemarketers who do not say up front who they represent and what they really want; and aggressive, rude people. Sometimes the scripts and tactics they are taught (I can only imagine boiler room operations) turn a normal person into a monster on the phone. Ever begin a conversation and get into the process with a come-on, only to find the bottom line and topic are completely different ad that’s the hitch? Too many telemarketers and solicitation scripts fall into these ugly categories, so it is, in the end, easier to block yourself from all of them than it is to sort them out. Let the government regulate it, hence, the new law.

It is imperative that we find good alternatives to telemarketing. Imperative. Techniques that are efficient and effective. But first, one more minute of background and then a few practical, non-preachy cures.

An executive of a large insurance company said to me that the new law, as it is written, is flawed because of the way it is written. It prohibits calls to referrals who are on the DNC list without their firsthand consent to override it, for example. He is looking for legal help to challenge and clarify certain wording and applications of the law to make it easier for representatives to call referrals. If this aspect of the prohibition stands, you will have to bypass referrals and obtain personal introductions. I have advocated this since my beginning (1977) and built the script thousands of top agents use (1984), but adopting it now on a forced grand scale would be difficult for many and impossible for other agents and brokers of both investments and insurance. But it is a place to start.

My wife, a Canadian, says the easy way is not to take calls when you don’t want, not to return calls you don’t care to, and to ask everyone you don’t want to speak with again to put you on their Do Not Call List. Power to the people.

There are also other ways consumers can eliminate unwanted calls. Just as salesmen and hobos used to mark the fences of homes to indicate an “easy mark” lived there, people who do not want to be telephone consumers can “mark” their phones and never hear the sales intruder’s ring unless full disclosure is made. On my phone (Verizon) the feature is called Call Intercept. If someone calls and is listed as “unavailable,” “private,” “anonymous” or “out of area” on your Caller ID display, Call Intercept will tell callers that you do not accept unidentified calls and asks them to record their name. If an unidentified caller does not record his name or punch in your override code, your phone will not ring. By recording their name, you can hear who is calling. You have several options for handling the call, including declining it, which results in the caller hearing “The person you are calling is not available. Thank you. Goodbye.” You may reject the call, resulting in “The person you are calling does not accept telephone solicitations. Please add their name to your Do Not Call list. Thank you. Goodbye.”

Consumers may also do many other things. This is just an example. But these predictions I fear will come true regardless: Consumers will be more hostile to all solicitations by phone; solicitors will have to harden themselves even more to get the first words in; they will become more intense and increasingly rude. The good telemarketers will be lost in the escalating chaos. So don’t take glee from the hope that maybe the law won’t survive. I believe it will. But if it doesn’t, the situation will become worse for telemarketing to those 50 million and more people who do not want to be harassed by telemarketers.

Act now

Now is the time (and a little late at that) to find and plan your alternatives to telephone solicitation. You want to talk with people who want to talk with you. Ask for personal introductions. Then ask for referrals, although I believe most referrals to follow up not followed up. Conduct workshops, also realizing that as the workshop approach becomes inundated with sameness and junk that merely numbs the attendees, you must plan how you will differentiate yourself. Yes, workshops may help differentiate you, but when you begin to look like everyone else doing workshops, you must kick yourself up to another level of differentiation to be noticed. That’s marketing. That’s why I like ELP – Enhanced Lifestyle Planning; Profiles and their new planning modules; innovative web-based functions you can control for and with your clients; and advertising. Today’s consumer wants control, and if you don’t give it to them in some form, you will lose. Also, you must advertise to promote your services and yourself.

To explore these possibilities, try the links below.

Start with Enhanced Lifestyle Planning (the upper right hand tab) at www.melchinger.com. Read the blurb, then when you click, it will take you to http://www.melchinger.com/ELP_ad.htm

Financial Profiles http://www.profiles.com/ has some new functions in development.

Emoney’s Wealth Management System http://www.emoneyadvisor.com/emacorp/default.htm is an interesting service and new competitors are developing their versions of this web-based client information service.

Don’t forget the Yellow Pages, local advertising and direct mail. There is more. It is your duty to develop your own techniques. In the past, when other things have been taken away from us (e.g., consumer interest deductibility and minimum deposit), there were those who sat in their doldrums lamenting and those who acted. Guess who won?

Questions? Email jhmco@melchinger.com

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This newsletter is designed and distributed by Kirk Lowe of Freedomarketing. Content by John H. Melchinger – The Marketing Coach™