Surviving
the new b2b telemarketing legislation
Survival
Tip One – Get opt-in
Add an opt-in to
every point of contact with your customers and prospects (website, order forms,
mailings, telephone enquiries). This will give them the opportunity to consent
to receiving promotional calls from your company. Even if these companies register
with the CTPS your opt-in consent will override their registration meaning you
can still call them.
Survival Tip
Two – Don’t forget referrals
Remember to take
care if you are given an alternative number to contact when you are telemarketing.
Any addition or amendment to a number in your database will not have been CTPS
screened. Try either flagging all new prospects and amended numbers with a date
stamp to ensure you do not call them before you next screen your numbers or consider
purchasing a single number lookup system so that you can check the numbers are
not registered before amending or adding to your database.
Survival Tip
3 – Check every year
Add a CTPS flag
and date field to your database as businesses are required to re-register every
year. After 12 months re-screen the numbers as their status may have changed.
Survival Tip
4 – Join Forces
Processing larger
volumes of data in one go is often more cost effective than processing smaller
volumes. If you have a number of offices/branches consider purchasing on behalf
of the group and coordinating your screening through your Head Office. Each branch’s
data can be processed separately and you can make considerable savings.
Survival Tip
5 – Prioritise your calls
Remember it is only
essential to screen the numbers you intend to telephone in the next 28 days. Flagging
manageable batches of records to be screened instead of the whole database and
prioritising your telemarketing will save you money.
Survival Tip
6 - Get proactive
Target your CTPS
registered prospects with direct marketing campaigns and encourage them to opt-in.
Consider giving away free useful information such as an information factsheet
or white paper, or perhaps a free trial of your products or services. Show that
you care about their preferences by recording the areas of your service they are
most interested in and offer them a copy of your privacy policy so that they know
opting in will not mean they are inundated with untargeted calls.
Survival Tip
7 – CTPS legislation, threat or opportunity
CTPS legislation
is an opportunity for companies to market smarter. Use this positively, after
all do you really want to waste time and resource of your sales or call centre
team calling companies who have specifically asked not to be called. Screening
out these companies will enable you to focus on those who are happy to receive
calls, and target those who are not through their preferred channel of communication.
It could even help to uplift your response rates. After all, If you call companies
who have actively expressed not to be called you ultimately risk something much
more serious than a £5000 fine, you risk damage to your brand.
When choosing
your supplier remember to…
1. Shop around
Most companies conducting
telemarketing will not need to purchase a full CTPS licence at £3750. Costs for
cleansing generally depend on the number of calls you are making. For example
if you are a small business calling 1000 numbers or less each 28 days you could
expect to pay around £60.00 - £100.00 for the whole year.
2. Try before
you buy
Many companies will
allow you a short trial of their service to enable you to make sure that it is
right for you before you buy. Search for companies who are happy to provide a
demonstration and free trial without obligation to purchase.
3. Confirm turnaround
times
Some CTPS services
can give you instant results on-line, others can process and return files within
minutes. Consider your requirements as 24 or 48 hour turnaround could cause you
a great inconvenience if you need to process an urgent CTPS clean.
4. Check minimum
charges
Many companies will
allow you to screen any number of records any time for a set charge. Watch out
for suppliers that charge minimum run charges as this could make ad-hoc cleansing
very expensive. If your supplier cannot offer you the flexibility you need look
again.
5. Help for manual
systems
You do not have
to store your data in a database to check against CTPS, nor do you have to check
numbers one at a time. There are manual on-line options available that allow you
to key in selections of numbers and check them all at once, quickly efficiently
and cost effectively.
6. Keep an audit
trail
Ensure your supplier
can give you access to a fast and effective way of checking the numbers you have
screened as you may need to provide proof to the Information Commissioner should
a complaint about your company be received. Some companies offer an audit lookup
system where you can view numbers you have previously screened instantly, others
can provide you with reports, just make sure you have proof that you can print.
7. Check your
data’s health
If your data is
old or has not been cleansed regularly it may contain old STD codes, or have text
such as ext xxx typed into the phone field.
If you think your
data is in need of cleansing ensure your supplier can offer a service that will
highlight these issues before CTPS screening.
About the Author
Amanda Ling is Head
of Marketing at The Database Group. For further information, visit http://www.databasegroup.co.uk/
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