Surviving the new b2b telemarketing legislation

The Corporate Telephone Preference Service is here to stay and so isnít it about time we had some practical advice on positive ways to ensure our business development survives the legislation? Amanda Ling, Head of Marketing at The Database Group shares her ësurvival tipsí and gives advice on what to look out for when choosing a bureau to CTPS screen your data.

Survival Tip One ñ 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 ñ Donít 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 ñ 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 ñ 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 branchís data can be processed separately and you can make considerable savings.

Survival Tip 5 ñ 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 ñ 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 toÖ

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 dataís 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.