Form of business solicitation
Cold calling
is the solicitation of
business
from potential customers who have had no prior contact with the
salesperson
conducting the call.
[1]
[2]
It is an attempt to convince potential customers to purchase either the salesperson's product or service. Generally, it is referred as an over-the-phone process, making it a source of
telemarketing
,
[3]
but can also be done in-person by
door-to-door
salespeople. Though cold calling can be used as a legitimate business tool,
scammers
can use cold calling as well.
Evolution
[
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]
Cold calling has developed from a form of giving sales pitch using a script
[4]
into a targeted communication tool. Salespeople call from a list of potential customers that fit certain parameters built to help increase the likelihood of a sale. This modern cold calling, sometimes called "warm calling", tries to "dig deeply to understand"
[5]
the potential customer.
Criticisms
[
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]
With the development of newer technology and the
Internet
, cold calling has gained some criticism.
Jeffrey Gitomer
wrote in a 2010 article for
The Augusta Chronicle
that "the return on
investment
on cold calling is under zero."
[6]
Gitomer believes that cold calling will only annoy customers and will not attract business. Gitomer also believes that
referral marketing
is a better form of selling and
marketing
.
[6]
According to Gitomer, there are "2.5 basic understandings of a cold call":
[7]
- Cold calling is the lowest percentage sale call.
- Cold calling has a very high rejection rate.
- Multiple rejections can change the salesperson's mentality and make it more difficult to act friendly and complete calls.
[7]
- Since the rise of the Internet, social media and instant text messaging, a significant portion of people tends to prefer texting over calling and ignores incoming phone calls from unfamiliar numbers.
[8]
[9]
Cold calling has also been used by scammers. One such example was when groups of impostors posed as members of the
Microsoft
support team. The impostors called several homes from a database of Microsoft owners. The Microsoft customers were then told that there was a virus on their computers, and in order to fix it, they had to download a specific program. The program gave access to the computer files for the impostors.
[10]
Cold calling has been a hallmark in the proliferation of
boiler room
scams selling fraudulent investment and sports betting schemes from Australia's
Gold Coast
.
[11]
Rules and regulations
[
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]
Many countries have rules and regulations that limit and control how, when and whom companies can cold call. These rules and regulations are often implemented by government bodies that deal with telecommunication laws in their specific country.
United States
[
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]
The
United States
telecommunication laws are developed and enacted by the
Federal Trade Commission
(FTC). The FTC aims to "puts consumers in charge of the number of telemarketing calls they get at home".
[12]
The United States, along with many individual states, have enacted various "Do Not Call" lists. These lists are based on the national US
Do Not Call List
which was enacted in 2003.
[12]
Every month, since January 2005,
[13]
companies are required by law to check the "Do Not Call List" database. They are required to remove the registered numbers from their leads lists. However the "Do Not Call List" has certain limitations. Even if a person is registered for the "Do Not Call List", certain organizations can still call. These organizations include:
- Telephone surveyors, charities, and political organizations
- Organizations that one has had a business relationship with over the previous 18 months
- Any company one has given written permission
[12]
The FTC has also set certain regulations on when one can be called. Cold calling can only be done in between 8
a.m. and 9
p.m. The caller is also required by law to tell the customer who they are and what organization they represent. This includes clarifying if the organization is a for-profit organization or
charity
. The salesperson also must reveal all information about the product they are selling. This means that they are legally required not to lie.
[12]
Many other government organizations monitor cold calling within their jurisdiction including the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC). The SEC specializes in monitoring cold calling that deals with
stocks
, specifically
stockbrokers
. When investing over the phone, the SEC states that written banking information must be given. This means that an investment cannot be made over the phone.
[14]
Restrictions from US on use of artificial intelligence when cold calling
[
edit
]
As of February 2024
[update]
, the
FCC
has banned the use of AI-generated voices and potentially AI-generated text messages in
telemarketing
and cold calling, with violations posing significant legal liabilities for businesses who violate the new regulations set forth.
[15]
[16]
Canada
[
edit
]
The
National Do Not Call List
(DNCL) is administered by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
(CRTC). As with the U.S. version, the rules exclude surveyors, charities, political organizations/candidates, organizations that one has had a business relationship with over the previous 18 months or has otherwise granted permission, as well as newspapers seeking subscribers.
[17]
[18]
United Kingdom
[
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]
The
United Kingdom
has its own version of the "Do Not Call List" known as the
Telephone Preference Service
(TPS). Any citizen of the United Kingdom can register for the list that aims to eliminate its participants from receiving unsolicited calls from organizations including charities and political parties unlike the United States and Canada. TPS was first enacted in 1999 and eventually saw changes in 2003 that ultimately created the
Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003
.
[19]
While the TPS prevents unsolicited sales and marketing calls, it does not prevent "recorded/automated messages, silent calls,
market research
, overseas companies, debt collection, scam calls"
[20]
according to the TPS website.
In 2012, Richard Herman from Middlesex sent an invoice to a company for the time they had kept cold-calling him. He eventually took the company to the
small claims court
, leading to the company settling out of court. He had been phoned several times by the company despite being listed with the Telephone Preference Service.
[21]
Australia
[
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]
Australia
has its own version of the "Do Not Call List" known as the
Do Not Call Register
. The "Do Not Call Register" is under the jurisdiction of the
Australian Communications and Media Authority
(ACMA) which acts as the supreme telecommunications authority in Australia. Registering for the "Do Not Call Register" prevents telemarketers and fax marketers from contacting registered members. Registration for the program is free and will last for eight years. Similar to other countries, there are exceptions to the "Do Not Call Register". These exceptions include: political parties, charities and educational institutions. The "Do Not Call Register" takes effect 30 days after registration.
[22]
Republic of Ireland
[
edit
]
In the
Republic of Ireland
, the "National Directory Database" is an index of numbers that cannot be called for the purposes of 'cold calls' and/or sales and advertising. An unsolicited marketing call to a number on the National Directory Database is a criminal offence.
[23]
Japan
[
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]
Some financial products are totally not permitted to cold-call, but the practice is generally permitted within a guideline which requires stating the name of the business, full name of the caller, name of the product and intention of solicitation. There is no do-not-call list. The Japanese government's
Financial Services Agency
maintains a list of known fraudulent entities involved in financial cold-calling scams.
[24]
European Union
[
edit
]
On May 25, 2018, the
European Union
passed the
General Data Protection Regulation
which imposes obligations onto organizations anywhere, so long as they target or collect data related to people in the EU.
[25]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Cold Calling"
.
Investopedia
. Retrieved
12 November
2014
.
- ^
"Cold Call"
.
Merriam-Webster
. An Encyclopædia Britannica Company
. Retrieved
12 November
2014
.
- ^
Bird, Beverly.
"Difference Between Cold-Calling and Telemarketing"
.
- ^
Weiss, Wendy.
"Is Cold Calling Dead?"
.
Sales Gravy
. Archived from
the original
on 23 March 2019
. Retrieved
11 November
2014
.
- ^
Hegde, Naveen (Mar 9, 2023).
"Cold calling guide"
.
Codegres
.
- ^
a
b
Gitomer, Jeffrey (February 22, 2010).
"Cold calling wastes time on people who will just say "no"
"
. Retrieved
12 November
2014
.
- ^
a
b
Gitomer, Jeffrey.
"The New Cold Call: It's not cookie cutter"
.
Buy Gitomer
. Archived from
the original
on 3 March 2016
. Retrieved
19 November
2014
.
- ^
Alton, Larry (11 May 2017).
"Phone Calls, Texts Or Email? Here's How Millennials Prefer To Communicate"
.
Forbes
. Archived from
the original
on 16 January 2021
. Retrieved
14 August
2021
.
- ^
Stein, Lucia (15 February 2018).
"Why you should never trust a call from an unknown number and other tips for identifying scams"
.
ABC News
.
Archived
from the original on 9 June 2021
. Retrieved
14 August
2021
.
- ^
Catalano, Frank.
"
'We're with Windows': The anatomy of a cold calling scam"
. Retrieved
16 November
2014
.
- ^
Mark Solomons & Mark Willacy (26 May 2015).
"Former police officers under suspicion over Gold Coast boiler room scams that raked in millions of dollars"
.
ABC News
. Australia.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"The Telemarketing Sales Rule"
.
FTC
. September 2009
. Retrieved
16 November
2014
.
- ^
"How it works"
.
Do Not Call
. Federal Trade Commission
. Retrieved
20 November
2014
.
- ^
"Cold Calling"
.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
. Retrieved
17 November
2014
.
- ^
Sherry, Ben (February 2024).
"FCC Outlaws AI-Generated Voices From Telemarketing Calls"
.
Inc
. Retrieved
February 15,
2024
.
- ^
"STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER ANNA M. GOMEZ Re: Implications of Artificial Intelligence Technologies on Protecting Consumers from Unwanted Robocalls and Robotexts, CG Docket No. 23-362, Declaratory Ruling (February 2, 2024)"
(PDF)
.
Federal Communications Commission
.
- ^
"About the National Do Not Call List"
.
National Do Not Call List
. Canadian radio-television and telecommunications Commission. 12 November 2014. Archived from
the original
on 27 February 2014
. Retrieved
21 November
2014
.
- ^
"Who Can still call you?"
.
National Do Not Call List
. Canadian radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. 12 November 2014
. Retrieved
21 November
2014
.
- ^
"What is TPS?"
.
Telephone Preference Service
. Retrieved
21 November
2014
.
- ^
"Does the Telephone Preference Service stop all unwanted calls?"
.
Telephone Preference Service
. Retrieved
21 November
2014
.
- ^
Alexander, Ruth (26 October 2012).
"Cold Calling: The victim who fought back and won"
. Retrieved
21 November
2014
.
- ^
"Do Not Call Register-overview"
.
Do Not Register
. Australian Communications and Media Authority. Archived from
the original
on 29 November 2014
. Retrieved
21 November
2014
.
- ^
Direct Marketing Opt-Out Register
Archived
2009-02-11 at the
Wayback Machine
,
Commission for Communications Regulation
- ^
"
"Cold Calling" - Investors Alert"
. Financial Services Agency (FSA).
Archived
from the original on 1 August 2020
. Retrieved
14 August
2021
.
- ^
"General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)"
.
GDPR.eu
. Retrieved
28 January
2020
.
External links
[
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]