Calling hours and do-not-call lists

Two of the oldest telemarketing rules decide when you can call and whom you can't. Federal rules limit sales calls to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the called person's local time, and the do-not-call rules combine a national registry run by the FTC with the list every seller has to keep of people who've asked it to stop calling. This Impact Dialing guide covers both and how to build them into a dialer.

The federal calling window

The FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule bars telemarketers from calling a person's residence before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., local time at the called person's location, unless the person has agreed to it (16 CFR 310.4(c)). The FCC's TCPA rules set the same window for telephone solicitations to residential subscribers (47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1)), and the FCC applies its residential do-not-call and calling-hours rules to cell phones as well (64.1200(e)).

The window is set by where the called person is. A number's area code doesn't always match where its owner lives, since people keep their cell numbers when they move, so a dialer that schedules by area code alone can reach someone outside the window. Where you have an address on file, schedule by it, and where the area code and the address point to different time zones, call only during hours that fall inside the window in both.

States with narrower windows

States can set tighter limits than the federal rules. Florida, for example, allows commercial telephone solicitation calls only from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the called person's time zone and caps them at three calls in 24 hours on the same subject (Fla. Stat. 501.616(6)). Other states set their own limits on hours, days, or call frequency, so build the calling calendar from the rules of each state on your list and apply whichever window is narrower.

The National Do Not Call Registry

The FTC runs the National Do Not Call Registry, and both federal rule sets bar sales calls to registered numbers. There are two exceptions. A seller may call someone who's given it a signed written agreement to receive its calls at that number, or someone it has an established business relationship with (16 CFR 310.4(b)(1)(iii)(B); 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(2)). Under the FCC's definition, that relationship lasts 18 months after a purchase or transaction, or three months after an inquiry or application, and it ends as soon as the person asks the seller not to call (64.1200(f)(5)). Registrations don't expire, and people can register cell phones as well as landlines.

Sellers pay an annual fee for each area code of registry data they download, with the first five area codes free (16 CFR 310.8). A telemarketer working for several sellers can't split one download's cost across its clients, so each seller needs its own access.

The 31-day scrub

Both rules protect a seller whose occasional registry violation was an honest error, as long as it can show a set of routine practices. Those are written do-not-call procedures, trained staff, a maintained list of numbers it may not call, monitoring and enforcement of the procedures, and a process that removes registered numbers using a version of the registry downloaded no more than 31 days before the call (16 CFR 310.4(b)(3); 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(2)(i)). In practice that means downloading the registry at least monthly and re-scrubbing every list that's still being dialed each time the download is refreshed.

Company-specific do-not-call lists

Separately from the registry, every seller has to keep its own list of people who've asked it not to call, and stop calling them (16 CFR 310.4(b)(1)(iii)(A); 47 CFR 64.1200(d)). The FCC sets minimum standards for that list.

• A written do-not-call policy, available on demand.
• Training for everyone who makes calls on the list's existence and use.
• Recording each request when it's made, and honoring it within a reasonable time that can't exceed 10 business days.
• Honoring each request for five years.
• Giving the called person the caller's name, the name of the person or entity the call is for, and a phone number or address where that entity can be reached.

The obligation stays with the seller. If a call center or vendor records requests for you, you're still liable for any it fails to honor (64.1200(d)(3)), so pull the vendor's list into your own on a schedule. The TSR also bars getting in the way of a request by hanging up on the person, making them hear a pitch first, charging a fee, sending them to a different number, or requiring them to name the seller (310.4(b)(1)(ii)).

Calls the registry doesn't cover

The national registry reaches sales calls only. Political calls, calls by or for tax-exempt nonprofits, surveys, and informational calls such as appointment reminders aren't telephone solicitations under the FCC's rules, and the TSR exempts charitable solicitations from the registry (16 CFR 310.6(a)). Two obligations still reach some of those callers. A for-profit telemarketer calling for a charity has to honor that charity's own do-not-call list, and any caller using a prerecorded voice or an autodialer still needs the consent the TCPA requires. The TCPA and Telemarketing Sales Rule basics guide covers those consent rules, and phone banking for political campaigns covers the rules for campaign calls.

Building this into a dialer

A dialer can only enforce what it's given, so the scrub and the window rules belong in the campaign setup checklist. The guide to abandonment rate and the 3 percent rule covers the settings that matter once the calls start.