DMA Releases How-To-Make-A-Telephone-Sale Flow Chart
NEW YORK, March 27, 2003 – The Direct Marketing Association (The DMA) today released its new "Making A Sale Under The FTC’s New Telemarketing Sales Rule" flow chart. As part of its ongoing industry education efforts, the easy-to-use graphical guide quickly summarizes the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) new complex rules about telephone marketing into easily understood action steps that marketers can put into practice.
"Following the flow chart will help to ensure compliance with the new law in a way that does not require an army of lawyers," said H. Robert Wientzen, president & CEO, The DMA. "It will, no doubt, be a valuable and practical tool that many will pin up on their bulletin boards or keep handy as they devise new marketing campaigns."
The multi-colored flow chart is keyed to clearly distinguish between new and existing requirements of the Telephone Sales Rule (TSR). It addresses practical issues like:
- How to meet the new predictive dialer regulations;
- How to handle novel payment methods;
- What must be done in the case of pre-acquired account information;
- How long to keep records of consumers' transactions; and
- How to handle upsells.
"This flow chart was designed with all marketers in mind, not just telemarketing service bureaus," said Patricia Faley, vice president, ethics & consumer affairs, The DMA. "So, even if you are only planning to use telemarketing as part of a larger advertising campaign and will be outsourcing the calling, the flow chart will be extremely useful in helping assure legal compliance."
The 'Making A Sale Under The FTC’s New Telemarketing Sales Rule' flow chart will be available for download at 11:00 AM EST on March 27, 2003, from The DMA's Web site at www.the-dma.org/guidelines/tsr.pdf .
The flow chart represents the FTC rule as it exists today. There are pending legal challenges and an ongoing Federal Communications Commission (FCC) review that may change the look of this chart over time. The DMA will continue to update the industry about any changes.
The DMA is the leading trade association for businesses interested in interactive and database marketing, with nearly 4,700 member companies from the United States and 53 other nations. Founded in 1917, its members include direct marketers from every business segment as well as the nonprofit and electronic marketing sectors. Included are catalogers, Internet retailers and service providers, financial services providers, book and magazine publishers, book and music clubs, retail stores, industrial manufacturers and a host of other vertical segments, including the service industries that support them. According to a DMA-commissioned study, direct and interactive marketing sales in the United States are projected to have surpassed $2 trillion in 2002, including $126 billion in catalog sales and $34 billion in sales generated by the Internet. The DMA's Web site is
www.the-dma.org, and its consumer Web site is www.shopthenet.org.
###