The Mind of Vatke
Thoughts, Musings and Advice by Andre Vatke

“I would like to cancel my mlm lead subscription,” said the voice on the other end of the phone.

“Is there a problem?” our customer service staffer asked.

“I’m not getting any response calling and I don’t really want to talk to people anyway,” came the reply. “I found a place that where I can get 10,000 leads and load them into an autodailer. It will do all the work. I’m sure I’ll get better results with that.”

Reality however, paints a different picture…

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It’s human nature to look for shortcuts. Our quest to find shortcuts often sets us up to neglect researching solutions or to just ignore our better judgment. Ignoring better judgment certainly makes us targets for scammers, but the price for ignoring common sense is most often self sabotaging our own success.

Take this case of using a autodailer - the automated sending a prerecorded message to the phone numbers on your list. On the surface it seems like a clever way to bypass months of learning and work - to skip to the front of the line.

What’s not motioned by the companies offering this service is that using their system commercially in the US is illegal. In fact, they often say quite the opposite… that it’s OK to call business numbers or that the prospects agreed to receiving automated calls. Yet, according to the FTC, these are not valid exemptions from the law.

First things first… let’s talk about common sense.

Common sense says that a marketing method that’s despised by the general public isn’t a good bet when it comes to deciding how to market your own product or service! Common sense also says that when it comes to making money and even relationships or health, shortcuts can do more harm than good.

In the 20+ years I’ve been working with marketers I have yet to find the person that enjoys getting robocalls. Even those who don’t mind so much (because they just hang up) have their limit depending on how often they get these calls. Even if it were legal, using marketing that’s despised by 90% of your prospects will not only get a low low return, it will likely create negative associations with you and your company that will kill the chance for repeat business.

The fact that these calls are so despised is the reason that they have actually been restricted since 1991 and outright banned since 2009. Yet companies keep selling the service - often from outside the US or for other purposes besides marketing. The problem is that marketers ignoring their better judgement continue to fall victim.

Marketers are often shocked at the fact that since September of 2009 they face a liability of $16,000 per call. So 10,000 robocalls would give a marketer a $160 MILLION liability!

What kind of results would you need to get to make a liability like that justified?

Most marketers would likely just receive a nasty letter from the FCC ordering them to “cease and desist” their marketing practices and sign a statement affirming this. But it’s still quite a scare and shock to be put out of business by the Feds. And let’s not forget that there are always “example” cases - just to show to the public that they will enforce the law. (See some of the articles below if you have doubts.)

That’s NOT the way to build a long term network marketing business!

The law will certainly assume you understand your responsibilities as a business person - even if you don’t. So make sure you understand what it means to be in business. It’s not really that hard or complicated.

If you want to know what’s truly involved in working with leads or in running ads of your own, stop by our site and listen to our free 33 minute training audio. There are no forms to fill out, no commitment or obligations just professional insight that will help you stay safe and get better results.

Wishing you success,

Andre Vatke

For further reading…

FTC: New Rules For Robocalls

Judge Freezes Assets, Stops Operations of Robocall Company

FTC: Robocallers To Pay Over $655,000 and Sell Assets For Consumer Redress