Can I still call under "Do Not Call?"

All of these exceptions have legal definitions, of course. For those of you who do call consumers at home, note the following:

• Personal relationship means any family member, friend, or acquaintance. "Acquaintance" is not further defined.
• Established business relationship means someone who has made a purchase or any financial transaction with you during the last 18 months, or an inquiry about your products and services within the last 3 months, so long as that person has not requested that you stop calling them.
• To continue calling once the time limits above have expired supposedly requires a written, signed request from the consumer. But if the consumer verbally expresses interest as the result of your calls, there appears to be no restriction against considering that a new inquiry, and restarting the clock.

The only type of calls covered by the regulations are those made for the purpose of solicitation, defined as inducing the purchase of goods and services. If you call someone to say hello, share information, or invite them to attend a community event, it seems to me that it would be difficult to claim that a solicitation was taking place.

If after reading this far, you're still feeling nervous about how these rules might impact your business, here's one more significant piece of guidance, quoted directly from the FTC bulletin: "FTC staff does not contemplate enforcing the National Do Not Call Registry provisions against individuals who make sales calls out of their own homes to personal friends, family members, or small numbers of personal referrals."

Near as I can figure it, the only time the rules would impact the average independent professional is when you are calling people at home for the express purpose of selling them consumer goods and services, you don't know them, haven't been personally referred to them, and they've expressed no interest in your business. As a professional selling your own services, why exactly would you be calling these people?

Now I am aware of the fact that there are some professionals who make cold calls to purchased lists of consumers. Financial planners and insurance brokers in particular have traditionally included this activity as part of their marketing plan.

However, when I ask these professionals about the effectiveness of these calls, they typically tell me their rate of return is abysmally low. In fact, they get much better results by building referrals from clients and other professionals, personal networking, public speaking, and following up with prospects who have already expressed interest. None of these activities are likely to be hindered by the Do Not Call rules.

If you do want to make cold calls to consumers as a regular part of your marketing plan, you'll need to comply with the rules. The FTC also suggests: "As a matter of good will, small direct sellers may want to avoid contacting a person whose number is on the Registry. The National Do Not Call Registry has a free, single number lookup feature to enable small direct sellers to verify whether an individual number is in the Registry database."

Should other entrepreneurs and self-employed professionals be aware of these rules? Certainly. ignorance of the law is never an excuse. But do they prevent you from marketing yourself effectively and efficiently? It would seem not. In fact, following the rules could help reorient your sales activities to avoid cold calling and focus on permission-based relationship marketing. In other words, doing what works better anyway.

Copyright (C) 2009, C.J. Hayden

C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients Now!(TM) Thousands of business owners and independent professionals have used her simple sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free copy of "Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You'll Ever Need" at www.getclientsnow.com.