How Political Call Centers avoid TCPA Fines with Ringless Voicemail.

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It’s not easy being a political call center lately, especially after the FCC's 2012 Political Call Enforcement Advisory not to call cells. And you’re used to sub-penny voicebroadcasting budgets – and count on that for your rate structure. But political candidates have two questions for you this season: 1. Are your calls compliant? 2. How much do your calling campaigns cost? Ringless Voicemail prices have come down lately, and just might fit the bill on both counts – keeping you and your candidates happy – while getting some serious cell inventory penetration and lots of callbacks.

After all, ya gotta get the guy elected, right? Or they won’t be back. Compliance is one thing, but winning is another. Problem is, the more you push the calling envelope, the bigger the chances of a consumer complaint. Ringless Voicemail doesn’t get consumer complaints. That may be enough right there to include Ringless in your political plans.

But where can you find a Ringless Voicemail vendor that won't drop the baby? The internet is littered with “experts”. But you only have one chance with your client. If the messages are incomplete, or have a low completion rate, or aren’t delivered on time, or the system is too complicated to use, or reporting can’t be integrated into appropriate followup calls – its all for naught.

6 Things to look for in a Political Ringless Voicemail provider.

One of your own.

Nothing like working with someone that’s in the business. Most political guys came up through the voicebroadcast ranks. Voicebroadcastiing’s been tough to let go of for some veterans, but savvy political call providers have fully embraced Ringless. Nothing like working with a pro that understands the importance of costs as promised, timing of campaigns – all the make or break rules of the very specialized political contact game.
Costs.

Many times, the lower the costs of Ringless, the sloppier the delivery. The phone rings, the message is incomplete. “What the heck, the client will never know, right?” Look for a provider that has low costs AND an excellent product. Today that might even mean an offshore component as our laws continue to chase business to foreign shores.
Liability Exposure.

Some Ringless providers will tell you flat out, “I accept any client into my Ringless system. It’s 100% on them for compliance issues. I gave them the FCC call compliance site. What’s the problem.” It’s unthinking like that that can bring the system to its knees and change the legislations around ringless eventually. Deal with a reputable company. You don’t want to be swept out with the bathwater when the vendor goes down. Pay attention to what you're signing. (And don’t kid yourself that the provider won’t get dragged into the mix when all legal stuff hits fan.) See our blog, "What does a Ringless Voicemail Contract Look like anyway?"
Accurate Wireless Scrubs.

All wireless scrubs are not created equal. And if they're off just a little bit, it could cost you. Try to get a real-time mobile scrub before each campaign included for Free. That’s the gold standard. It’ll ask the carrier, “Is this a wireless number right now.” Not yesterday, not last week, but today! Also the CFPB and other agencies will ask for your cell vs. landline records if (when?) they audit you, so that’s cool to have, especially at no charge!
Campaign Timing.

Ringless needs to play the entire message on each delivery, and that can take some time. So look for a provider with a lot of trunks. It ain’t like text, where they all blast out at once. The bigger the capacity on Ringless, the better. You want to get those voters at just the right time – even with Ringless.
Ease of Implementation.

Look at the implementation interface. Don’t put it all on your IT guy to figure EVERYTHING out. (Even though he’s brilliant). Cut him or her a break and go with an intuitive, well thought out Ringless system that’s a proven winner. Even if it costs a scosh more.

In summary:

The political call game is a niche market. You grew up in it, so you want to work with Ringless providers that at least have a real good understanding of your pain points and the importance of your relationships with candidates. Your entire contact base, associations and affiliations you’ve built up over the years are at stake. One blown campaign and you may do irreparable damage.

The good news. Landlines are not completely dead. Most of the elderly (folks that might actually pick up the phone) still have them. And litigants aren’t pursuing landlines as much. The class action big bucks are in cells now.

Ringless doesn’t get complaints, has never been to court, is not even a wireless call as it doesn’t touch the wireless network, is polite, discrete and consumers are fine with it.

Be smart with your Ringless vendor choices and let’s keep it that way.

To talk about your personal political Ringless Voicemail ideas, just call me on my direct line at 561-317-3001. I usually pick up! - Bob.

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