Compliance poses special problems for distributed or mobile organisations such as real estate brokerages.
Individual realtors represent the brokerage and are required to identify themselves and their organisation at the outset of the call. A request not to be called again therefore applies to the brokerage as a whole. All of the brokerage personnel, wherever they are located, must be informed of every such request.
Comparatively few realtors use the telephone as a primary marketing tool, but all use the telephone in selling related activities where almost any call has potential to create a company Do Not Call List (DNCL) entry. Because Call Tracker is specifically for the sales professional who rarely cold calls, the pricing structure of Call Tracker allows a brokerage to put all those sales representatives onto the service for free. Call Tracker is an ideal fit for the Real Estate business since it
Call Tracker makes it easy to track business relationships and report those that are about to expire. Use Call Tracker to keep on top of these opportunities to expand your permission based marketing activities. If a documented business relationship does not exist, then the National Do Not Call List (NDNCL) should be checked for that number at no less than monthly intervals before calling. Do you have specific permission from everyone on your client list to contact them by telephone?
A number given as a referral, or even a FSBO seller, could be on the national do not call list. Of course, for a mere 50 cents that number can be checked against the National Do Not Call List (NDNCL). But what about the company Do Not Call List (DNCL)? Better check both or a fine could be in the offing.
A realtor calling a FSBO seller could be making a sales related call if that realtor is seeking a commission from the seller. If that seller has stipulated 'no agents' would the call be considered unsolicited and therefore potentially covered by the regulations? A FSBO seller armed with the National Do Not Call List (NDNCL) and intent on excluding agents to avoid paying out commission is a likely complainant and potentially dangerous. Forewarning can help with planning a careful approach to keep you safe within the limits of the law.
It will be interesting to discover the interpretation of the regulators, and to see what decisions do come from the regulator and the courts. Do you want to be the first to find out?
Even being investigated and found innocent could prove expensive.