California telemarketing regulations

[mendocinographics]

I am trying to setup an outbound calling center where multiple outbound lines will make automated calls to direct dial numbers, and when a pickup is detected will switch the call to an available sales rep. My concern is if I have two reps waiting in queue and 8 lines dialing out, I am concerned that when both reps are busy, the other 6 lines may reach a target prospect, at which point, these calls will be dropped.

I live in California, and am unsure about the legality, and what to do in this situation. I searched everywhere, and read California regulations, but could not find a clear and concise answer. I came across a lot of terminology like ASR, ACD, etc. but did not know what is typically required, and what I need to do to make sure I am in compliance with California law.

I know no one's advice on the board can be substituted for legal advice, but I was just curious if anyone could help me shed some informal tips on this. Thanks you.

Rebecca

[mflorell]

Predictive dialing with only 2 agents is never a good idea. Usually you want to have at least 5. There is no predictive dialer in existence that can efficiently dial with only 2 agents, especially if you want to comply with the FTC 3% drop percentage limit.

[mendocinographics]

Thanks for the response mflorell!

You're right. I was reviewing the California telemarketing regulations and reconfirmed that I could not abandon more than 3% of live call connections over a 30 day period.

Does anyone have a creative setup that would still satisfy this requirement and allow me to implement the setup described in my original post above? Thank you.

Rebecca

[williamconley]

absolutely. set your dial ratio to 1.4 instead of 8 and set your "available only tally" to YES

agents will have to wait a bit, but you should not drop too many calls. and it will be MASSIVELY better than manual dialing.

after you make enough $$ to put on at least 4 agents, you will see a marked improvement in wait time. but even with ONE agent, vicidial whups manual dialing without question.

just stay away from 4 lines per agent, bad idea.

[mendocinographics]

Thanks for the tip!

Just for clarification, when you say 1:4 instead of 1:8, in my situation I will have two sales reps. So do you mean to set it up where my two sales reps have 4 outbound lines dialing for them?

Thanks,

Rebecca

[williamconley]

i did not say 1:4, i said 1.4. as in 1.4:1. (The dropdown would be "1.4").

Each of the two reps would be on 1:1 dialing unless both were available at the same time, which would change them to 2:1 dialing until one of them was in an actual live call. (because of rounding, 1.4 rounds down, 2.8 rounds UP)