Ever have one of those days when you’re undecided about a decision until something comes along to force your hand? Today is one of those days. I’ve been on the fence about our Leads Manager telemarketing software – until I saw the news about the FTC’s new rule prohibiting unwanted robocalls.
The Leads Manager software helped loan officers with their telemarketing. Or at least it did.
Now before I get branded as an enabler for the types of calls people don’t want to receive, let me say that I wrote the software to help loan officers get people out of high rate loans. Its use facilitated one of the hallmark practices of good salespeople – talking to the customer. Unfortunately, what can be done with the best intentions sometimes gets twisted by people without a moral compass.
The crackdown by the FTC on prerecorded telemarketing calls is not only welcome, but long overdue. The rule should still allow calls made by humans, unless the phone number is in the National Do Not Call Registry. However, my guess is that well-intentioned mortgage brokers will stay away from testing that ruling. And my target market was the well-intentioned mortgage broker who wanted to talk with their prospective client.
So as of today, I’m taking the Leads Manager off the market.
I feel for the honest brokers that are still struggling to get more customers to their business. Their focus will have to shift from finding out what their customer needed to more vague touches like mail advertising. And we know the limited return that brings.
It’s a shame to throw out the baby out with the unscrupulous telemarketing bath water, but I see it as allowing a new beginning. There’s a new world of shifting the sales process from the business to the customer and it’s being facilitated by the web.
So although the Leads Manager may be gone, the desire to help small business is not. It may just take a different turn – helping to let your customer know you first.
