Today I received a phone call from the “L.A. Clippers” at my business. My business phone number is not listed in any yellow or white pages and I don’t do any advertising. I opt out of all information sharing with every company I deal with. The only place you can find our phone number is on our website, and this phone call has me seriously considering removing it. I get all of my business through word of mouth anyway.
So this guy calls me at work and leaves about 3 messages. I don’t recognize his voice and he doesn’t say what the call is regarding. He left three messages so I think it might be important, maybe one of my client’s friends needs my help urgently.
I call the guy back, tell him my name and company name and he proceeds to try to sell me tickets to Clipper games. I got so angry, I think my face turned red. I stayed calm and told him, I don’t watch sports and that I am not interested. He said “I don’t care about you, I care about your client’s” great salesmanship by the way. I told him I want interested and to please add my business number to their do not call list.
I headed over to the National Do Not Call Registry to add my business phone numbers. Apparently it is for consumers only and you can register your home or cell phone number 🙁 . Well, it is my company’s home phone number and my company is a consumer as well so I added my numbers. After that was done, I started to search for information about business do not call list. Shockingly, they are mostly non-existent except in limited circumstances (home based business, etc). In fact, Texas is the only state that explicitly has a do not call list for both consumers and businesses. The business do not call list is called the Electric No Call.
The FTC should take the example of Texas and implement a Business Do Not Call registry. Texas charges $2.55 for a 5 year registration (a fee I would gladly pay). Just because I have a business does not mean I appreciate solicitors. That is why businesses lock their doors and put out no soliciting signs. I do thorough research on all my vendors and I really don’t want people calling my business trying to sell me stuff. I want people calling my business to buy stuff. Put out an ad and I’ll call you if I want to buy something.