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American Morning
Interview With Jerry Cerasale, V.P. of Direct Marketing Association
Aired September 30, 2003 - 07:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The FCC, the Federal Communications Commission says that starting tomorrow, the 1st of October, it will enforce do-not-call rules against telemarketers. The FCC is stepping in, because the hands of the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, are legally tied.
President Bush, meanwhile, signing the national do-not-call measure into law yesterday, despite legal action that may prevent it from taking full effect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: While many good people work in the telemarketing industry, the public is understandably losing patience with these unwanted phone calls, unwanted intrusions. And given a choice, Americans prefer not to receive random sales pitches at all hours of the day, and the American people should be free to restrict these calls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: President Bush from yesterday.
The federal judge who blocked the do-not-call list is warning the government not to skirt his order.
From D.C. this morning, Jerry Cerasale of the Direct Marketing Association back with us to present his side of the story.
Nice to see you, sir. Good morning to you.
JERRY CERASALE, SENIOR V.P., DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATION: Good morning, Bill. Thank you very much.
HEMMER: You're welcome.
Starting tomorrow, the 1st of October, how many people will be receiving telemarketing calls in their homes and businesses?
CERASALE: Well, the Federal Communications Commission is going to enforce its rule on only those telemarketers who have already received the list from the Federal Trade Commission. New telemarketers cannot now receive the list from them, only those who have already received it. That would include most likely all of the large telemarketers, and our members are going to follow that. And I would think that there will be a significant drop in telephone calls. I think...
HEMMER: Let me be a little more specific here. A significant drop? What do we mean? Can we talk numbers or not, Jerry?
CERASALE: We can. Our telephone preference service, we've had a list since 1985. Our survey shows it blocks about 80 percent of all of the telephone calls. I think it won't be that large, because not every member ours already has the list. And if they don't have the list, they cannot legally obtain the list, and therefore they cannot legally block the phone calls.
HEMMER: OK, I'm going to try and keep this as simple as I can.
CERASALE: Go ahead.
HEMMER: Because I get confused. I don't know if you do as well. But the government is saying if you make a phone call, you're going to get fined about $11,000 per call. Is that your understanding?
CERASALE: That's the understanding, but the enforcement will only go to people who have already signed up -- telemarketers who have already signed up to receive the list from the Federal Trade Commission.
HEMMER: All right. Let's try and wade through a bit more of this. What we are understanding right now is that the government is prepared to go ahead and initiate a number of provisions in the do- not-call list over and above what we just talked about. Let's put them up on the screen right now and talk about the new rules. They include credit card changes, no blocked caller I.D., only 3 percent of the calls can be recorded. That two-second rule, where you have to begin speaking within two seconds, must be enforced. How will you enforce these changes starting tomorrow, the 1st of October?
CERASALE: Well, the first one is that if the credit card changes, if you have a pre-approved credit card or, I mean, if you already have the credit card number and you're going to charge someone for something else, you must get the number back from the individual. Our members are trained and know that's going to happen.
You cannot block caller I.D. That starts really in January, and we encourage our members to try and push caller I.D. and get it through the switches, so that people will know who is calling. We think that's probably the most important part of this telemarketing rule.
The next is you cannot abandon a telephone call. Right now, there are mechanisms to increase productivity, and sometimes there's not an operator ready within two seconds to talk with you. And that becomes an abandoned call, and that must be limited to 3 percent of those calls.
HEMMER: Wow! There's a whole lot to swallow here. Quickly, we are told 6.5 million people may lose their jobs if telemarketers are out of business. Isn't that number a bit high, do you think?
CERASALE: From our numbers that's a little bit high. We think that...
HEMMER: What's more accurate then?
CERASALE: The total number of people involved in outbound telemarketing we think are about 4.1 million. That's not -- that's a lot more than just the people who are calling. Our numbers, we think that 400,000 to 500,000 people for certain have the potential of losing their jobs.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jerry. Jerry Cerasale.
CERASALE: Thank you.
HEMMER: We'll all see how it goes down tomorrow and into the first of the year.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Association>
Aired September 30, 2003 - 07:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The FCC, the Federal Communications Commission says that starting tomorrow, the 1st of October, it will enforce do-not-call rules against telemarketers. The FCC is stepping in, because the hands of the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, are legally tied.
President Bush, meanwhile, signing the national do-not-call measure into law yesterday, despite legal action that may prevent it from taking full effect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: While many good people work in the telemarketing industry, the public is understandably losing patience with these unwanted phone calls, unwanted intrusions. And given a choice, Americans prefer not to receive random sales pitches at all hours of the day, and the American people should be free to restrict these calls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: President Bush from yesterday.
The federal judge who blocked the do-not-call list is warning the government not to skirt his order.
From D.C. this morning, Jerry Cerasale of the Direct Marketing Association back with us to present his side of the story.
Nice to see you, sir. Good morning to you.
JERRY CERASALE, SENIOR V.P., DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATION: Good morning, Bill. Thank you very much.
HEMMER: You're welcome.
Starting tomorrow, the 1st of October, how many people will be receiving telemarketing calls in their homes and businesses?
CERASALE: Well, the Federal Communications Commission is going to enforce its rule on only those telemarketers who have already received the list from the Federal Trade Commission. New telemarketers cannot now receive the list from them, only those who have already received it. That would include most likely all of the large telemarketers, and our members are going to follow that. And I would think that there will be a significant drop in telephone calls. I think...
HEMMER: Let me be a little more specific here. A significant drop? What do we mean? Can we talk numbers or not, Jerry?
CERASALE: We can. Our telephone preference service, we've had a list since 1985. Our survey shows it blocks about 80 percent of all of the telephone calls. I think it won't be that large, because not every member ours already has the list. And if they don't have the list, they cannot legally obtain the list, and therefore they cannot legally block the phone calls.
HEMMER: OK, I'm going to try and keep this as simple as I can.
CERASALE: Go ahead.
HEMMER: Because I get confused. I don't know if you do as well. But the government is saying if you make a phone call, you're going to get fined about $11,000 per call. Is that your understanding?
CERASALE: That's the understanding, but the enforcement will only go to people who have already signed up -- telemarketers who have already signed up to receive the list from the Federal Trade Commission.
HEMMER: All right. Let's try and wade through a bit more of this. What we are understanding right now is that the government is prepared to go ahead and initiate a number of provisions in the do- not-call list over and above what we just talked about. Let's put them up on the screen right now and talk about the new rules. They include credit card changes, no blocked caller I.D., only 3 percent of the calls can be recorded. That two-second rule, where you have to begin speaking within two seconds, must be enforced. How will you enforce these changes starting tomorrow, the 1st of October?
CERASALE: Well, the first one is that if the credit card changes, if you have a pre-approved credit card or, I mean, if you already have the credit card number and you're going to charge someone for something else, you must get the number back from the individual. Our members are trained and know that's going to happen.
You cannot block caller I.D. That starts really in January, and we encourage our members to try and push caller I.D. and get it through the switches, so that people will know who is calling. We think that's probably the most important part of this telemarketing rule.
The next is you cannot abandon a telephone call. Right now, there are mechanisms to increase productivity, and sometimes there's not an operator ready within two seconds to talk with you. And that becomes an abandoned call, and that must be limited to 3 percent of those calls.
HEMMER: Wow! There's a whole lot to swallow here. Quickly, we are told 6.5 million people may lose their jobs if telemarketers are out of business. Isn't that number a bit high, do you think?
CERASALE: From our numbers that's a little bit high. We think that...
HEMMER: What's more accurate then?
CERASALE: The total number of people involved in outbound telemarketing we think are about 4.1 million. That's not -- that's a lot more than just the people who are calling. Our numbers, we think that 400,000 to 500,000 people for certain have the potential of losing their jobs.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jerry. Jerry Cerasale.
CERASALE: Thank you.
HEMMER: We'll all see how it goes down tomorrow and into the first of the year.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Association>
