To add to the concerns-
My office manager worked for a telemarketer in her younger
years. She was required to press forward to sell her product, even if the
customer refused twice. If she was found to quit after the first refusal, she
was “written up” for disciplinary action and possible termination.
She said the best thing a customer could do was “hang up”
without an explanation or refusal.
I am concerned that the ARRL would be associated with a
Telemarketing service, even with the best of intentions. They (in general) do
not represent quality organizations.
Perhaps this endeavor should not be left to outside contractors.
In this economy, there should not be difficulty in finding part-timers who can
be trained internally and have immediate ARRL staff backup for questions.
'73
de JIM N2ZZ
ARRL
Vice Director
Roanoke
Division
ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio™
From: G.P. Widin
[mailto:gpwidin@comcast.net]
Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 7:18 PM
To: arrl-odv
Subject: [arrl-odv:19312] Re: RE: ARRL Member Recruitment Telemarketing
At
the risk of being pedantic, I note that we do
have a privacy policy. I have attached it so no one needs to go hunting
for it (fortunately it is easy to find).
>From my reading of some of the attached correspondence, it appears to me that
aspects of the "trial run" may pay less than full attention to our
stated policy.
It takes years to build trust, only a second and a single incident to break it
down. So, let's be "squeeky clean" on this kind of stuff, even
if it's only a trial.
Where does the responsibility for ensuring this lie? is it with
Harold? Dave? Of course the Board has responsibility too, but
clearly this is delegated on a day to day basis.
--
73,
Greg, KØGW
Director, Dakota Division
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Imlay" <w3kd@aol.com>
To: "arrl-odv" <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>
Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 3:44:55 PM
Subject: [arrl-odv:19311] Re: RE: ARRL Member Recruitment
Telemarketing
Right, Jim, I share your concern based on the rather one-sided
agreement that they initially sent over. I don't know anything about this company
other than what showed up in that draft contract, and will leave that to
Bob I. and Harold K. to address. Looking only to the contract issue, I
think we can get it into a form that will be safe enough for us to sign
as a "trial run" agreement. We could see how the experience
goes. But it was not a confidence-inspiring draft agreement they initially sent
over, that is sure. Harold and I are fixing it up now, unless you folks want to
go a different way.
73, Chris W3KD
Christopher D. Imlay
Booth, Freret, Imlay & Tepper. P.C.
14356 Cape May Road
Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011
(301) 384-5525 telephone
(301) 384-6384 facsimile
W3KD@ARRL.ORG
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Weaver K8JE <K8JE@ARRL.org>
To: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>
Sent: Mon, Aug 23, 2010 4:04 pm
Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:19300] RE: [arrl-odv:19297] ARRL Member Recruitment
Telemarketing
I appreciate Chris' comment about the legal quality of the
agreement offered ARRL by the telemarketing firm we appear to plan to use in
the member recruitment test. Knowing how Chris viewed this document makes
me feel quite uneasy over the quality of the firm, itself. I would have
expected that a well-established, high-quality firm would have the
legal sense to have dotted the proverbial i's and crossed the proverbial t's in
their contracts without having the need for this called to their attention by a
potential customer.
Are we certain we want to employ this organization? (Rhetoric
question.)
73,
Jim
Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director
ARRL Great Lakes Division
5065 Bethany Rd.
Mason, OH 45040; Tel. 513-459-1661
ARRL, The national organization for Amateur
Radio
From: Chris
Imlay [mailto:w3kd@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 12:21 PM
To: arrl-odv
Subject: Re: [arrl-odv:19300] RE: [arrl-odv:19297] ARRL Member
Recruitment Telemarketing
I am constrained to note that the draft agreement that this
telemarketing firm provided to ARRL initially was clearly not
in acceptable form when first delivered to us, but it is apparently in the
process of (re)negotiation now, so we will see what an edited version looks
like. The issues include not only the Do Not Call List compliance,
appropriately mentioned by Jim Weaver, but also their plans for handling
credit card numbers in the course of relaying them to ARRL for processing, and their
methods of compliance with our privacy obligations. There is no doubt
but that the telemarketing firm is acting as our agent, and therefore we
are liable for any of their foibles, so some care is called for
here.
73, Chris W3KD
Christopher D. Imlay
Booth, Freret, Imlay & Tepper. P.C.
14356 Cape May Road
Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011
(301) 384-5525 telephone
(301) 384-6384 facsimile
W3KD@ARRL.ORG
-----Original Message-----
From: Kramer, Harold, WJ1B <wj1b@arrl.org>
To: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>
Cc: arrl-odv@arrl.org
Sent: Fri, Aug 20, 2010 2:40 pm
Subject: [arrl-odv:19300] RE: [arrl-odv:19297] ARRL Member Recruitment
Telemarketing
Bob Inderbitzen is on vacation starting today. But to answer
some of your questions here is what I know:
1. This
is a limited test to between 1800 and 2000 lapsed members.
2. The
company that we will contract with specializes in Association Telemarketing and
is sensitive to member association issues.
3. As an
organization that does strictly telemarketing, I would hope that they comply
with all applicable regulations However, we have not signed the agreement
yet. Chris Imlay and I have been discussing it we will make sure
that it is correct and complies with applicable regulations and our internal
policies.
Harold
Harold Kramer, WJ1B
Chief Operating Officer
ARRL -the national association for Amateur Radio
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06111
(860) 594 -0220
From: Jim Weaver K8JE [mailto:K8JE@ARRL.org]
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 2:19 PM
To: arrl-odv
Cc: arrl-odv
Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:19297] ARRL Member Recruitment Telemarketing
Bob,
Inasmuch as Dick expressed concerns over telemarketing by
ARRL, I wonder if we take adequate steps to ensure any telemarketer we use
observes existing No Call legislation? Based upon the relatively few
telemarketing calls I have received after putting my phone numbers on the
federal No Call list I estimate that over 50% of the calls made to
me appear to be in willful violation of the these laws. Most of
the illegal callers are sufficiently crafty as to avoid
identification. I don't believe ARRL should be put in a
similar position by a telemarketer.
I suspect you've taken care of such possibilities, but would like
to know what is done.
Tnx,
Jim
Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director
ARRL Great Lakes Division
5065 Bethany Rd.
Mason, OH 45040; Tel. 513-459-1661
ARRL, The national organization for Amateur
Radio
From: dick@pobox.com [mailto:dick@pobox.com]
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 1:50 PM
To: arrl-odv
Cc: Bob Inderbitzen NQ1R
Subject: [arrl-odv:19297] ARRL Member Recruitment Telemarketing
20 AUG 2010 - 1249 CDT
I support proactive ARRL member recruitment except when it generates poor
results and potentially angers some amateur radio licensees receiving the
phone call. I do not know the detailed results of our first telemarketing
trial (see IN-Newsletter excerpt below), but the general assessment of
this trial leads me to believe that telemarketing will be counter-productive;
it will not be worth the expense.
I receive a small, but continuing, number of negative comments about our
affinity partners' marketing activities. I know of nobody who welcomes
junk U.S. mail, but at least we are not forced to read it. However,
virtually everybody hates telephone sales calls because they are intrusive
and disrupt the recipient's activities.
I support four non-amateur radio charitable (501-3c) tax-exempt organizations
and I have "trained" them to not call me. Two tax-exempts would
not put me
on a no-call list. They no longer receive any support from me. I
don't want the ARRL to be put in the position of having to filter (at extra
cost) it's potential member market because this would mean we would have permanently
lost a percentage of this market.
- Dick Isely, W9GIG
==========================================================================
IN-Newsletter
Vol. 33, No. 33
August 18, 2010 -- Covers the period August 8-14.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI)
September 27-October 1 – ARRL HQ
Executive Committee Meeting
October 23 @ 9:00am in St. Louis, MO
Ballot Counting for Director/Vice Director Elections
November 19 in Newington, CT
<SNIP>
Sales and Marketing
Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R
A large membership campaign is being prepared for mailing in September.
Diane Petrilli is exploring a second telemarketing trial (one was conducted
last year with mixed/poor results)involving a telemarketing
firm that has experience making outbound
calls for membership organizations.
We are pleased with the high response rate to an on-line Membership Benefits
Survey. The survey invitation was sent by email to a sample group.
The survey was also mailed to members that did not respond, and to another
sample of members without known email addresses. Results will be analyzed
and reported in late September.
Our affinity benefit partners are all gearing-up for program mailings during
the next 2 months: ARRL Visa credit card (US Bank), ARRL Equipment Insurance
Program (Marsh), and group-rate home and auto insurance (MetLife).
<SNIP>
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02:35:00
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