Best Practices for Maintaining a Positive Caller Reputation

Why Caller Reputation Matters

In today's telephony environment, carriers and analytics services are increasingly vigilant about protecting consumers from unwanted calls. If your business calls are flagged as potential spam, they may be screened, blocked, or simply not answered. Maintaining a positive caller reputation is essential to ensure your legitimate communications reach your contacts. Following the guidelines below will help improve your call deliverability and answer rates.

Leverage Your CRM's Trust Center

Your CRM offers a Trust Center resource to help build credibility within the wider phone network. By registering your business profile and completing the required Know Your Customer (KYC) information in the Trust Center, you can experience improved call delivery and higher answer rates.

Key Verification Features

• SHAKEN/STIR Verification: This technology helps increase trust by allowing a "Caller Verified" or similar trust indicator to appear on the recipient's caller ID display.
• Caller ID Name (CNAM): Registering a CNAM allows your business name to be displayed on outgoing calls. Please note that the display of your business name also depends on the recipient's carrier and phone plan supporting CNAM services.

Telemarketing and Advertising: Requirements & Best Practices

If you use your CRM's phone services for telemarketing or advertising calls, you must adhere to industry regulations and best practices. Failure to comply can lead to disciplinary action from service providers and carriers.

1. Regulatory Compliance (Primarily for US Calls)

• Consent is Critical: Under regulations like the TCPA, you generally must have consent to call. The required level of consent (prior express consent for informational calls vs. prior express written consent for telemarketing calls) varies. This is a strict liability area.
• Observe Calling Hours: Do not place telemarketing calls outside of 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM, based on the recipient's local time. Be aware that state laws and holidays may impose further restrictions.
• Avoid Harassment: Do not call repeatedly or continuously with the intent to annoy, abuse, or harass. A common best practice is to limit calls to a specific number (e.g., no more than twice in a single day).
• Check for Reassigned Numbers: Regularly scrub your call lists against the Reassigned Numbers Database to avoid calling people who did not consent.

2. Best Practices When Placing a Call

• Use a consistent caller ID (phone number) for repeated calls to the same contact.
• Associate a descriptive Caller ID Name (CNAM) with your outgoing numbers.
• When leaving a message or speaking, clearly state your name and affiliation at the beginning of the call.
• Be prepared to explain how you obtained consent. For example: "Hi, this is [Your Name] with [Your Company]. [Contact Name] requested a quote on our website last week."
• Let the phone ring for a sufficient time (at least 30 seconds or 5 rings) to allow an answer. Ensure there is no extended silence if the call is answered; audio should begin within a couple of seconds.

3. Managing Customer Concerns

• Address any questions about the call's purpose immediately. Be ready to provide a website URL and a callback number for more information.
• If a contact states they did not consent or wish to revoke consent, honor their request immediately, promise not to call again, and remove them from your calling list.
• If you reach voicemail, do not hang up. Leave a complete message that includes your name, company, the reason for the call referencing consent, and a callback number with an opt-out mechanism.

Basic Do's and Don'ts

Adhering to these fundamental rules forms the foundation of a positive reputation.

• DO comply with all relevant "Do Not Call" lists and telephone consumer protection laws.
• DO keep your contact lists updated and remove numbers that are disconnected or consistently do not answer.
• DON'T engage in calling patterns that result in unreasonable answer or completion rates, as this can negatively impact your reputation with carriers.