Teleservices Professionals:
Be Good Soil

(from Tim Searcy's address, State of the ATA, at the 24th Annual ATA Convention & Expo)

There once was a little boy and his mother who lived at the edge of a great canyon. One day, the little boy and his mother were in their kitchen baking cookies when they began to argue. The boy grew frustrated and fled from the home to the ridge of the canyon and yelled at the top of his lungs, “I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!” And then the canyon echoed back, “I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!” The boy became very upset, and ran back into his home to his mother.

“Mother! There’s a boy outside who hates me!”

“Tell him you love him.” the boy’s mother replied.

The boy returned to the ridge of the mountain and yelled, “I love you! I love you! I love you!” And the echo replied, “I love you! I love you! I love you!”

For too many years, Teleservices has been treating its marketplace much like the boy yelling into the canyon by not providing what it wants – and without respect, and as if it had little value. And, in turn, the marketplace has responded with the same treatment it has received from the industry.

Although the example is a hyperbole, and many partners in the industry are strong advocates for the consumer, the truth remains. Consumers are justifiably frustrated with the way they are treated, and have responded with equally painful treatment to us.

The American Teleservices Association (“ATA”) holds the same role and purpose as the boy’s mother: To help the Teleservices industry communicate more positively, more effectively, and to deliver what it wants to receive in return from all of the constituents in the canyon. Our canyon includes consumers, legislators, regulators, Teleservices users, and clients. We have already had one case of the marketplace demanding change, and that came in the form of the Do Not Call (“DNC”) Registry.

Four years has passed since DNC became commonplace in Teleservices’ culture. Currently, there are over 140 million phone numbers on the Do-Not-Call Registry. There have been numerous actions and reactions from regulators in the form of fines, compliance, and operational change. And, now that DNC is reaching its 5-year renewal date, the media frenzy is escalating once again with questions about the effects on consumers and business, the future of DNC, and “why ATA?”.

So, the voice of consumer - the media… what are “they” asking today and how are we responding?

The first question typically asked is pretty standard:

How big is the ATA?
ATA currently represents more than 4,000 contact centers employing over 1.8 million professionals in the United States and over 50 foreign countries.
How has DNC changed the industry?

In a DNC world, there is, quite naturally, significantly more money spent on compliance solutions. In addition, the industry, as a whole, must now focus more carefully on their market and better target their audience - those consumers who have not registered their phone numbers on the DNC Registry. The positive outcome from this is an increase in the response rate for outbound calling to the remaining households. Outsourcing has seen an incredible increase, though the number of in-house operations has declined. Today, the total number of contact center employees in the United States is 5.2 million. That is a decrease of 1.3 million from the 6.5 million employed within the industry before DNC.

Why shouldn’t the DNC Registry be permanent?

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are the regulatory agencies who contemplated the 5-year window for DNC. The reasoning behind the expiration date and “re-registration” was to help ensure the DNC Registry is cleansed appropriately, remains updated, and contains the most appropriate registrants.

So, why shouldn’t the Registry be permanent? Because the experts said so. When the FTC and FCC decide to change their opinions surrounding DNC, ATA will re-examine its position at that time.

Where are the regulators going next?

It is interesting that this question gets asked about the regulators, when in fact, the regulators aren’t going anywhere - state legislators are going everywhere!  Since DNC, the states have proposed legislation on “Do Not Solicit”, “Do Not Mail”, mandatory queue time announcements, eliminating the “established business relationship” exception, “0 for live operator”, and more.  It’s the states we need to direct our attention to now.

What is your political action committee (ATA-PAC) up to?

Over the last few years, the ATA-PAC generated between $20,000 and $30,000 per year and supported those individuals friendly to Teleservices. These efforts provided ATA unprecedented access to Congress and gave us a strong voice on Capitol Hill.

This year, the ATA-PAC stands to raise nearly $100,000, and the goal for 2008 is twice that.  The focus and determination of the ATA-PAC during this growth period is to gain additional recognition of our Petition which clarifies that the FCC has exclusive regulatory jurisdiction over interstate commerce by phone, and the states’ authority regulates only intrastate calling.  The ATA-PAC is also focusing diligently on creating a strong dialogue with the states and regulators about self-regulation.  ATA wants a more prominent seat at the big table where decisions about our industry are contemplated.

Are you just engaging in self-regulation to avoid new regulation?

The ATA’s interest is in a balanced, symbiotic relationship between businesses and consumers.  Self-regulation creates an ideal means for businesses to properly address consumers’ needs while still satisfying their own goals.

However, in order for self-regulation to succeed and serve as the “I love you” echo from the canyon, it has to master the following criteria:

1. The Standards must be independent of any apparent bias overriding consumer interest.
2. The Standards must be strong and have teeth.  
3. The Standards have to go above and beyond federal and state law.  Why?  The standards have to be preventative of increased regulation and should raise the bar for expected quality of service or sales delivery.

Our Self-Regulatory Standards represent the culmination of the collective efforts of a cross-section of ATA’s membership (this group makes up the ATA-SRO, or “Self-Regulatory Organization”), selected specifically for the purpose of generating an all-encompassing Standard for our industry.  We are taking control of our industry - setting the bar higher to meet customer expectations and avoid future, harmful regulations. 

The groundwork has been laid to accomplish all three criteria with our Contact Center Self-Regulatory Standards (www.bryancave/ata-sro).  The ATA-SRO has released the Standards, and is currently developing a “seal” program to award and validate those companies who truly and passionately deliver on the customer’s expectations by adhering to these Standards.

Why will a SRO work for Teleservices?

Think back to the boy at the canyon ridge - it’s time to communicate and deliver what the consumer wants and needs in order to get what business wants in return.  The consumer has spoken, and the decision-makers (on the consumer and corporate side) will demand it and regulators will accept it.

There is no simple solution.  The success of self-regulation within other industries has been measured in years... sometimes in decades.

Consider The Parable of the Sower from Matthew 13:3-8:

“A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.  Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

The analogy to Teleservices is as follows:

1. The Path: The path where the birds ate up all of the seeds represents the efforts we undertake and the “nay-sayers” who doubt us with their negativity, trying to eat up our ambitions.  It takes no creativity or vision to say “no”.
2. The Rocky Places:  In these places, the seeds germinate and die for lack of root - much like the effect of one person or company who, for whatever reason, abandons the cause.  An enthusiastic champion needs to marry enthusiasm with policy and business rules requiring that the state and federal rules validated by the ATA-SRO seal are acknowledged and audited.
3. The Thorns: The thorns choke the plants that try to grow, much like the marketing, sales or customer service decision-makers who claim the cause is “too expensive” or “unnecessary”.  Again, no creativity or vision required to say “no”.
4. The Good Soil: The good soil provides an abundant yield, much like the momentum created from the abundance of excitement and positive change around the cause.  Good soil provides what the seeds need and want.  The seed, in return, grows.

My point?  Be good soil.  Be positive, get excited, and be conducive to growth for Teleservices.  Other industries succeeded when the professionals within their industry stood together, took back their industry, and delivered above and beyond the consumers’ expectations.  Better yet?  The ATA has created an army within the ATA-SRO to help.

Until next time, I am on the line.

Tim Searcy
ATA CEO

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