Jeff Mucha, a Sperry Van Ness advisor in Chicago, forwarded to me a very interesting Do Not Call bulletin from the Illinois Association of Realtors. What kind of call is a violation? Any call "for the purpose of encouraging the purchase or rental of, or investment in, property, goods, or services.” Who's liable for the fine? The broker in the first instance. But "ultimate liability for [a] violation of the rules belongs to the real estate brokerage."

Who's on the Do Not Call List? If you're a business organization, you can download the list by Area Code at https://telemarketing.donotcall.gov. The first five Area Codes are free. After that there is a charge of $25 per Area Code to a maximum of $7,375.

According to Tom Sanchez, SVN has purchased the entire list and enables its brokers to quickly upload a list of contacts from ACT (and other contact managers) to check against the Registry. The SVN broker then immediately receives back an e-mail listing of those numbers that match numbers on the Do Not Call list. (SVN also offers a pop-up window on its intranet to quickly check a single address.)

Theoretically, businesses cannot register Do Not Call numbers. But when Mucha scrubbed his contact list, he found that a number of Chicago area businesses had registered, including some household names. SVN advises not cold calling those numbers without permission. Has your company developed a cold calling plan? How will you avoid penalties?

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--Peter Pike