Thicket of TCPA and DNC Regulations Tripping Franchise Development Teams
If You Call or Text Franchise Leads, Please Read This
November 20, 2020 – Usually we use this space to share unique, proprietary data about franchise and business buyers, but today’s proprietary data insight is that a lack of knowledge around the 
regulatory requirements for communicating with prospects is pervasive in the franchise and business opportunity space. This creates risk for businesses who do not take the basic precautions to avoid claims of violating these regulations.
Details about the risk and tips on what to do about it were shared this week in a webinar sponsored by FranchiseVentures. In the clients-only webinar, leading TCPA attorney Eric Troutman pointed out that “TCPA is the Biggest Litigation Cash Cow of All Time”. Businesses may be vulnerable to lawsuits, from both consumers and “bad actors” who might take advantage of the law. What’s more, executives and even employees of a company may be personally liable for violations.
Countless franchisors have received complaints from consumers and/or franchise prospects and their legal representatives relating to unwanted texting or calling. By Googling “largest TCPA settlements”, you will recognize many household names.
Five VERY Important Questions:
- Do ALL of your lead sources acquire proper consent for you to email, text and call? (check all their lead forms)
- Does your own website, and do all of your landing pages gain proper consent for you to email, text and call?
- Do you recheck the DNC list at the required frequency?
- Do you avoid exposing your brand to significant risk by sharing leads with 3rd parties to whom prospects have not directly given consent?
- Do you honor requests by individuals to have their personal data removed?
If your answer is “no” answer to any of these questions, you are at significant risk and should take immediate action. Find an attorney familiar with TCPA law, and have your specific practices reviewed.
The good news is that compliance is not difficult, and does not require significant investment. In fact, all customers of the FranchiseVentures group of companies — Franchise.com Network, Franchise Gator, Franchise Opportunities Network, and BusinessBroker.net — can rest assured that consent is obtained for the specific business choices made by a prospect on a lead form. This is in addition to phone and email data validation and spam removal. Further, through the Franchise Insights desktop or mobile app, customers of FranchiseVentures companies can review the status of each lead for data validation checks and consent in real time.
If you are a current client, and don’t have access to the Franchise Insights mobile app, you can request it here.
If you are calling or texting prospects, you would be wise to review all of your current business practices with the help of legal advisors competent in this area. Compliance is not difficult, but the regulations are complicated and changing.
DISCLAIMER: This information is not legal advice, it is not intended to be used as legal advice. Legal advice must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. Every effort has been made to ensure that this information is up to date but it is not intended to be a full and exhaustive explanation of the law in any area and should never be used to replace the advice of your own legal counsel.
Franchise Ventures is the leading franchise lead-generation platform for potential franchisees to thousands of growing franchise systems in the United States and Canada. Its franchise lead generation brands include Franchise.com, Franchise Solutions, Franchise Gator, Franchise Opportunities, Franchise For Sale, SmallBusinessStartup.com and BusinessBroker.net, and together they provide the largest aggregation of prospective franchise buyers in the U.S.
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Published on Friday, November 20th, 2020.