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TWO YEARS AFTER ITS LAUNCH, more than 60 million people are listed on the Federal Trade Commission's National Do Not Call Registry. That's 60 million customers we marketers can't solicit by phone, for the most part.

Many industry experts assumed results for direct mail, e-mail and other direct response alternatives would improve after the DNC list's introduction. But telemarketing continues to pull response rates as high as 20% and even 30%. And money spent on both inbound and outbound campaigns continues to climb as well, despite numerous call center closings. So at its second anniversary, the DNC's effects continue to puzzle analysts.

Last October a marketing report estimated the DNC brought about a massive decline in sales for the telemarketing industry — to the tune of some $20 billion to $50 billion. How that translates into revenue falloffs for industries relying heavily on telemarketing has yet to be seen. But we know that call centers across the country have closed in record numbers since the DNC's rollout. And those call centers were either fed externally, or employed internally, by companies in real estate, telecommunications, banking, mortgage, and other high-contact industries.

To be fair, we should look at some of the DNC's positive effects. Although on the surface it looks as though the registry has caused a great deal of damage to our industry, actually most of the resulting changes are good. Let's face it, telemarketing has not come by its reputation unfairly. I've certainly seen some highly disreputable firms and some highly unethical behavior. In the past, some companies would call the same households repeatedly, simply to raise billable hours. Seniors in particular have been hit hard by telemarketing scams. Supposed nonprofit organizations claiming to raise money for the police force or the fire department are well-known examples of borderline or actual telemarketing fraud.

The DNC helped weed out those firms walking the line between unethical and illegal. It has forced accountability by instituting fines and regulating compliance. Many of the fines and restrictions have simply caused bad businesses to be put out of business. They simply couldn't operate ethically and still make money. Even though revenue from call centers in highly telemarketed fields like banking and real estate may have dropped by as much as 20%, I believe the declines mainly were from bad players leaving the marketing industry. And that's a good thing.

But the basic problem still exists. Despite the annoyance many consumers feel when called at home, a strong telemarketing campaign is still one of the best ways to reach prospective customers and get them to respond. It's important to understand, and help our prospects understand, what the DNC can and cannot do.

Exceptions to the registry cause confusion, and many customers wonder why they still get calls. It's not often common knowledge, for example, that having your name on the DNC list doesn't stop firms doing research or conducting political campaigns from calling you. It doesn't apply if nonprofits are calling, or if someone is making an advocacy call. And probably the biggest exclusion of all: If a company can demonstrate an “existing business relationship,” it's also free to call that consumer.

But it's hard to define an existing business relationship. Many consumers aren't aware that signing up for a membership program at Barnes & Noble allows the company to hand names and numbers to its business partners. Anytime someone orders an item from a catalog, puts their name in for a drawing or simply signs up for a newsletter, they also create a business relationship with that entity. And because most people don't know that, they can't figure why the DNC isn't preventing them from getting solicitation calls.

Legislation to restrict phone calls has gone about as far as it can. If we want to continue to reap the benefits of telemarketing, it's time to educate our customer base. Customers need to be informed about the value of the telemarketing industry and how it facilitates their buying experience — after all, whenever customers call a toll-free number to place an order, they're using a telemarketing service.

There are other positive sides to our business. One of the reasons legislators are slowing down a bit on further regulation and expansion of the DNC is that they're realizing how many jobs telemarketing provides in their districts.

That leaves the question of what will happen to the telemarketing business in the next 18 to 24 months. How will smart marketers reach prospects most effectively?

What's happening now is the “stepchild” is suddenly being considered part of the family again. As companies lose sales and leads, they're realizing they'd better start integrating telemarketing with other important marketing tools. Remember, it's OK to call someone if your company has an existing prior relationship. How that relationship is built will be the difference for many firms seeking to return to telemarketing.

In the past, many telemarketing calls had been one-sided conversations. The rep tried to get as much of his or her message into the consumer's ear as quickly as possible, hoping to get a positive response to some part of it. Telemarketing firms, billing by the hour, made thousands of ineffective phone calls to the same groups over and over just to pump up their own revenue.

We can't do that anymore. Now we have use other marketing tools to deliver our message in a smart and direct fashion. We'll have to establish the treasured business relationship before we're allowed the privilege of calling that prospect again. And once we have permission, we have to make sure our calls really count.

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CHRISTA HEIBEL (christah@chcpro.com) is the CEO of CH Consulting LLC in International Falls, MN.