Has your business ever struggled when making sales calls in the past due to call blockers when your operation is legitimate? This interests you. As small businesses, we may encounter roadblocks that could make it harder to compete with bigger established brands, and the last thing we need is for our sales agents to have their calls blocked for something they didn't do.
Call blocking software exists to protect consumers from fraud. Their methods for blocking calls aren't always perfect though, so today we're talking about why this happens and how you can get past this obstacle.
Caller ID spoofing is when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity. Spoofing is often used as part of an attempt to trick someone into giving away valuable personal information so it can be used in fraudulent activity or sold illegally, but businesses can change their Caller ID legitimately, for example, to display their toll-free number when making sales calls.
Sometimes, call-blocking apps flag any and all changes legitimate businesses may make to Caller IDs as spoofing, which results in some cellphone provider's call blocking getting triggered, thus affecting legitimate sales operations.
Consumers sometimes report calls they receive on call-blocking apps when they don't recognize the number. They think they got a scam call if they don't know the number. Or maybe you just called them at an inconvenient time. Whatever the case might be, when many people report your number on a blocking app, the app might display a warning to future consumers or even block them altogether.
The carrier’s analytics software can’t tell the difference between legitimate calls and robocalling. They have their heart in the right place, they just assume numbers that make many outbound calls are malicious, when in reality legitimate sales operations can be affected by this.
Register your numbers with CNAM and carriers so they know the numbers belong to a legitimate business.
We leave you with a tip straight from the FCC you can share with your clients so they are better informed on how to verify they're getting a legitimate call:
"If you get an inquiry from someone who says they represent a company or a government agency, hang up and call the phone number on your account statement, in the phone book, or on the company's or government agency's website to verify the authenticity of the request."