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How to get rid of spam calls

Bombarded with Spam Callers? Here are some good insights into Spam and how to get rid of those unwanted calls.

 

For many businesses unwanted calls are a daily problem. We have had a look at how businesses can reduce the amount of spam calls they are receiving.

 

How do Spammer Callers Operate?

Spam callers are known to engage in certain practices to reduce their overall operating costs. The biggest costs for their business is the cost of the call and paying their staff. So they put measures in place to try and reduce their overall costs:

 

Firstly, they try to make the calls more efficient, to combat the waste spent on wages. One primary tactic that they use for this is a “probing” technique. They use an auto-dialler. The auto-dialler will call out to numbers in a list, and measure the response. The response they are looking for is an answered signal, followed by a hang-up within a short time period. This behaviour indicates a person has answered due to how quickly the call was terminated once the call part realised no one was on the line. Numbers that exhibit this behaviour make it onto a short list, and will receive a call from a spammer at a later time. Anything that does not exhibit this behaviour, such as your IVR which answers but does not hang up quickly enough to indicate a human answering, will not make it onto the shortlist for a human to make a follow up call.

 

Calls are also a big factor in spamming costs. Due to the high volume of calls being made, these businesses will generally use VOIP services that allow them to greatly reduce their call rates. Often they will be able to get a fixed rate for unlimited calls, but in the majority of cases they can only get deals like this for calls made to Geo Local (landline) numbers. It also allows them to mask their caller IDs to suit specific calling campaigns, and in the case of spammers they often mask each individual call differently to avoid being blocked.

 

What can we do to reduce spam calls?

  1. If you are a sole trader and use a personal line for business you can add these numbers to the government Do Not Call Register (https://www.donotcall.gov.au).
  2. The numbers can be replaced with 1300 or 1800 numbers. It is difficult for VOIP providers to reduce, or offer unlimited calls to 1300 numbers. This makes calls to these numbers more expensive for spammers to call, increasing the chances they will be removed from their call lists. However, this can also have impact on customer sentiment and call rates, particularly in the trade industry, so you should always be mindful of the image you are presenting to your clients.
  3. Place a barrier between the spam caller and your team. Whilst not a guarantee, the probes often remove numbers with IVRs from their shortlists. They want their callers to talk with people, not spend their time navigating through menus. This won’t stop telemarketers from calling you, and you will often receive multiple probes before your number gets removed from a call list, but it can help in preventing your team from having to engage with telemarketers. However, this also places a barrier between your legitimate callers and your team so this may not be a suitable option for every business.
  4. Try not to get angry with the spam caller . This won’t stop them calling you! You can ask to be removed from their list, and in a lot of cases they will comply. They want to talk to people who will convert to a sale, rather than waste time on people who won’t. If they can remove you from their list it makes the rest of their calling more efficient. Sometimes it’s better to lose the battle to win the war.

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