Telemarketers in the UAE will need to upskill themselves to align with new government regulations. Recruitment consultants say that telemarketing firms will also enforce stricter rules, requiring employees to call only during specific times due to heavy fines for violations.
On June 9, the UAE announced new regulations regarding the timings, fines, and exemptions for telemarketing cold calls. Effective mid-August, the new laws mandate that telemarketers may only call between 9am and 6pm. If a consumer rejects a product or service during the first call, the telemarketer is not allowed to call them again the same day.
Additionally, telemarketers are prohibited from calling more than twice a week if the consumer does not answer or ends the call. Violators could face penalties of up to Dh150,000 for non-compliance.
“Telemarketer employers should definitely train their employees on the new guidelines. Many teams are remote and may not be conscious of times, so this really needs focus with the introduction of the new rules, especially if companies want to avoid hefty fines,” said Nicki Wilson, founder and managing director of HR and recruitment consultancy Genie.
She suggested that telemarketers should focus on their “core hours” for calling potential customers, making this a key aspect of their training.
Deepa Sud, CEO of Plum Jobs, said that telemarketers will need to improve their communication skills, handle objections with knowledge and finesse, and tailor their messages to different personas to better engage potential customers.
“Their objective should be to develop techniques to make their brand stand out and ensure that their calls leave a lasting impact,” she added.
Firms will be stricter but…
Sud said companies will need to see beyond the sale and recognise the consumer’s right to privacy.
“Organisations will need to invest in better quality leadership to be more strategic and result-oriented. They will need to develop a ‘cold calling’ strategy which will include legally compliant scripts, optimise CRM systems that allow consent tracking and access up-to-date ‘Do Not Call’ lists. It will not be about the actual calls but more about the purpose and effectiveness of the calls,” she added.
But she predicted that companies will ramp up their email, WhatsApp and SMS spamming. “Telemarketing is notorious for high employee turnover and most companies will not invest in training their employees as they will see little RoI.”
Nicki Wilson added that while firms should be stricter, controlling remote teams may pose challenges. “Perhaps implementing caps on call timings within internal systems could help. For example, we use a telephone system for remote workers where I can set limits on when staff can make outbound calls,” she said.