Is this ethical or legal?

[wammy]

If it is for training purposes and nothing devious then I do not see a problem.

 

[Guest]

I agree, if you edit the calls and remove/delete anything that it should be fine, but that was not the original question.

I asked about live calls, as in the agent on the phone while the trainer/agent is on live with a client, not edited, live.

Did I say the calls were live? LOL

 

[Guest]

If you are ignorant of the law/rules, it's one thing, if you're knowledgeable of the rules, and continue with the bad practices, then you are accountable.

 

[Delta76]

I really don't see much of an advantage for an agent to listen to live calls as opposed to an edited recording. In the end, the fastest way to learn is to jump off the deep end. I shutter to think how I sounded to a prospect when I first got started with absolutely no training or sales experience. I talked to loudly, read the script to a tee (which was way to long), and faked too much enthusiasm. I got A LOT of hang-ups.

But I learned from doing it the wrong way. I can't remember the last time someone hung-up on me when I called while in mid-sentence. I'm almost the polar opposite, the calls are low key and non-threatening for both me and the prospect (or more correctly the name on the list at that point). You have to be bad at something before you can be good at it.

I will add that as bad on the phone as I was, I still picked up group accounts just because I had the guts to pick up the phone and dial.

 

[OHInsAGNT]

The question is:

Is it legal or ethical for a newbie to listen in on a live call as a training tool?

As in, agent/client/newbie being quiet on the phone together live.

Hey Rob - I used to run lead generation and telemarketing for a national sales call center network that reached about 100,000 customers a month. It wasn't insurance, but related. We had legal review everything. There are some states out there where you MUST disclose if a call is being recorded or monitored. We had a call capture and montoring system that recorded computer screens and phones simultaneously for coaching, training and legal reference. We were forced to automate deactivation of the system by area code for certain calls because of these regulations. The fines were HEFTY in some areas.

HOWEVER - If you say, "This call may be montiored or recorded for quality assurance purposes", you are off the hook. Our problem was that we couldn't reliably depend on ouir 400+ sales reps to execute this statement.

 

[Guest]

Hey Rob - I used to run lead generation and telemarketing for a national sales call center network that reached about 100,000 customers a month. It wasn't insurance, but related. We had legal review everything. There are some states out there where you MUST disclose if a call is being recorded or monitored. We had a call capture and montoring system that recorded computer screens and phones simultaneously for coaching, training and legal reference. We were forced to automate deactivation of the system by area code for certain calls because of these regulations. The fines were HEFTY in some areas.

HOWEVER - If you say, "This call may be montiored or recorded for quality assurance purposes", you are off the hook. Our problem was that we couldn't reliably depend on ouir 400+ sales reps to execute this statement.

Another good point, thanks!