Indeed, at the end of August 2005, the number of households registered on the TPS registrations stood at 9.7m out of around 24m, and the recent launch of BT Privacy at Home has created 500,000 of these registrations in the last month alone.
At the same time, a paper published in August 2004 by customer management consultancy CM Insight predicted that by May next year, 50% of all landline numbers will be registered on the TPS. With ex-directory and unlisted numbers also unavailable to telemarketers, there are slim pickings for those companies that rely on the telephone to sell.
It is also worth noting here that the outbound telemarketing industry is currently estimated to generate £3bn in sales every year, and employs the equivalent of 165,000 full-time workers. CM Insight predicted in its paper that at the then rate of TPS registration, within five years the use of outbound telemarketing will be economically unviable.
The DMA's response to the furore from its members over the past year or so has been to commission a report ('Silent Calls Research 2005' by Brookmead Consulting) into the menace of silent calls, which it believes lies at the root of the problems facing the industry.
The DMA lays the blame squarely at the door of companies within telemarketing, citing irresponsibility by call centres and a lack of action by the industry in general to rectify silent calls and other bad practice.
On the one hand, it is clear that the huge increase in telemarketing calls as a result of predictive dialers, and lower telecoms charges, has meant that consumers have become more and more irritated by sales calls.
However, the DMA's stance ignores the fact that its fee-paying members are largely compliant with its codes of practice, and have been desperate to cooperate in any way they can because they need to secure the future of their businesses.
In most cases, fault lies with those companies who do not care about adherence to DMA guidelines, many of which are beyond the reach of the legislative framework of the UK.
Furthermore, the DMA has chosen not to take the lead and do something about the concerns of its members, but instead has continued to merely reiterate that non-compliance is the problem, and describe in detail the exact nature of its effect on the industry.
The advice of the DMA is "Adapt your approach to telemarketing and reduce your dependence on it". This is of no help to those companies who already adhere to the spirit as well as the letter of the DMA guidelines, and whose very existence depends on telemarketing.
At the same time, it has to be a major concern that there seems to be a significant lack of understanding from many registered households that their number is actually even on the TPS in the first place. For instance, Data Locator recently carried out a telephone survey using a sample of 2,000 people, all of whom were registered on the TPS.
The results were frankly alarming. A staggering 53% of those surveyed were not even familiar with the TPS or Telephone Preference Service -- despite the fact they were registered.
Of those that had heard of TPS, half said that they did not believe their number was on the file. This situation is clearly ludicrous, and one which can not go unquestioned any longer.
With this in mind, I have been instrumental in the recent launch of the Telemarketing Association TMAas an independent, non-profit, member-funded association for the outbound telemarketing industry.
In the first instance, the association intends to lobby for a review of the TPS but moreover the TMA will listen to its members, gain consensus on issues, improve standards, and drive hard to lobby those organisations which wield the power to effect positive change for the "good guys" in telemarketing.
Telemarketing is a key marketing activity that not only works for major corporates across the UK, but acts as a key contributor to the economy as a whole. The situation as it stands simply beggars belief. Is it not time to take the threat of the TPS just a little more seriously?
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