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  1. #1

    Default Can I Legally Record a Sales Call Without Goin to Jail

    My question involves business law in the state of: Pennsylvania

    Hello, I live in Pennsylvania and I would like to record a sales call of a prospect and then publish a recording with myself annotating the sale on my public website and client membership area. My intent is to educate my visitors and clients on how to properly guide someone from the open to the close of a sale.

    I understand that there is “two-party consent” law in PA. My question is as follows:
    If I am in Pennsylvania and they(the person I am calling) are in a state that doesn’t have the “two party consent law do I still need to get their permission to publish the recording on my website and do I need to get their permission to make the recording? I am the one on the call. Some states only require a 1 persons consent. Does it matter where I am located or does the law for “two-party consent” depend on the customers(the person I am calling) state only?
    So, if they are in a state where “two party consent” is not required then I am legally safe. Is that accurate? I am in PA as previously mentioned. I am worried that just because I am in PA that I am automatically required to get their consent even if they(the person I am selling to) is not in the state has that requirement “2 party consent” law.
    2) If I start the conversation with
    “This call is recorded for quality and educational purpose,” is that enough to do what I want (publish the recording online)?” Assuming that they say “yes”, can I publish the recording on my website? Do I need to legally ask them if I can do the action of actually publishing this online?
    3) Some calls I do are called “live dials” and I know that they will be published while others are not live, but prerecorded and then I choose the best from a pool and published those. Can I start the conversion with “This call may be” not “will be” recorded.
    4) No personal information outside their first name and possibly phone number/email will be published. I will bleep out email and phone if it’s illegal to publish that. Would there be legal issues around having their phone number and possibly email on the recording? I will change my call script to make sure their phone number or email address is not on the call when I speak with them, but I will need to setup a bleep button to make sure nothing slips past on the live dials if I am legally required to bleep out phone number / email.
    5)If the law for “two-party-consent” is enforced based on where I am located(The caller) then can I get around the law by having my business registered outside of Pennsylvania and my phone number being outside of Pennsylvania (still physically living in Pennsylvania) or is moving to another state my only option ? I need to know if the law is based on the person I am calling or the caller(me).
    I can easily call people only in states that don’t have the 2 consent law, but I need a confirmation that this enough
    or is moving my only option ?

    Thank you.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Posts
    19,901

    Default Re: Can I Legally Record a Sales Call Without Goin to Jail

    Pennsylvania extends the electronic communications requirements to all calls as long as one party is in the Commonwealth. Since you are in Pennsylvania, it matters NOT where the other parties are. All parties must consent. In general, you're subject to the restrictions of all the states the parties may be in. You happen to already be in one of the more restrictive states, but even if you were in a zero-party consent state (not that there are any of those), you'd have to comply with the restrictions of the state comprising those who you are communicating.

    If you were just taking orders and not using the call externally, "this call may be recorded" might suffice. However you're are exceeding just "RECORDING" the call. You intend to disseminate the content of the conversation. Your disclaimer announcement doesn't appear to obtain that sort of consent. Further, given the rather sensitive nature of what you are doing, I'd certainly ask for explicit permission as to what you intend to do. There's a copyright issue as well (though it's a bit more involved than I want to get into here).

    Frankly, you NEED to understand what sort of business you are running. I certainly would not deal with you so you could spread my voice, my email address, etc.. all over the internet.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Can I Legally Record a Sales Call Without Goin to Jail

    Why would you want to do this to a prospect without that person's permission? Why don't you want to expressly inform them of what you intend to do with the recording?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    806

    Default Re: Can I Legally Record a Sales Call Without Goin to Jail

    As a resident of PA and a professional sales & marketing person my whole professional life, this is a bad business idea. As someone who has also recorded sales calls and used them for training purposes, if you explain more about your end goals we can probably help you get there without violating State law.

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