MLM Fax Lists - Be Careful Using Them

I will bet that you thought that all you had to do to build your MLM business was to purchase a bunch of fax numbers from an MLM lists company and start blasting away from your fax machine to them. Didn't you?

And you're going to hear the same story from your upline and possibly from your parent MLM company. Very few folks know the real deal about MLM fax lists and MLM faxing. Let's help you learn what you need to know to stay safe, work effectively, and keep yourself from getting in legal hot water.

There are a number of factors that should be addressed before you even consider sending out MLM faxes to a list of folks.

Now I know this all may sound and look rather overwhelming but in reality it isn't that way. Once you get a bunch of this stuff set up you'll be better off because you'll know how to...

Stay Safe Sending Those MLM Faxes to Your MLM Fax Lists and do All You Can do to Keep from Getting Sued

I know, I know,...I'm sounding kind of negative and doom-filled so I'll explain this 'getting sued' stuff in a little bit. For now, just keep reading.

And learning.

Let's go through each of the questions I rhetorically asked above so that you can learn a little bit about each topic...


What kind of computer will you use for your MLM fax lists?

Believe it or not, if you're truly serious about sending out faxes to MLM fax lists you're going to have to do this with your computer. So it's going to have to be a good one. It'll need to have enough memory and a pretty decent (fast) processor so as to be able to handle the job of sending out thousands(!) of faxes to your MLM fax lists every day.

So you might want to first make sure that your computer is up for the task of sending out lots and lots of faxes to those MLM fax lists before you start. And if it's not, then factor in the cost of buying a good one. In the long run you'll definitely be glad you did.


Do you have a dedicated phone line to fax your MLM fax lists?

You'll need a dedicated phone line because that is how you'll be sending out your faxes to your MLM fax lists. It's best to have a phone line that doesn't have call waiting or any of that other technical stuff on it because your computer is going to need a clean line to send the faxes through. Anytime your faxing signal gets interrupted you run the risk of having your fax not go through. And possibly having your days worth of faxing stop right at the time it gets interrupted. That can be rather bothersome.

And if you're serious about sending out your faxes you'll be doing it for several hours during the day. This will tie up your phone line completely and you won't even be able to use it for Internet access or other phone calls. It's just not worth it to risk having your faxing interrupted and possibly stopped by interruptions in the phone line.

Trust me, you'll just hate it when you come home after several hours to find out that your faxing was stopped two minutes after you left because of an incoming telephone call from Aunt Mary.


Do you have the right software program to fax your MLM fax lists?

This all depends upon your computer configuration but you will need to use a good software program to send faxes to your MLM fax lists. I think the latest version of WinFaxPro is the best way to go. But it could set you back over $100 US.


Do you have the technical know-how to fax to MLM fax lists?

Whatever MLM fax lists software program you use, make sure it allows you to set automatic faxing without you being there to start and stop the faxing that day. And make absolutely sure that the program is easy to understand. Some of them can get absolutely scary trying to figure out how to make them work. Know this in advance.

And I personally like the software programs that show you what's happening with each fax as it's being sent. That way you know that the fax actually went through, or not.


Does your long distance company allow you to fax to MLM fax lists?

This can be a very costly thing to not be aware of so know this in advance before you start faxing large numbers of faxes to your MLM fax lists.

Your long distance company is going to know that you're sending faxes if you're faxing outside your local area code. Trust me, they're going to wonder why you're all of a sudden making 500 or 1000 one-minute phone calls a day. And if you didn't read their small print before you signed up with them (and when was that? ) they might say that you don't qualify for 4.9 cents per minute long distance and up your rate to 14.9 cents per minute because you're using that personal low rate they gave you for 'business purposes'. Trust me. Check the small print first.

And when necessary, sign up for those bundled long distance packages. You know the ones, 3000 minutes for $100 per month - or something like that. They're out there on the Net. You just have to search for them. And again, read their fine print. Most of them have specific exclusions against using their cheap rate for business faxes.


Can you write a good hype-free fax that compels the people on your MLM fax lists to call?

Let me start out by saying "Don't, don't, don't under any circumstances send out hypey faxes filled with nothing but exclamation points (!!!!!) and CAPITALIZED WORDS. Avoid baffling them with 'you-know-what' and instead dazzle them with well-written, compelling faxes.

Bottom line, be original - and you'll stand out from the crowd. And from the hundreds of other faxes some of these folks get every week!


Do you have 800 (toll-free) numbers for your MLM fax lists to use?

You will need a toll-free 800 number for the folks on your MLM fax lists to use to unsubscribe from receiving other faxes from you. In most cases that's the law. And it's only right to offer this to those you fax on those MLM fax lists.

You'll also need a toll-free 800 type number for folks to call you directly or to call a pre-recorded voicemail message. This number will be put prominently on the faxes you send out to your MLM fax lists. Use it wisely because the cost of this message to you is going to add up quickly each month. Before you know it, if you write a compelling fax, you could be getting dinged for upwards of $50 - $75 per month for toll-free usage.

Be prepared for that added cost. And shop around on the Net for a cheap toll-free service. You can find ones for 9.9 cents per minute if you look hard.


Can you sort the numbers in your MLM fax lists by time zone?

Why would you want to do this? So as to extend the day for your faxing.

I'm assuming that the provider of your MLM fax lists allows for buying fax lists in multiple time zones. Most do this by default and make you pay extra to get your MLM fax lists in only one time zone.

You want you MLM fax lists in numerous time zones if at all possible so that you can set up your computer faxing program to send faxes out by time zone. If you do the setup correctly you can actually get about 17 hours of faxing done in a particular day and still not be faxing anyone too early or too late.

But you will have to factor in the time zones of your MLM fax lists in order to make the best use of this method.


Are you using a good MLM fax lists company?

Do ensure that the MLM fax lists company that you use is a good one. In the long run that'll save you a bunch of grief.

You want a MLM fax lists company that'll virtually guarantee you a high connect rate. How can you verify this? By buying one of their MLM fax lists packages, faxing the list, and seeing through your computer software program just how high the connect rate was. Not the busy rate but the actual rate of numbers dialed versus faxes sent.

When the connection rate is too low (perhaps at 60 percent) you can tell, no matter what the MLM fax lists company told you, that the list is 'old'. If the connect rate is high (perhaps at 85 percent) you can tell that the list is really quite fresh.

You also want an MLM fax lists company that is going to back you up when you get into some trouble. They will need to verify where they got the fax numbers from and they are going to have to verify this to the faxed party that is accusing you of sending them unsolicited faxes.

But of course, this can only work to a certain extent and even the MLM fax lists companies are not going to stick their necks out further than they have to. Read on, I'll explain in the next section.


What do you do about federal legislation against faxing to MLM fax lists?

Let's start out by stating that you're going to be told, most likely by your upline, or your future upline, that sending faxes out to folks on MLM fax lists is totally okay. But did you know that in most countries legislation exists that generally prohibits this type of activity?

In the United States the legislation is called the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (or TCPA) and is was enacted to protect citizens from receiving unsolicited faxes or having their name from ending up on MLM fax lists.

Now, I'm not a lawyer but it doesn't take one to see the intent of these legislative laws. They exist to protect people from getting their fax machines (and now computers) tied up while receiving 'junk faxes'. And having these people pay for paper and toner and phone lines to receive these junk faxes.

And never mind the inconvenience of receiving this type of unsolicited information and having the phone ring...

During dinner.

And during the babies nap time.

And during other 'private' times.

Essentially, all of this doesn't bode well for those of you who wish to pick up the baton and start blasting out faxes to your MLM fax lists. Unless you ensure some vital things FIRST.

You need to make sure that your faxes are only being sent during reasonable hours of the day. That generally is meant to be from 08:00 to 21:00 hours in the receiving party's time zone. Not your time zone. Theirs.

You must also have prominently displayed in the margin of the fax your fax number, name, and time of sending the fax. To do otherwise could be considered a no-no under some federal laws.

And most importantly you need to make sure that the people you are sending faxes to, the people on your MLM fax lists, explicitly requested to receive a fax from YOU. And when they request proof of this you're going to have to come up with it. Or face the consequences.

This is where your good MLM fax lists company should back you up, in theory anyway, and show where and when the person agreed to receive further solicitations from folks like you. But like I said, I'm not a lawyer so don't quote me on this tactic.

And like I said, this should happen in theory, anyway.

So just what are the consequences I mentioned above? Well, one small little inconvenience...

You Can Get SUED if You Mess Up Sending Faxes to Your MLM Fax Lists

Details, details...

Okay, I'll explain.

You see, on every one of those MLM fax lists that you might end up buying, there are going to be one or two wacky folks on there who live to sue others. In fact, that is how some of them make their living...

By suing ignorant MLMers. And I mean 'ignorant' in a good way.

These wacky folks make sure that their fax lines get on the MLM fax lists and then when they receive a fax that doesn't have the proper header information on it, or they receive a fax that is sent at a not so appropriate time, or (the worst) is sent to them at all(!)...they sue. Or they very convincingly threaten to sue.

And they are very convincing because this is how they make a living.

Trust me on this one. Some folks on these MLM fax lists are outright looney.

MLMers have been successfully sued in the past for sending out 'unsolicited' faxes to these wacky folks. I read about a major restaurant chain that was sued for sending out a few thousand faxes to local businesses and individuals. They lost to the tune of about eleven million dollars(!)

Also, at least in North America there is the new anti-telephone solicitors legislation issue to worry about too. Make an unsolicited telephone call (even by fax?) to someone on a national 'do-not-call' list and you're liable to be fined to the tune of $11,000 per call.

So, let me summarize this last answer by asking you...

'Do you want to leave it up to your MLM fax lists company to assure you that everyone on their list has requested information from you specifically (and people like you)?'

'Do you want to leave it up to your MLM fax lists company to ensure that the list they give you is properly scrubbed and all phone numbers on there are legitimate?'

All in all, I would suggest that you tread VERY, VERY carefully in this aspect of building an MLM business. Please, whatever you do - do what you can to ensure that you can answer most, if not all, of the questions I posed earlier.

And DEFINITELY give serious thought to whether or not you should be building your MLM business using MLM fax lists.

So, finally...be careful. Okay? Promise?