TCPAWORLD AFTERDARK: Mail Bag! (This is What I Do It For Folks)

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So just got done responding to a tediously inappropriate subpoena and nothing cheers me up after such an exercise more than dipping into the ail bag and sharing some fanmail.

Before I do, I wanted to remark on how odd it is to run an omnichannel branding machine like the Troutman Firm and TCPAWorld.com. Specifically what attracts eyeballs and what doesn’t.

For instance, I provide a perfect synopsis of the complex DNC rules regarding consent in under a minute and it takes weeks to get 80 views:

I post a video of me cutting a birthday cake and I get 1,700 views overnight:

Go figure.

Similarly on TCPAWorld, I always say that the longer a piece takes me to write the less people will read it. 🙂

And it is no surprise that TCPAWorld AFTERDARK articles–which are even less constrained by format restrictions than my general musings and often have little to do with the TCPA–are far better read than my normal TCPA articles.

I really have no idea why that is.

But I have also found that the BEST read articles are–bizarrely–the mail bag articles. My readers really like hearing what other readers have to say.

So, who am I to not give people what they want. Especially when I’ve received some REALLY REALLY REALLY meaningful stuff recently.

Stuff like this:

You have a great team, that is no surprise to you.  And I deal with and have dealt with a number of Big Law firms over the years so my compliment comes with credibility…. [N]othing helps me more than your (and your team’s) spot-on and succinct analysis of the TCPA cases in near time if not real time!  

All that said, you also have a quality that I have deep appreciation for because I too have it, and that quality is humility.  I’m serious!  I know you do your share of self-promotion…and you should and you have earned every bit of that right…but you give credit where it is due (even if plaintiffs counsel) and you go out of your way to promote others and make them successful, many of whom are women or people of color and all of whom work very hard on their own merits to demonstrate they deserve your comments.  That helps us all.  And for that, and many other reasons, you are The Czar!

That highlighted part really impacts me. As many of you know I really REALLY do try to promote diversity. I have done so at every firm I have been at. And I recently had the pleasure of watching three lady litigators I introduced to complex litigation and the TCPA  at three different firms join forces and present together on an awesome panel. It just means the world to me to see that actual REAL LIFE impact and changes I am making out there. And I love it when other people recognize it too (although I do it for myself and because its the right thing to do and not for praise.) But praise is nice too!

Incidentally this is ONE MORE thing that separates Troutman Firm from #biglaw. Those guys are ALL ABOUT LIP SERVICE. All of them say they promote diversity. But they never quite seem to get it done do they? They always promote their initiatives and plans, but they never seem to talk about results do they? There aren’t any.

If they can’t deliver on that promise–how can you trust them to deliver on other promises? I tell you I’m going to do something. I get it done. Simple as that.

#justsaying

But here’s some more great mailbag stuff:

I read your post every day. As Assistant General Counsel for [company] it may seem odd to say but reading your Firm’s posts is something I look forward to each day…  Whether it’s you, Sean, Brittany, or the occasional visit from Queenie (Puja)…it is always educational, scary, and with just the right dash of fun too!  Real happy for you and the successful launch of your Troutman Firm.  Thanks for all you do for this space … the posts with the in-depth analysis, the webcasts, everything!

Or how about the R.E.A.C.H. love:

Our team has been following closely the morass of state-level regulatory updates and the non-stop / highly-variable court decisions. We operate our contact center navigating near the lowest common regulatory denominator – trying to not drive much over 70mph in the 65mph zone. If you are looking for another participant for R.E.A.C.H., please let me know. Would love to find a way to contribute to this long-overdue effort.

Speaking with the lawyers to set up the trade organization Monday. So the REACH thing is real and moving. (Speaking of getting things done–I’ve pledged to stop a billion robocalls a month, and I’m going to do it.)

Also, tomorrow will do a piece promoting my multiple speaking panels at contact.io–super excited for that. And I have a few webinars coming up. (Did you know Gibbs is moving into doing lead gen content? That’s a big deal. Excited to help him launch!)

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Published by Eric J. Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.

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  1. Love reading your articles in TCPAWorld to get better insight. Your 60-second primer on DNC and consent was interesting, and I was happy to move the views counter from 80 to 81. But, the problem I see is that too many sellers/telemarketers flat out fail to give due respect to the DNC scrub requirements. I see too many sellers/telemarketers out there that rely upon third parties to do their DNC scrub and do not obtain the DNC from the FTC on a 31 day basis. As they say: garbage in, garbage out. I applaud your efforts to birth R.E.A.C.H. And, if you fulfill your pledge of ridding our society of a billion robocalls a month, you will become my new hero.

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