What is DNC Scrubbing and How to Do It for B2B Sales Calls

It’s not Wolf of Wall Street glamorous, but DNC scrubbing is essential for B2B sales.

Proper prospecting list hygiene protects your sales team from calling people on do not call lists. This mistake could result in hefty fines for your business, not to mention unwanted altercations with angry people on the other end of the line.

Today, we’ll cover everything you need to know about do not call lists and DNC scrubbing so you can stay compliant and make calls without second-guessing their legality.

Let’s start 👇

What is a DNC list?

A Do Not Call (DNC) list is a database of phone numbers from people who have expressed that they do not want to receive unsolicited phone calls for sales and telemarketing purposes.

Typically, a DNC list is maintained and managed by a governing body, such as the Federal Trade Commission in the case of the United States (that particular list is called the National DNC Registry).

Different geographies have different national DNC lists; you need to be aware of them to ensure your prospecting is compliant.

Otherwise, you risk fines and penalties for cold calling people on these phone lists.

How does a DNC list work?

Anyone can register their phone numbers on a DNC registry either online or over the phone for free.

Once registered, they should stop receiving sales and telemarketing calls from businesses that scrub their cold calling lists against the DNC. 

People may still receive robocalls and unsolicited calls from scammers or companies exempt from DNC list rules—for example, political and charity organisations.

How long does a number remain on a do not call list?

Unless the person decides to remove themselves from the list or their phone number is assigned to a new person, they will remain on the do not call list permanently.    

What happens if you call someone on a do not call list?

The potential legal fines for calling someone on a global DNC list are steep.

• In the US, you can risk fines of up to $41,484 per call by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
• In the UK, you can be fined £500,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
• According to GDPR, you can be fined £17.5M or 4% of global turnover.

So it’s essential you scrub your prospecting lists for do not call list numbers.

With the right tool, it’s a small time and cost investment that could save you hundreds of thousands over the years.

How to check if a number is on a DNC list?

You can check if a number is on a DNC list by using a DNC list lookup, a DNC scrubbing service or calling the registry in your country.

A DNC check or lookup database allows you to search for phone numbers opted into national DNC lists. A DNC check may not cover multiple geographical regions, so use localised tools.

• The US has a National Do Not Call Registry. Call the registry at 1-888-382-1222 to check whether a number is listed.
• The UK offers a similar service in the form of its Telephone Preference Service (TPS), which you can call at 0207 291 3320.

If you’re contacting someone outside the UK and the US, search for equivalent services in the geography to ensure your prospecting is compliant.

Did you know that Cognism includes DNC list checking as part of its offering to ensure compliance? 

That’s right, Cognism scrubs cell phone numbers against: 

• TPS/CTPS lists in the UK.
• Do Not Call lists in the USA, Canada, Australia and European countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Croatia, Portugal, Sweden and more.

“Compliance is a major factor when considering how best to access prospect data, and choosing a partner that combines GDPR conformity, great coverage of the UK market and delivers constantly updated qualified mobile numbers and contact details meant Cognism was the right choice for us.”

Read the full case study

Gary James

Head of Sales

@Corporate Traveller

What is DNC scrubbing?

DNC scrubbing is the process of archiving or removing DNC-registered numbers from your prospecting and telemarketing lists. 

It’s a vital step in B2B database hygiene for salespeople, as it protects your business from accidentally calling people who have registered to national, local, and company-specific DNC lists. This act can result in heavy fines. 

It also helps you maintain an ethical sales process that respects buyers’ wishes.

How to scrub a list for DNC

DNC scrubbing is accomplished by cross-referencing your call list with relevant do not call databases.

Fortunately, there’s DNC scrubbing software that automates this process. With scrubbing tools, you simply upload your list of phone numbers and the specific DNC list, and it will scrub the numbers from your list, leaving you with a clean one ready for prospecting.

Your B2B sales intelligence tool or data provider may also have a built-in DNC scrubbing feature that removes DNC numbers from your lead database.

Cognism, for example, has a DNC filtering option built into its software. The filter runs a DNC list check across twelve countries, more than any other B2B data provider. 

With the click of a button, reps can toggle the DNC feature on/off for each region, allowing them to choose whether to risk a fine or cold-call a compliant database with peace of mind.

Using Cognism to scrub a DNC list

If you’re looking for a B2B data provider that will keep you compliant with do not call list laws and regulations, Cognism makes DNC list scrubbing easy. 

Cognism is GDPR-compliant by default. The global database follows stringent privacy protocols to ensure B2B teams can prospect with confidence.

So how does Cognism ensure reps don’t risk calling a national do not call list phone number?

Cognism scrubs mobile numbers against global do not call list registries and automatically hides phone numbers that appear on a DNC list. Admins can then choose whether or not to continue hiding DNC numbers from reps.

Compared to other B2B data providers, its protection is comprehensive. 

Along with a do not call list scrubber, Cognism has taken several actions to make sure users remain compliant when using its B2B data, including:

• A stringent B2B data verification process.
• Ensures all data is legally sourced and of the utmost quality.
• Provides users with a notified database.
• The ICO regulates it.
• Only provides business emails.

In short, Cognism automates the process so you can quickly, accurately, and easily scrub B2B sales lists of DNC numbers.

DNC list key takeaways

The things you could do with a cool £170,000.

Buy 1 Lamborghini Huracan Evo. 6 Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Automatics. 510,000 Freddos.

Or, instead, you could lump it all on an ICO fine for non-compliant prospecting.

That’s what happened to a nuisance call blocker company in August 2021 after they made “188,493 unwanted telemarketing calls to customers registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).”

And the same could happen to you if you don’t enable your B2B sales team with a GDPR-compliant data provider.

So whether you’re renewing your contract with your current platform or looking to onboard a new one, you need to ask one big question before you pay:

Do you scrub against global Do Not Call (DNC) lists?

And if the answer isn’t a categorical “yes”, you’ll need to rethink your decision.

So why not skip the hassle and 👇

Get compliant data from Cognism

Give your sales team B2B data they can trust. With Cognism; you don’t have to worry about manual DNC scrubbing or contacting prospects who’ve opted out of sales calls and marketing emails.

Click the banner to book a call with a Cognism data expert today.