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Anik Singal is an entrepreneur with his principal business being personal fitness.

He thought everything was great. His business was growing. The business enjoyed a low refund rate. His customers were happy with the service his business was providing. His business offered 24/7 support worldwide. The business had a Better Business Bureau rating of A.

Then he received a notice from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC didn't care that his customers loved him. They focused on the language used in his sales promotions. The FTC has awesome power, including the ability to make injunctions to prevent individuals from conducting business in the future.

Ignorance is not a defense. It doesn't matter if you didn't know you were violating the law. A violation is a violation. A small or new business can still be noticed and prosecuted by the FTC.

Anik's health was ruined from the stress of dealing with the FTC investigation. He had to pay millions of dollars to pay his employees and attorneys to respond to FTC requests for information, refunds to customers, and a settlement for an FTC fine of $2.5 million.

Don't Say That is an introduction by Anik and his attorney, Greg Christiansen, Esq., of common violations of FTC regulations and other regulatory bodies. Anik wants to help other entrepreneurs avoid making the same mistakes he did.

It turns out many commonly-taught direct response advertising practices violate FTC rules. The authors include many case examples to show how easy it is to mess up.

For example, business opportunities are often represented as providing an extravagant lifestyle with a high monthly income. Glowing testimonials from successful customers are included in the sales materials. In fact, very few customers actually experience those results. Under the FTC rules, if the results aren't typical, they are a misrepresentation.

Salespeople who interact directly with prospective customers might exaggerate performance or misrepresent a company policy, such as for an extended warranty. Under the Telemarketing Sales Rule, false or misleading statements made in direct telephone communications to get a sale are a violation.

Health claims for supplements and medications must be substantiated.

Other examples of misrepresentations include when an offer is made for "the first 10 orders" and the limit isn't applied, or the offer is only available for a limited time, such as with a fake countdown clock, but the time limitation isn't actually applied.

Every business owner should have a copy of Don't Say That as a desktop reference, study it, refer to it often, and consult with an attorney who specializes in FTC compliance. You can get it at https://www.dontsaythat.com/.

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