At the beginning of my research career, I felt like Homer in this clip. (Hopefully I wasn’t as stupid) It’s natural for people to question their ability, even further down the career road. This is especially true when your follow-up rate may be faltering.
But remember what got you here. Remember your instincts because yours are intact. Remember if you have the ability to be human, you have the ability to be successful in finding the unfindable. Remember the internet. Remember the strategies you’ve learned.
Finally, remember I’m here to help. There’s more to come. Stay tuned.
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the research work you do. I know about the long hours of preparing – recruiting – intervening – finding – data analyzing – writing – publishing. Your dedication to helping people on a mass scale is truly inspiring to someone like me. I’ve seen the benefits of your work. I’ve spoken to the people with better healthcare, a better outlook on life, and a sense of hope for the future. On the flipside, I’ve went to the funerals of people who didn’t have the better option. Furthermore, I’ve seen the people walking around with the hopelessness in their eyes. I know it affects you as it affects me. I know you will do anything to right this wrong.
So thank you for your dedication. I truly appreciate it.
Now go tell the rest of your staff the same thing.
During my career I heard many grumblings about the strict nature of HIPAA. I started to fall into it too until I decided to give them a call a several years back. The representative said some interesting things.
First, they were strict when it came to follow-up techniques. The client’s protection is the utmost importance, which is a great thing. However, the second thing is the kicker. I specifically asked her about using public records to find research clients. She said that was completely in the rules, if this technique is explicitly stated in the consent form that the client signs. As long as the client knows the efforts you will be making (without violating confidentiality), you should be good to go.
Just to be clear, I do not work for HIPAA, so I am not the expert. So check with your local authority about their restrictions. You might find it’s not as restricting as you thought.
Do you have any helpful HIPAA stories or information? If so, comment with them.
Bill Russell was a genius. He was smarter than anyone on the floor, and everyone knew it. He was the best player on a team that won 11 championships. That’s a lot.
Russell utilized many attitudes that can bring you success in the game of research follow-up, so here’s a couple to get started:
1. Change the whole game. The rules of basketball were no different for Russell. But he revolutionized how you played within those rules. When I started my position at the University, the idea of researching public records on the internet was foreign to my organization. The rules allowed it, so I did it.
2. Do things they didn’t think could be done. After we concluded our first study, I found out people in a higher tax bracket thought this project was dead in the water. The locator information was scant and pretty much B.S. But I didn’t see it that way, and I refused to buy into it. My crew and I got creative and the rest was history.
3. Winning is everything.
If someone asks me to name the one thing that led to my success in finding the unfindable, I say this: I made it a game. I love winning and hate losing. So every time I came to work, I entered the game. Was the game frustrating at times? Sure. But we won. Why? Because we never saw losing as a possibility. We knew we would win, and we did.
And you know the best part, besides the findings we produced? People saw us as geniuses in the game of research follow-up.
That’s a good feeling people!
You know what feels even better? Leaving comments. Hit it and quit it!
If I haven’t said it before, I learned this work the hard way. Here’s one example:
After doing some public records research, I generated a phone number for a client I was looking for after several years. I called the number. A woman answered:
“Hello?”
“Yeah is Tanya there?” I ask.
“NO!”
“Can I leave a message for her?”
“Who is this?”
“I’m calling in regards to a health study she did a few years back.”
“She doesn’t want anything to do with your study!”
“Well ma’am, I need to hear that from her.”
“I’M HER MOTHER, AND I SAID SHE @%!&%#@…”
Well you get the drift. Anyways, it turns out Tanya was in jail, and I got the brunt of her mother’s frustration over the situation.
Lesson: First, don’t ever say you need to hear a refusal from the client and not the person you’re speaking to because they will flip out. Just say thank you and look for other leads. But do not stop your search unless the refusal comes from the client themselves.
Second, people may be rude to you, but remember there may be backstory to the situation that’s affecting their mood. I think Tanya’s mom had a good reason to be upset. I just happened to be the one calling. In other words, don’t take it personally.
Do not get rid of any client locating information…ever. It may seem strange, but historical addresses and phone numbers are often linked to the current public record files of individuals.
So imagine I couldn’t find any public record information for a guy who gave the name “Filbert Rasmussen.” I have very little information on him, but I do have a disconnected phone number for him from 5 years ago. So I search a database by this phone number. The results show an address with one of the historical residents by the name of “Filbert Redding,” with the same date of birth. This is likely our boy. So we can search for “Filbert Redding” in the databases, a current address and phone number appears.
This type of scenario occurred many times in the work I did with the university. Hang onto every piece of information you can! Some ancient phone number or address could be the key to a current public record.
Note: Even if an old phone number or address does not show up for a client, it doesn’t mean it won’t in the future. Public record database companies are always gathering new (old) information to expand their product.
In earlier posts (here and here) I recommended Merlin for searching public records because you could spend the money whenever you needed. However, their policies have changed. For accounts that have low activity, there is now a $20 monthly fee. I wanted to make clear that this is now the case.
I will be doing some research on other lower cost options. Stay tuned!
Not all public records databases have the same information.Because of this, there is a strategy that I call “skiptracing,” but it veers from the standard definition.
My definition of skiptracing is taking information from one public records source and using it to search in another. Here’s a demonstration.
Go to the Intelius website and search a name for free. They will only give you a taste of the information they have, the rest you have to pay for. The taste is a list of names of relatives (this costs money on other databases). Now jot down the relative names, and go Merlin’s website and search the relative names from Intelius. If you don’t have a Merlin account, click here.
This should generate a good number of leads. So make sure to use this strategy throughout all the databases you use.
If you don’t have an accurate Social Security Number on a client, you need to keep something in mind. In order to get the best information on this research client, one question will determine your public records strategy:
How common is their name?
John Smith With him, you’re going to have to be creative to get the right public records. If you just submit that name in a search, you’re going to get a phone book of results. Not only will you have to input the full name, but you will have to put in a city, state and possibly a year of birth. You could search by a previous address, if you had it. If an SSN is associated with the name at that address, click it and reap the rewards.
There is one way you can ease the pain: get John’s middle name at his first appointment. Even a middle initial is huge. With common names, you need any differentiation possible.
Joey Joe Joe Jr. Shabadoo
The future’s looking bright. You could probably search the whole United States just by the last name (if allowed) and see what comes up. Anyone with that last name will likely be a relative.
Also, just put the name in Google. Any match has to be your man. I found a client from several years previous because his crazy name was mentioned in a newspaper from out-of-state.
Lesson: Note the uniqueness of their name before you get their information. If it’s John Smith, go the extra mile to get as much as you can.
Clients may not be as dumb as Homer, but they do feel the pressure if you don’t treat their private information with respect. So here are some tips for filling out a locator form with a new research client.
1. Fill it out as late as possible
Unless you’re a jerk. Then do it as early as possible. Seriously, the more time you have to build rapport, the more they will trust you and tell you.
2. Document their daily routine No matter who you are, you have a routine. Drug addicts, doctors, acrobats…everyone. Asking them to describe a typical day is a good way to get them talking, and it also prevents you from waking them up during their nap time between 2 – 3 pm.
3. Don’t settle for one phone number
Things change. Maybe all you will need is one phone number. But think about the last time you changed your cell phone number. Did you know you were going to change it 6 months prior, or even 3 months? Get as much contact info as you can, including people who can get a message to the client (use those words too).
4. Ask for their Social Security Number last Send me your SSN to this email. What? I’m a professional!…It’s a moot point. This is sensitive information and you don’t know me. Remember this the next time you ask a client for one. Explain the reasons why you are asking for one, and exactly how you would use it (if needed).
5. Have them fill it out if they prefer Bottom line: Do whatever makes them the most comfortable when giving their personal information. If they fill it out themselves, thank them for saving you some work. But make sure it is adequate before you send them on their way. And if their handwriting is like mine, God be with you…
Check out this post and try applying the philosophy to the locator form experience. If you have any other tips with locator forms, please comment.
