If you want to confirm a client’s date of birth, try the Birth Database. If you input your clients full first and last name, a matching record will confirm a date of birth. It will also show a town of residence, but these are usually old records.
Posts Tagged 'public records'
Tracking Clients: Quick Tip #4
Published April 14, 2009 Follow-up Strategies , Resources Leave a CommentTags: date of birth, follow-up, longitudinal research, public records, research attrition, retention, strategies, tracking
Reverse it with Google
Published February 20, 2009 Follow-up Strategies , Skip tracing Leave a CommentTags: follow-up, longitudinal, public records, research attrition, retention
Curious about a phone number given by a client? A number of reverse phone directories exist on the net, but one of the best is Google. All you have to do is input the number in the search bar. If the number is listed in the phonebook, something like this appears (without the X’s):
Chris XXXX (763) 268-XXXX 14XX 39th Ave N, Plymouth, MN 55446
Gretchen XXXX (763) 268-XXXX 14XX 39th Ave N, Plymouth, MN 55446
It’s completely free, and super fast. Plus, it’s very up-to-date. So give it a shot.
Client Tracking: Make it a Game
Published February 11, 2009 Attitudes , Follow-up Strategies 2 CommentsTags: Attitudes, attrition, follow-up, Inspiration, internet research, longitudinal research, public records, research attrition, retention, strategies, tracking
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!
Tracking Clients: Story #3
Published January 30, 2009 Follow-up Strategies , Phone calliing Leave a CommentTags: attrition, follow-up, internet research, longitudinal research, phone skills, public records, research, retention, social skills, strategies, tracking
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.
Client Contact Information: Be a Pack Rat!
Published January 26, 2009 Follow-up Strategies , Skip tracing Leave a CommentTags: attrition, follow-up, internet research, longitudinal research, NIDA, public records, research attrition, retention, strategies, tracking
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.
As always, hit me up for some comments.
Merlin Update
Published January 21, 2009 Follow-up Strategies , Resources , Skip tracing Leave a CommentTags: attrition, follow-up, internet research, longitudinal research, public records, research, retention, strategies, tracking
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!
Skiptracing in My World
Published January 20, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: attrition, follow-up, internet research, longitudinal research, public records, research attrition, retention, Skip tracing, strategies
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.
Public Records Databases: It’s all in the name
Published January 15, 2009 Attitudes , Follow-up Strategies , Skip tracing Leave a CommentTags: attrition, follow-up, internet research, locator form, longitudinal research, public records, research, retention, Skip tracing, strategies, tracking
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.
The Internet is your Tracking Friend
Published December 16, 2008 Follow-up Strategies , Skip tracing 3 CommentsTags: attrition, internet research, public records, retention, tracking
It’s been almost 10 years since I started in the research tracking business, and the internet kicked some tail then. Now it’s almost overwhelming. You can spend an endless amount of time and money searching for people on the net. I have a list of internet services that I will provide in future posts, but here’s the one place that has remained a constant for me:
Merlin data
This website offers a lot of different public records services at varying prices, but the basic Links to America search has been a lifesaver in my work. It costs $1 a search, which is very reasonable. The price of gathering this information on your own would multiply that in a hurry. There are other services that offer monthly subscriptions, but it’s a waste of money if it’s a slow month. I prefer spending money when I need to. A couple notes about Merlin:
- You need to apply for a membership, which includes providing a license from your work and describing what you will use the information for. They usually turn it around within 24 hours.
- They offer a free demo.
- Some databases offer the “no results = no charge” scenario, but others (Links to America) will charge you even though no results were found.
- They provide free tutorials on using the site, so take advantage of them.
A warning – there is a lot of information on the internet about most of us. So be ready for this. But there are strict rules regarding the private information, which companies like Merlin are required to follow.
Got any sites that have worked for you?
