You’ve probably heard the story before. It begins, “The study started with a client list….”

I can’t tell you how many times I had a client call and tell me that. The stories follow a pattern. The client says it’s a great list and you should be able to easily complete the study with it. Sounds great, right?

Here comes the plot twist. They forgot to tell you the list is 4 years old and hasn’t been touched since. Oh, and by the way, only 30% of the records have a phone or email address. Suddenly, easy street is filled with potholes.

This isn’t the end of the story, and it can have a happy ending. A sub-standard client list can be rescued with these investigative approaches and performance enhancements:

• Flag any cell phone numbers so they can be separated out and dialed manually, which also ensures TCPA compliance.

• Ask yourself: what is most important on their list? What is the key sampling element? Is it the individual (contact name)? If so, the file can be run against the National Change of Address (NCOA) database to see if the person has moved. If the person has moved, a search can be run for the new address. The next step is to identify the landline and (or) cellular telephone numbers associated with that individual at the new address.

• If location/address is the key element, check for the most up-to-date telephone numbers (either landline or cellular) and name associated with that address.

• Send the call list to a sample provider for verification. Does the information in your list match the sample provider’s database?

• If information doesn’t match, can you append on a new phone number or email address?

• Do you still have open quotas? See if you can append demographics to target for open quotas.

• When you’ve exhausted all options on the client list and the study still isn’t completed, order an additional custom sample that meets the ultimate client’s specifications (or at least comes close). Then you should dedupe the client list from any custom sample orders.

With the help of a good sample provider, even a subpar client list can be salvaged and the study brought to completion on time.