The concept of skip tracing seems to be lifted straight off a Hollywood movie. A skip tracer is a professional bounty hunter or a detective who works to connect the broken links and give you the whereabouts of the person you are looking for and has skipped the town. However, in the professional setting, skip tracing is a significant aspect of data mining and tracks down information.

 

Traditionally, skip tracing is used to recognise and know the whereabouts of people who have run out on debt, mortgage or wanted in a criminal case and skipped their bail. However, new-age businesses are using skip tracing to generate leads and rectify their data!

 

In today’s fast-paced, dynamic and volatile business ecosystems, traditional approaches rarely work.  The data serves as the stepping stone and drives the growth. However, every business is sitting on loads of data, then why is it the ultimate game-changer? Because often businesses, stakeholders and decision-makers neglect the bad and ugly side of it!

 

The problem with today’s business landscape is too much data. There is information overload happening with an estimate of data doubling in volume every two years. As if it were not enough, businesses are sitting on bad data that is leading them in the middle of nowhere. Have a look at what inaccurate, incomplete and unverified data is doing to your business.

 

Over ninety per cent of businesses suspect their sales data is inaccurate.

 

Sixty-two per cent of businesses’ are in dire need of a sanitation project to ‘treat’ their inaccurate data.

 

More than forty per cent of sales leads are bad due to incorrect information.

 

 

Why does data go bad?

 

Data is considered bad when it is inaccurate, unverified and leads to a loss in business. Marketing, sales, finance, customer relationships and lead generation are most affected processes due to bad data. Sparse data happen mainly due to business processes and people. A salesperson can do typos while entering the information on a smartphone. Or a customer deliberately provides incorrect information to a salesperson. Either way, it results in wrong information in the system.

 

 

Moreover, it results in a marketing strategy and sales efforts yielding no results. Here, have a look at the statistics that are partly yet significantly cause bad data:

 

Thirty per cent of people change jobs yearly, which is seventy-six people change job every minute.

 

Forty-three per cent of people change phone number every year.

 

About 20 per cent of postal addresses are changed, and up to forty per cent people move to another e-mail ID.*

 

*This means out of every hundred emails your marketing team is sending out to the customers, only two of them are resulting in a meeting IF (and that’s a big IF) the delivery rate is ninety-five per cent! With a lesser successful delivery rate, you would need to send out more e-mail for just two leads!

 

Twenty-one per cent of CEOs change their jobs and move to the next opportunity.

 

Ten per cent of B2B leads are rendered useless due to incorrect information. Eight per cent leads can’t be pursued due to missing information, whereas seven per cent of leads have invalid contact information.

 

Skip tracing is, however, working smarter. We are living in a smart age then why find out the information the harder way? As we embark into New Year, businesses can take turn the traditional skip tracing to as an engine to drive their growth!

 

Here are awesome, and all-rounder ways businesses can adopt to propel their growth in 2020 and outscore their competitors!

 

Today, businesses want to grow while mitigating security and compliance risk and it is where skip tracing can help businesses to navigate through everyday tasks and tackle the highly-competitive domain- all with the sheer power of data and scoping its true potential! If you want to don’t want to be a part of twenty per cent of companies losing revenues and business because of bad data, scroll down and implement skip tracing techniques now!

 

Predictive Analysis:

 

 

Customers’ databases are often incomplete and inaccurate. When a marketing campaign is initiated, it goes out and reaches out to people that may or may not be your target customers. It takes down your campaign’s success rate, and you clearly can’t feel the pulse of the market! So, wake up, smell the coffee and read the room! Trace the accuracy of the database of your customers and reach out to them to understand what they want and what they expect from your brand.

 

Based on this, you can prioritise your research and work on the shortcomings of your product. Similarly, a business can assign resources and stay ahead in terms of strategic planning by using accurate data.  Besides, the think-tanks can work on creating a ‘user persona’ based on these insights and work to build their strategy as well as bring new products into the mix.

 

Also Check: B2B Predictive Marketing: Leverage the Power of Predictions For Increased Profits

 

Sentiment Analysis:

 

Sentimental analysis is the mining of general sentiment regarding a product. With skip tracing, a brand can study and research user perception and take corrective measures. The brand is traced through an array of complaints, feedback and hash tags for diverse features. For instance, Uber did a deep dive analysis to understand the underlying reactions and intentions of users towards its services. The junk comments and content were eliminated. Only real content and genuine feedback were traced to generate in-depth insights into the brand’s overall perception in a customer’s mind.

 

Also Check: Sell with Sentiments- A guide to Generate Leads Efficiently

 

Duplication Analysis:

 

 

Often, businesses purchase a third-party database for sales and marketing campaigns. However, rarely the databases are DND compliant and verified for accuracy. Often two databases have similar data leading to blacklisting and eventually, landing into the spam folder of a customer!  The marketing campaigns are often disastrous because of such data that is practically useless. Skip tracing flags issues and data mining fills the gaps with current information. The data is verified and you can make your sales and marketing processes more efficient.

 

Monitoring and Updating Changes:

 

People change jobs, locations, e-mail ID and phone numbers. A business can use skip tracing, monitor the changes and modify the old data with the new one. It enables businesses and decision-makers to base their decisions and campaigns on current data and predict their success. Skip tracing scours through the database to bring it up to speed and update it with the current version. A business can enhance its research, refine its marketing strategy as well as product with the power of data that is as accurate as it gets while avoiding months of efforts and time to pursue a wasted opportunity.

 

Know what’s working:

 

When the power of accurate data fuels a business, they can understand what works for their business and what doesn’t! Be it a marketing campaign or an offline sales drive; the ability to dive deeper into the targeted group’s psyche and to tap into a growing segment gives a business unprecedented growth opportunity.  Since the insights are based on the accurate and updated data, the decision-makers have an impartial and fair view of the trends and perceptions.

 

 

A few businesses that are combating the ugly side of data and resorting to intuitive skip tracing techniques are:

 

Real Estate:

 

The real estate agents in the U.S. have been tracing homeowners effectively to find homeowners of abandoned and vacant properties. The technique is proved to be fruitful in enhancing the scope of selling a property as well as getting a valid lead.

 

Lead Generation and Direct Marketing:

 

Scouring the internet for the digital footprints of your customers has proved to be quite rewarding for several digital marketing specialists and lead generation companies. These businesses use skip tracing for researching a person’s current whereabouts, demographics, purchase triggers and preferences via digitally available info.

 

Business Houses with B2B and B2C products:

 

Even a seasoned salesperson can find it difficult to pursue a lead if the data is of poor quality. The marketing and sales team can ensure that the database is up-to-date and compliant with standard protocols with skip tracing!

 

Debt Collections:

 

Skip tracing techniques were traditionally used for debt collection and track down the non-payers defaulting on loans and mortgage payments.  It is still the faster and easier way to find people who don’t want to pay in the first line and haven’t left a forwarding address with the bank or business.

 

Traditional sales:

 

The sales team can save its valuable time and efforts by working on qualified leads. Tracing allows a salesperson to be in the know of customers’ current whereabouts and not chase the information updated a few years ago!

 

Start-ups and e-commerce: 

 

Technology and data is the backbone of the start-up and e-commerce industry. Tapping into the right consumer data is vital for a start-up and with skip tracing, they can access a range of customer databases simultaneously.  A skip tracing service provider offers real-time updates.

 

Miscellaneous Facts:

 

Indian Overseas Bank has recovered Rs. 74.60 crore via skip tracing from retail borrowers.

 

Let 2020 be a year of success and smart techniques! Instead of cutting corners, use ‘skip tracing’ to cut down on efforts, unnecessary marketing expenses and time-consuming chasing. Take a resolution to do more with less and work towards business growth. Leverage skip tracing techniques and tools to lead the way and let your valuable human resources and money make a difference where it matters the most!