Developing your people search strategy

So, you have found it necessary to use an assisted service to initiate your search for information about another person. If you just need a phone number you will not need the advice contained herein.   Nor is it for you if you just need an address and all you have is a phone number – either current or prior.  What we are talking about here is the need for legally verifiable contact and location data on someone who is probably attempting to elude you – or staying hidden. 

This undoubtedly means that you will need two things.   You are going to need the access to an internet provider who can execute your online searches.   You will also need a written and verified search strategy.

Finding an online people search firm is pretty easy – there are dozens of them that advertise constantly.   Stay away from the freebies that promise free information records – only to hit you up for the fee after the search is complete but before they have revealed the information to you.  You should select a reputable firm and be prepared to pay about $30-$50 for a one-time membership that typically lasts a year.  Find one that has a good reputation and membership in the appropriate associations.

Your really critical need is for a thoroughly created and thought-out strategy for conducting the search.  It sounds unnecessary or overkill to many people who think it’s a one-shot deal.    That is true if you are searching for someone who left city ‘A’ and moved to city ‘B’ several years ago.  If you are looking for a debtor or someone who is largely a total stranger you will often be performing many searches.   That is because you will be doing several searches – possibly just to verify one piece of data, like their SSN   The results of that search become a set of data that you can sift for key elements to your next search.

Your strategy should always begin with what you know.  Oddly enough, this is where most strategies fail.   If you assume that your start data – like SSN is accurate but it is not, your search will often fail or stall.   So, start with the assumption that your initial set of data MAY be accurate and seek to verify it.   Write out a strategy and have someone else look at it, beginning with what you know or believe.   Expand your search and every time you get any results sift the data for key elements that can be the search argument for the next round.  Keep good records and re-review your strategy every couple weeks.  This is the kind of strategy that works.

These are the elements to a qualified strategy that you should use in attempting to select a people finder and conduct a search.  If you are trying to find people or find address this kind of strategy is a godsend.