Market research calling playbook for interview recruitment

What this playbook covers

Recruitment fieldwork converts a client’s quota sheet into completed interviews inside a dated window, without burning the panel that makes future studies possible. This playbook covers sample building, block structure, cadence, consent handling, dispositions, the three-line workflow, and KPI ranges against production reference points.

Sample building and hygiene

The sample serves the quota sheet. Sort by role involvement, organization size and disqualifiers before the first dial, so the queue always works the quota cell that is behind. Every row carries provenance: where the contact data came from, when it was compiled, and under what client terms it may be used. Hygiene rules:

• Internal do-not-contact suppression before import; research refusals and do-not-contact requests are permanent unless the client’s panel agreement says otherwise in writing.
• Business-to-business calls that induce a purchase fall under the narrow exemption in 16 CFR 310.6(b)(7), which is not a TCPA exemption; respondents answer on cells, and 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(1) restrictions on autodialed and prerecorded wireless calls apply to the workflow regardless.
• Wrong numbers die on first confirmation; sample vendors sell enough stale rows without the dialer compounding them.
• Calling hours stay inside 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. local at the respondent’s location under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) as standing policy, computed per row by the dialer.

Call block structure

Morning block, 9:00 to 11:00 respondent local. Fresh sample, first attempts. B2B respondents answer between meetings, and the morning owns the deepest quiet.

Afternoon block, 1:00 to 3:30. Second attempts, scheduled-interview confirmations, and make-goods for no-shows.

Fieldwork-end compression. When quotas lag the client window, blocks extend and the day gets a third short window, 4:30 to 6:00, which catches respondents who dodge calls all day. Compression is a deliberate decision against the quota sheet, not a habit.

Between blocks: confirmations go out, quotas update, and the AI summaries get edited while the screening answers are fresh.

Attempt cadence

Four attempts per sample row:

1. Day 1. Live recruitment call: non-sales opener, screener, consent block, two-slot close.
2. Day 3, different daypart. The catch window.
3. Day 6. Voicemail: paid, bounded, non-sales, callback number.
4. Day 9, final. Last live attempt with an honest close: “Fieldwork closes [date]; I will take you off my list either way.”

After four attempts, the row exits to the next fieldwork wave or off the sample entirely. Attempt caps in the dialer enforce the stop, and refusals exit the same day they happen.

Consent, recording and confidentiality

The consent block is non-negotiable on every booked interview: what is recorded, who hears the audio, how identity is protected, and an explicit spoken OK. Several states require all parties to consent before recording, so the language lives in the script and repeats in the confirmation email. Confidentiality runs three directions: to the respondent (aggregate reporting, contact details never sold), to the client (sample and verbatims protected per the client terms), and to the panel (refusals honored permanently). The dialer places calls and takes notes; it does not apply client confidentiality terms, and it does not decide whether a study is research or telemarketing.

Dispositions and what they mean

• Interview complete: the quota cell updates the same hour; completion, not booking, is the metric clients buy.
• Interview partial: logged with the reason; partials count only where the client’s terms allow.
• Callback requested: dated to the respondent’s window, honored to the hour.
• Refused: permanent do-not-contact unless the panel agreement explicitly says otherwise.
• Gatekeeper / Not the right person: the correct contact name becomes the next attempt’s opening fact.
• Wrong number / Do not contact: the mechanical set, suppressed before the next block.

The three-line workflow and AI summaries

Three lines fit recruitment when the second connect is handled with a callback promise instead of a dead line, and the abandonment stat is watched weekly because 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(7) caps abandoned calls at three percent over a 30-day campaign where calls count as solicitations. The working rhythm: quota order is queue order; the screener is read as questions; the consent block is spoken, never assumed; the AI summary carries screening answers, the recording OK, the slot and any confidentiality notes, and the interviewer edits it before the confirmation email goes out.

KPI targets

Ranges against production reference points. In production use across 3-line sessions over 90 days, the median operator ran about 85 dials per active hour and roughly 600 dials per operator day, with person connects around 17.8 percent. Planning ranges for recruitment:

• Dials per active hour: 50 to 80; screening and consent make connects longer than sales calls.
• Person connects: 10 to 25 percent by sample freshness.
• Screens passed: 12 to 20 per 100 connects on a clean B2B sample.
• Interviews completed: 60 to 80 percent of booked slots, with same-day confirmation emails and day-before reminder texts.
• Abandonment: effectively zero, watched weekly against the three percent legal cap where applicable.

These figures are measured in production use, 3-line sessions, 90 days; they are reference points, not a promise of results.

Compliance guardrails

Research that induces no purchase is not telemarketing under 16 CFR 310.2; calls that do induce purchases lose that status regardless of labels, and the B2B exemption in 16 CFR 310.6(b)(7) is narrow and not a TCPA exemption. Wireless restrictions at 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(1), hours at 64.1200(c)(1), and the abandonment cap at 64.1200(a)(7) govern the calling mechanics where they apply. All-party recording consent states make the consent block mandatory. DialBreeze places calls and takes notes; study design, consent validity and client confidentiality are yours. This guide describes rules, not compliance advice.