people-and-contacts

Reads: passing accounts; personas and title synonyms; ../research-audience/references/contacts-and-compliance.md; ../research-audience/references/data-sources.md.

Does:

1. Free first, breadth before depth: for every kept account, get names and titles from the cheapest place first — the company's team, about and leadership pages, press releases, conference speaker pages, podcast guest pages, public profile headlines in web-search results ("<title>" "<company>"), the company's LinkedIn page's public people list. Paid profile reads only in the approved top-up, to confirm titles the free pass could not.

2. Pick by company size and role (champion + economic buyer; category buyer for retail). Max 3 per account, different roles.

3. Confirm current employer and title from a dated source (a dated search headline counts, labelled search-headline); if sources disagree, the newer wins; if unclear, drop. Chains → an account row with the vendor portal or buying-office route, plus 1–2 person rows (same account_id) for a category buyer confirmed by a dated source: LinkedIn route, email only if published or pattern-evidenced. Leave person rows out only when the retailer's vendor page says portal-only or not to contact buyers — note it in notes. Independent shops and small venues → one account-level row with the shop's published inbox (own-domain or published webmail) or IG/DM as the route; the owner's name only if a dated source gives it — an unnamed owner is not a reason to drop. Drop third-party recruiters and consultants (people who don't work for the account), fractional/advisor, interns, ex-, agency staff named for a client, competitor and own staff. When the account is a recruiting or staffing firm, its recruiters, sourcers and researchers are the users and champions — keep them.

4. Contact route — when the connector has email find and check, follow ../research-audience/references/data-sources.md § When the contact routes exist (cheapest first, stop at the first found address the checker passes — one checker, a second only on unknown — never phones or personal modes). Otherwise: look for the exact work address on public pages (team page, press release, filing, speaker bio). Found → email_candidate with status published (<url>) (an address moves to email only after a checker passes it). Pattern-guess only when a published address at the same domain shows the pattern — cite it. A shop's own published webmail address counts as published. Otherwise record the best other route (LinkedIn, buying inbox, contact form, phone, IG for small shops).

5. Set the person's location and region_flag; exclude Germany/Austria by default unless the human said otherwise; flag UK sole traders/partnerships UK-soletrader: consent needed (Companies House check) and give them a visit or a letter as the route (other_contact_route = visit/letter: <published shop address> (<url>)) (phone only after a TPS check, noted; never a cold IG DM), with email blank; a Canadian or AU/NZ pattern-guess is not sendable — give another route or drop; other countries flagged other:<country>.

6. Suppression check: hash each person's keys the ledger's way (outcomes-ledger § Suppression without personal data) and drop any that match a suppressed key_hash — before any paid lookup on them.

Writes: people rows with title source and date, email (checker-passed only), email_candidate, email_status, email_source, other_contact_route, person_location, region_flag, persona_role.

Rules: never label an address verified unless a checker said so. Never use personal webmail or role addresses for people at companies with a named buyer (independent shops' published inboxes are the exception, as account rows), or anything behind a login.