APAC Scientific supplies precision research instrumentation to universities, research institutions, and commercial laboratories across Australia and the Asia-Pacific. Their business runs on relationships — and those relationships lived in Salesforce.
The Problem
Years of active selling had produced a substantial contact list: researchers, procurement officers, lab managers, accumulated through trade shows, inbound enquiries, and direct outreach. The trouble is that people in research move — frequently. They change institutions, shift into new roles, or leave the field entirely.
The database had quietly drifted. Emails were bouncing. Calls were reaching the wrong people. The manual effort needed to verify records had become a reason not to use the CRM at all, which defeated the point of having one.
The Approach
Rather than commission a one-off data cleanse — which would need repeating again in a year — we built a lightweight automated agent using n8n, a free and open-source workflow automation tool.
The agent runs on a schedule, pulling batches of contacts from Salesforce and using AI to assess whether their details are likely still current, drawing on publicly available information. Where it finds potential issues — a contact who appears to have changed institutions, an email domain that no longer resolves, a role that doesn’t match current records — it flags the entry and drafts a suggested correction.
A team member reviews and approves each change before anything is written back to Salesforce. The agent does the legwork; the team stays in control.
The Outcome
In its first month, the agent reviewed over 800 contact records and surfaced around 140 for attention. The sales team confirmed updates to roughly 90 — contacts who had moved roles, changed institutions, or had stale email addresses.
Bounce rates dropped in the following outreach campaign. More importantly, the sales team reported meaningfully more confidence in the CRM as a tool for active prospecting — which is the point.
Total licensing cost of the solution: nil. A free tool, modest AI API usage charges, and a day of configuration.
Interested in what a similar approach could do for your business? Get in touch.