There are many places to find information about the company you want to do business with. These include web, annual reports, libraries, newspaper archives, press releases, and many more. The question is why you would want to find out the details in the first place. I like to know what a customer does before I make a proposal and I also like to know if they pay their bills on time. These two pieces of information are crucial for me. I also like to have other information such as sales volume, hiring practices, and how they stock up to their competition. What is the estimated market share, do they have enough sales to warrant paying a consultant or buying my products. How long is the payment cycle (in other words, how long will it take before they pay me for my goods and services). Most of the information you require can be found quite easily, you just need to make sure that you know enough to make your own sound business decision.
You do not want to leave yourself out on a limb if the company has trouble paying its current bills. Find out who they buy goods and services from and ask about the promptness of payment, most suppliers will be happy to tell you if there is a problem. Protect yourself and get as many details as you need and then move forward with the proposal.
You should also gather information about the competition for this company. Knowing how they stack up against others will tell you something about the way they do business. If they are growing faster than the competition then you are probably working with a winning organization. If their market share is diminishing, then you need to find out why.
A great place to look up press release information is www.PRWeb.com
Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get people's attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the "Networking Queen". Blueprints for Success - Networking: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprints for Success Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in 2006. For more information visit http://www.BlueprintBooks.com |
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