TOOLS

Many thanks to research consultant Maryrose Larkin, who sent me these two great sites. I use them almost daily and find them extremely helpful.

• Reference for Business
• BizStats.com
• Maryrose's Blog

REFERENCE FOR BUSINESS

You can find biographies and articles at this site. Click on Business Biographies to do an alpha search for your executive's biography. Then use the search box to find articles as well. I suggest searching by just last name to pick up the most articles and bios. If you have a common name, try using quotes around the name and searching by last, first and also by first last. Surprisingly, I didn't receive a whole lot of hits on some major players, but some of the articles I found didn't come up in a Google search.

Open the Encyclopedia of American Industries to find a list by SIC categories. Chose your category, then choose the segment within it to get a nice overview of the industry and trends affecting it. This type of information is great to add to profiles to let development officers know what the industry is all about and to determine if your prospect's company prospects are good or bad.

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/

BIZSTATS.COM

This is the coolest site for getting the percentages needed to estimate profits, especially for professional, retail and service companies. What I really like is the breakdown by corporation, sole proprietorship and partnership because each of these entities has some very different expenses. Some of the charts are even broken down by specific sectors and by the size of the business.

At the top, use Benchmark a Business in 5 Seconds -- there is no cost to receive a breakdown of expenses as a percentage of the sales figure that you've entered. If you have actual or estimated revenue figure for your prospect's company, you can determine the percentage you need to estimate profits!

Under National Business Statistics, click on Industry Profitability-Corporations to find Average Net Income as Percentage of Revenue for an industry segment. Multiply this figure by the gross sales for your company and, violá, you have estimated profits. S-Corporation Operating Ratios gives you net income for broad segments within service, retail and other industries.

Go a little further down the page to Small Business Industries -- U.S. National Averages - Profitability & Operating Ratios to find out the profit margins for many small businesses, including doctors, dentists and other service providers. The charts are broken into sole proprietorships, corporations and partnerships so you can find the most appropriate profit percentage to use in your estimates.

Your next stop is Retail Industry Benchmarks. Wow! Get the average sales per square foot for quite a few retailers and some restaurants by name. Use this feature to calculate what your local store – or a privately-owned competitor – is doing in sales.

Just below Retail Industry Benchmarks in somewhat smaller print, find Profitability, Operating, Balance Sheet & Financial Ratios by Business Type for all U.S. corporations and for only the profitable U.S. corporations, sub-chapter S corporations, partnerships and LLCs and sole proprietorships.

http://bizstats.com/

MARYROSE'S BLOG

Maryrose Larkin reviews helpful Web sites on her blog. She also provides links to a few other prospect research blogs. Check it out at:

http://northwestresearch.blogspot.com

Chris Mildner

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