A Sales Expert’ Guide to Researching Companies on the Internet
by Dave Stein

More Information About the Author: Click Here for the Dave Stein Home Page

Are differentiation and credibility with executives important for your sales success? Sales experts will tell you that one of the best ways to differentiate yourself and build credibility with C-level executives (CEOs, CFOs, COOs, etc.) is to spend the first few minutes of a call or executive presentation relating to your prospect what you know about their company, their industry, and their current business situation. Once you have proven that you understand who they are and what they do for a living, you have created a platform to begin discussing how your product or service can have an positive impact on their business. To that end, your ability to quickly and effectively gather critical information and position the value that your product or service brings from your prospect’s perspective is key.

The Days of "Tell Me About Your Business" Are Over

We can’t any longer expect to walk into an executive’s office, wide-eyed and inquisitive, blank paper in hand, and expect them to educate us on who they are, what their company does and how we might help them. Now an effective first call on an executive is all about us providing them with a quick-but-insightful appraisal of their industry, their company, their customers and competitors, their challenges and opportunities and how we have already helped other companies (whom they know) overcome or leverage the types of issues they are currently facing.

Seven Strategies for Effective Research Using the Internet

I believe that sales professionals should employ specific strategies for using the Internet as a research tool. Here are mine:

1. Learn how to type. If you can’t type 60 words per minute, you need to learn how to touch type. You can acquire Mavis Beacon’s typing course for less than $20.00.

2. Get the fastest Internet connection you can. Performing extensive research at 56k baud or less is frustrating and a waste of time.

3. Stay focused on the task at hand. You are going to be visiting sites for the first time. You are going to be exposed to some tempting links and ads. Employ my "4S" approach: Save the surfing for Saturday or Sunday. Don’t get distracted.

4. Become adept at using a leading search engine. Use the help function provided with each search engine to learn how subtle differences in syntax can return dramatically different results. For example, entering Dave Stein will return 103,000 hits on www.google.com. Those hits are pages that contain both Dave and Stein. On the other hand the search term "Dave Stein" will return around 900. Those are only pages that contain the exact phrase, "Dave Stein."

5. Learn how most company sites are organized. I go right for the "About" page. That usually provides me with a foundation of information about that company upon which I can build. Since I am very focused on how my services can contribute to my client’s financial performance, I then go to the "Investors" page.

6. Categorize your research. Here are my basic websites for learning what I can about a company using the Internet prior to an executive call:

7. Leverage other Internet-based services. Every morning I receive e-mail messages from a number of services. Each of those e-mails provide me with news headlines relating to industries and companies that I track. All I have to do to get the complete story is click on the link in the e-mail. The service that I prefer is http://www.individual.com. It’s free. When I find a story that I think will be of interest to my client, I will forward it on to them, often with a comment or remark. My clients tell me that I provide real value by sending these messages.

Also, if you have an account with a brokerage firm such as Charles Schwab, you are entitled to their research on the companies and industries that they or their business partners cover.

Performing effective research using the Internet will provide you with information you can use to build credibility with executives and differentiate yourself from your competition. The "C"-levels want to buy from people who have personal value—those who are knowledgeable, insightful and who can provide them with an outside view.