Within each industry there are various directories, trade associations, and membership lists. Within your own industry, you may already know what these materials are, or have them already. Outside of your industry prospecting can be made much easier with any of the following publications.
All of the following publications should be available at any library. If you happen to live in an area where they are not readily available, you may want to consider purchasing a couple of them. It is still a lot cheaper than paying several thousand dollars to an executive guidance firm.
1. Thomas Register, Thomas Publishing Company, One Penn Plaza, New York, N.Y., 10001. Breaks down all the manufacturers of every conceivable product category located within the United States. Also various cross indexes which give additional information, such as company size.
2. Standard & Poor's Register of Corporations Directors and Executives, Standard & Poor's Corporation, 345 Hudson Street, New York, N.Y., 10014. Lists all major companies and their management in the United States. Also includes information regarding size, location, and what businesses the companies are in. This directory includes a comprehensive list of management personnel and their titles.
3. Dun's Million Dollar Directory, Dun's Marketing Services. A Division of Dun & Bradstreet Inc., 3 Century Drive, Parsippany, New Jersey, 07054. This is another directory listing all major companies and their management in the United States. Also includes information regarding size, location, and what industries the companies are in. The Million Dollar Directory has a particularly good breakdown by S.I.C. Code and Geographic Cross Index.
4. Encyclopedia of Associations, Gale Research "Company, Book Tower, Detroit, Michigan, 48226. This publication provides exactly what the name implies, and could be extremely valuable. Just imagine, if you are interested in some exotic industry and you want to know what associations serve the industry, where are they, and how they can help you. It is all in the Encyclopedia of Associations.
5. Guide to American Directories, B. Klein Publications, P.O. BOX 8503, Coral Springs, Florida, 33065. How about that! So you want to know who all the "widget" companies are. Well, first find out if there is a directory serving the industry. If there is a directory serving any industry- chances are it will be listed in the above guide.
6. State Directories of Manufacturers. These are publications for each State containing the names of all manufacturers, distributors, and the products they produce and handle. These State Directories are invaluable because they locate various companies by products and towns. Because they only list companies within a particular State, they include many small companies which could be overlooked by the national directories. State directories also include information about each plant which is located within the State. They include the names of company management and addresses and telephone numbers.
Various State organizations publish their own directories. Frequently, they are published by the State Industrial Development Department, or the Chamber of Commerce.
Another source is, Manufacturers' News, Inc., 3 East Huron Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611. They distribute all the State Directories. They also handle several International Industrial Directories which could be a tremendous help if you are seeking to locate out of the Country.
7. Encyclopedia of Business Information, Gale Research Company, Book Tower, Detroit, Michigan, 48226. This is a detailed listing of sourcebooks, periodicals, organizations, directories, handbooks, bibliographies, and other sources of topical information. It is a very handy tool for someone in the job market.
8. Standard Directory of Advertisers, National Register Publishing Co., Inc., Skokie Illinois 60077. This publication breaks down all products and services and indicates the names of the companies, their product names, their officers, and contact information. Many of the marketing and advertising managers are also included, as well as the company's outside advertising agency.
9. Ayer Directory of Publications and Periodicals, Ayer Press 210 West Washington Square, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106. This is basically a directory of all the newspapers and magazines published throughout the United States. The directory describes the types of publications and newspapers by the various markets they serve. It also includes an index as to where they are published and their circulation.
10. A Valuable Source-The Yellow Pages. In fact, the Yellow Pages are just crammed with valuable information. By just thumbing through the Yellow Pages, you will come upon various industries and products which may be of interest. There are also cross references which could provide additional ideas.
Most libraries have the Yellow Pages from major cities. If you are interested in a particular geographic area, flip through the appropriate Yellow Pages. You can receive some valuable information about a city or town just by going through its Yellow Pages.
You can easily find out, by thumbing through the Yellow Pages, just what kind of businesses are in the area. Some other valuable information which can easily be found:
- What kind of vital personal services are available, such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc.?
- What kind and how many hospitals are there?
- How many police and fire stations are there?
- What kind of schools are available and how many?
- Religious affiliations represented.
- What kind of entertainment is listed?
- How many restaurants and what kind.
- How many libraries.
Moody's Manuals, Moody's Investors Service Inc., 99 Church Street, New York, N.Y., 10007. This is a continually updated financial service which describes what thousands of public companies are doing. Such information as a description of the company and its business, updated earnings, dividends, and pertinent business reports are continually coming out.
12. Moody's Handbook of Common Stocks, Moody's Investors Service Inc., 99 Church Street, New York, N.Y., 10007. Published by Moody's Investors Service, this quarterly publication has a fact sheet on thousands of publicly held companies.
13. Standard Corporation Records, Standard & Poor's Corporation, 345 Hudson Street, New York, N.Y., 10014. Publishes a financial service describing thousands of publicly held companies. Like Moody's, the publication is constantly updated for any pertinent developments affecting the listed companies.
14. Standard & Poor's Stock Reports, Standard & Poor's corporation, 345 Hudson Street, New York,
N.Y., 10014. This publication is categorized by companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange, and the Over the Counter Markets. This service continually updates fact sheets describing information concerning publicly held companies.
15. Value Line Investment Survey, Arnold Bernhard 10017. Similar to Moody's, and Standard & Poor's, in many ways, but is different and unique enough in its approach to warrant recommendation. Value Line is also continually updating their company reports and analysis.
Moody's, Standard & Poor's, and Value Line all provide excellent financial services. Although there are similarities between publications, they are distinctive enough to warrant using all of them, if necessary, as cross references.
Each service might provide just one valuable piece of information about the company you are considering, which the others do not, to make cross referencing worthwhile.
16. Subject Guide to Books in Print, R. R. Bowker Company (a Xerox Publishing Company), 1180 Avenue off the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10036. As the title indicates, this publication lists every book which is in print. If one wanted to research a particular field to pursue, this book could be a valuable aid.
17. Standard Periodical Directory, Oxbridge Communications, 1345 Avenue off the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10019. Has valuable information on more than 60,000 periodicals.
18. Readers Guide to Periodical Literature, H.W. Wilson Company, 950 University Avenue, Bronx, New York, N.Y. 10452. This very valuable basic guide, which probably all of us have used at one time or another, lists all the subjects which have been written about in the various periodicals. Just about any subject pertaining to your job campaign can be researched by using this guide.
19. Business Periodicals index, H. W. Wilson Com-pany, 950 University Avenue, Bronx, New York, N.Y. 10452. Like the Readers Guide-except it focuses on business subjects.
20. Business Information Sources, University off California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California. Basic annotated guide to selected business books and reference sources.
21. Directory of Business and Financial Services, Special Libraries Association, 235 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y. 10003. This reference book deals with information services which are continually provided to assist with specific business needs.
