Check on the Background Check Provider Before You Pay

Like many other Internet-enabled businesses, there are lots of good business background check providers and some bad ones. And it can be tough to tell at first glance which is which. So make sure before you hire a company to perform business background checks for you that you do your own background check on the provider. Google the company name to see what you can find out, ask for customer references from the provider, and look for web sites that offer reviews and references of business background check providers. If getting solid information is important enough to you to even consider hiring a provider in the first place, you want to make sure you're going to get what you need.

Take Business Blogs Seriously

If you're trying to do to research on a business -- competitive or investigating a potential partner or client -- a business blog can be a big help. Business blogs can often penetrate the PR wall and break news about what's really going on at the business you are researching. A couple of warnings: Not every business has business bloggers who write about the business -- but the big ones usually do. And business bloggers aren't held to the same standard as other journalists. So you can't believe everything you read. But as a source for inside information, a good business blog can offer a window you might not otherwise see.

Hire a Business Background Specialist

You can hire a private detective to get competitive intelligence, but it's easier and less expensive to hire a company that specializes in building company profiles from business background checks. This is yet another benefit of our Internet-enabled world. Not only is it easier to find information about your competitors using the Internet. It's also easier to find companies that build profiles through the use of publicly accessible business background reports. Google "Business background check" and you'll find plenty of companies to choose from.

Can I Do It Myself?

Why pay for a business background check? After all, much of the information you will get is from public records or publicly accessible databases (at least for publicly traded businesses). So why can't you do it yourself? Quick answer: You can. But you need to think about how much time you can devote to performing the background check yourself and whether your time can be better used helping your business in other ways. But if you have the time, and the inclination, you can save some money if you want to do the research yourself.

How To Use a Business Background Check

Besides competitive analysis, why else might you want to commission a business background check? Here are some ideas: * Hiring a contractor to do work for your home or business? Find out if your contractor choice has been successfully sued in court by any former clients. * Thinking of doing serious business with a new partner or customer? Check the potential partner's record of paying bills, being sued in court, even learn about the company's credit rating. * Identify scam artists before you invest with them. * ID potential sales leads from a specific company and see if it has a good track record of payments and/or credit.

How Long Will it Take?

A business background check can take minutes to compile, or it can take weeks or months to gather all the information you seek. It depends on how much data you are looking for. Many online companies promise you will receive results within hours. But if you're looking to build detailed custom business intelligence about your competitors, it's going to take a while for someone to be able to get you the specific information you want.

Online Providers Offer Regular Access to Information

Online business background check providers can be useful, especially if you want to regularly check information on your competitors, rather than doing a single, highly detailed check. Many of these online providers charge monthly fees that give the member password-protected access to large collections of data available behind a firewall. For example, if you want to log in and check a company profile that might include a Dun & Bradstreet report, or run an address check on a new competitor, you can simply log in and use the research tools made available to you by the commercial provider.

Confidential? Probably

It's likely going to be critical to you that any business background check you ask for be confidential with the provider. Virtually all business background check providers promise confidentiality to their customers. But they admit Internet searches or publicly accessible databases are inherently unsecured. Some business background check providers also use independent contractors to perform custom research. No one can guarantee these contractors are completely secure in terms of keeping the information private.

What's Available From a Business Background Check

Here are some of the facts you can find out about your competition with a company profile built from a business background check: * Name, address of the business * Possible owners and officers * Lawsuits, liens, judgments * Corporate records * Products sold by the business * Credit report * Licenses and permits * Corporation filings * Business registrations * Bankruptcies * Internet domain names registered * Current and previous property ownership

Take Business Blogs Seriously

If you're trying to do to research on a business -- competitive or investigating a potential partner or client -- a business blog can be a big help. Business blogs can often penetrate the PR wall and break news about what's really going on at the business you are researching. A couple of warnings: Not every business has business bloggers who write about the business -- but the big ones usually do. And business bloggers aren't held to the same standard as other journalists. So you can't believe everything you read. But as a source for inside information, a good business blog can offer a window you might not otherwise see.

Background Check for Business

How can you find out what you need to know about your business competitors? Even more, how can you separate the gossip from the hard facts? The answer: A business background check. A business background check is a company profile that lists everything that can be found about the company from the public record, in various publicly accessible databases. A business background check reveals hard facts in a company profile, not rumors, and can help a lot with a serious competitive analysis or development of qualified sales leads.

A business background check is a beneficial resource for business researchers. The right business background check from Manta will provide you with information on a company's history, including shareholder reports, industry trends and market analysis.

The Cost of a Business Background Check

The cost of a business background check depends on how extensive you want the business background check to be. You can get a free background report online or put one together yourself from Internet searches. You can also use commercial providers, who charge anywhere from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars for their services. If you want a custom company profile based on your specific needs, you can pay hundreds, even thousands to a specialist, depending on the level of detail you are looking for.

When you order a business background check, consider an in-depth company profile from Manta that includes company information, financial data, market research reports and a business credit check.