Tuesday, October 18, 2011

"Freight Broker Training" Uncovering Hidden Research Reports

Freight Brokers and Freight Agents here is some fantastic information for you that will help you with you research

Uncovering Hidden Research Reports
By Sam Richter

When you're a finalist for an account, completing a response to a Request for Proposal, or looking to sell your products into a new industry, it's imperative that you have a base understanding of your prospect's industry. What are their industry trends? What are the issues their industry is facing?

You could spend days "surfing" the Web trying to locate industry information. Or, you can have someone else do all of the work for you. Think about any industry; what's the chance that someone somewhere has written a report or given a presentation about that industry? Probably 100%. And what's the chance that some of those papers or presentations have been posted online. Probably 100%. How do you find them?

Google Filetype: Search

A great way to find industry research reports is to use the Google filetype: search. Oftentimes professional research reports get posted online for people to download because they are too large to email. Sometimes industry groups or even companies post reports online for members or employees to download.

Posters of these reports often think the report is secure. However, if a file is posted online and not properly secured, Google may eventually find it, open it, and "vacuum" every word in the report making it fully searchable.

It's easy to find these reports using the Google filetype: search (filetype colon). Just type an industry name followed by the word industry, into Google, using quotation marks (e.g., "paper industry"). Add words like trends, issues, revenue, technologies, etc. that you think might appear in a research report. REMEMBER, think like an author. What words would you put in a research report or presentation? Then search for those words.

Next, type in filetype:pdf, which will limit your search results to just PDF files, which is a fairly typical format for a research report. You can also try filetype:ppt for PowerPoint slides, or filetype:doc for Word documents.

Review the search results to see if the abstract looks like a report. If it is, click on the link and download the file. You'll be amazed at the types of professional research reports you can find online using the filetype: method.

So for example, if I'm looking for a report about the medical device industry, here's what the Google query might look like:

"medical device" + industry + report + (trends OR issues) filetype:pdf OR filetype:ppt

Industry research can be easy--now that you Know More!

(Sam Richter is the founder of the #1 rated Know More! sales training program (www.samrichter.com). This is just one of the more than 80 people, company, and industry information search tips and resources you'll find in his top-selling and award-winning book, Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling (www.TakeTheCold.com).

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