Bulletin Vol. 1 No. 4 August 1, 2002

B U L L E T I N

Tools and Resources for Data-Driven Market Research

Vol. 1 No. 4 August 1, 2002


	IN THIS ISSUE: Better Mailing Lists Portrait of Small Business USA bCentral Market Research Tools - FAQ	Bulletin Archive

FROM THE EDITOR

Better Mailing Lists

Thank you to all who responded to our last survey! We asked, "Where do you get your information?" We discovered you are an Internet-savvy bunch, but when it comes to business information, the ideas and opinions of your fellow entrepreneurs count the most. Word of mouth was chosen as "most useful" by 54% of the respondents.

Over 25% of you told us you use direct mail to find new customers. Could you use better mailing lists? Third Wave Research offers a service that takes the names of your current customers, merges and matches them with our master database of all businesses, and finds new prospects who look like your best customers. The result is a highly targeted mail or telemarketing list. Click here to find out more.

FEATURE STORY

Portrait of Small Business USA

In November 2001, Lucile Reid, President and CEO of Bigstep, and Terri Lonier, President of Working Solo, Inc., collaborated on a report, "Portrait of Small Business USA," in response to small-business owners' frustrations about small-business data. The portrait takes a different look at the small-business universe in order to shed new light on how small businesses make our lives more meaningful and comfortable.

The following comments and statistical portrait are drawn from the survey. The full report is available online as a PDF file. Visit http://www.bigstep.com/company/small_business_facts.jhtml

The image that we have of America as a large industrial complex sometimes overshadows the valuable contributions that small businesses make. Without small business in America, as the Portrait illustrates, consumers' lives would be much less enjoyable and other businesses, big and small, would not function as well.

If There Were Only 100 Small Businesses in America

62	Help Us Take Care of Ourselves and Our Homes
11	Sell us food, clothing, furniture, books, flowers, appliances, hardware, liquor and gas
9	Construct, remodel, landscape or repair our homes
7	Lease us our apartments or sell us our homes
4	Provide day care or tutor our children
4	Provide a variety of personal services including dry-cleaning, shoeshine services, dating services and wedding planning
3	Repair or wash our car or sell us a used one
3	Cut our hair or give us a manicure
2	Run a neighborhood restaurant, bar or coffee shop
2	Are our lawyers
2	Are our doctors
2	Are health care professionals such as optometrists and chiropractors
2	Sell us art, handicrafts or write or perform for us
2	Amuse us at recreation sites
2	Repair our furniture, our lawn equipment and our appliances
2	Sell us insurance
1	Does our taxes
1	Is our dentist
1	Provides social services or home health services or residential care services for a member of our family
1	Helps us travel or provides places for us to stay
1	Chauffeurs us by taxi or limousine

38	Provide Products and Services to Businesses
6	Are commercial construction or excavation contractors
4	Offer technical, engineering, scientific and industrial design
4	Wholesale goods such as groceries, machinery, clothing, auto parts, jewelry
3	Provide freight services including local and long distance trucking
2	Provide business services such as printing, telephone answering, translation or security
2	Process food or manufacture goods such as clothing, toys or machinery
2	Are management and human resources consultants or provide training
2	Provide advertising, marketing or graphic design services
2	Provide credit, sales financing, or investment services
2	Lease or manage commercial space
2	Clean offices
2	Offer computer programming and design
1	Has a testing or diagnostics lab
1	Offers information services and communications infrastructure
1	Provides accounting and payroll services
1	Rents, repairs, and maintains machines and equipment such as backhoes and copying machines
1	Does logging or is a commercial fisherman

Reprinted with permission of Bigstep.

SURVEY

Tell Us About Your Customer Lists

Answer 10 questions today, learn how you compare to your peers next month. Please give us a moment of your time!
Click here to participate.

TELL A FRIEND

You can help the BULLETIN grow with just one click. Click here to send the link to this issue to a friend or colleague.

I look forward to your feedback. Click here to write to me and I will try to respond promptly.

Best regards,
Sarah White, Editor, the Bulletin
Third Wave Research

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ABOUT THIRD WAVE RESEARCH

The BULLETIN is published occasionally by Madison, Wisconsin-based Third Wave Research. Editor Sarah White and other associates of Third Wave Research write articles that appear in bCentral's "Demographics" and "Market Research" topic areas. For information about Third Wave Research's services, click here.

OUR SPONSORS

Businesses like yours reach prospects nationwide by sponsoring the BULLETIN. Put your message where interested small business people will see it. If you are interested in purchasing a sponsor message, e-mail the editor.

TOOL BITS

I hear you — Questions from Users

Every day I hear from some of our bCentral Market Research Tool users. I enjoy answering your questions, or at least referring you to sources where you can find answers if I am not personally able to help. What are you asking? Here are a few of our most frequently asked questions.

Q. Can I see a sample of how information is displayed before I pay for a report?
A. All reports are free when you choose "U.S." as your geography (click on the "Go" by the United States at any of the tool entry screens.) This serves two purposes: 1) you may see the format of the report, so you can see what categories of information are included, and 2) it gives you the U.S. averages for comparison when you run a report for a specific geography that interests you.

Q. Do you have data for geographies outside the United States?
A. We currently offer data covering the USA’s 50 states plus Washington, D.C. A future version of the Market Research Tools will feature a North American Data Center including USA, Canada and Mexico.

Q. What is the source of your demographic data?
A. We have used 2000 census data where available, 1990 if only reliable source (income, education, etc). Census 2000 Supplemental Survey and Consumer Expenditure Survey data were also used. We update the tools as more recent census data becomes available.

The Household Spending tool draws on the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) data set. The CES is a national survey of households designed to represent the total United States consumer population. It surveys consumer behavior and, when considered over time, allows us to understand and predict trends.

For more information on specific tools and the data sets used in them, consult the FAQ page on our Market Research Tools Web site.

Q. I registered once, but I have forgotten my password. Can I still use the tools?
A. The tools are fully functional even to visitors who do not register. However, you will be able to use more features of the site if you do log in when you visit. If you have forgotten your password, click on Login anyway, then look for the link that says, "I forgot my password." Follow the instructions there and your registered password will be automatically e-mailed to you.

Q. I am interested in researching a specific city but I am not sure which geography option to use.
A. That depends on what you want to know about the city, and how closely the city’s borders conform to county lines or Zip Codes. First check to see if the city that interests you is listed under "Metropolitan Areas". This will give you one report covering the whole city. If you are more interested in comparing different parts of town, Zip Code or radius selections will work better for you.

For more on the various geographic selections, go to the Tool Overview page, and then click on "Help". You will find definitions of each of the geography options available.

SPONSOR MESSAGES

BigStep
www.bigstep.com
Bigstep lets small businesses create and manage Web sites that are simple yet professional looking, and helps them grow their companies online.

Working Solo, Inc.
www.workingsolo.com
Working Solo, Inc. serves as an advocate for microbusinesses, fostering the creative entrepreneurial spirit in both individuals and larger organizations through consulting, publications, and events. WSI serves as a strategic advisor to companies creating programs, products, and services for the SOHO (small office / home office) market. We act as the connecting point, bringing together millions of SOHO workers and the companies that want to reach them.