• The Five Rules of Negotiation
• Life Balance
• Five Secrets Every CEO Should Know About Finding Crucial Info
• IQ vs. EQ
• 10 Reasons Strategies Fail
• Take No Prisoners: A No-Holds-Barred Approach to Corporate Excellence
• 12 Ways to Gain Ground in a Slowing Economy
• Using Press Releases to Enhance Your Search Engine Ranking
• Power Speaking Tips for Leaders
• The ROI of Going Green: A CEO’s Rationale for Adopting Sustainability
• How to Green Your Business
• What to Do if Your Business is in Financial Trouble
• Tough Times: What to Do (and Not Do) with Human Assets
• Eight Ways to Uncover Hidden Money in Your Company
• Expert Insight: Employee Goal Setting
• Management Development: The Five Rights of a Manager
• Preparing for a Tightening Economy
• Dealing with Disastrous Presenations
• Break Bad Habits: Rewire Your Brain in 14 Days
• Don't Pardon the Interruption
• How to Protect Your Product in China
• Prepared for Your Grand Exit?
• Onboarding New Employees
• Green Goes Mainstream
• Implementing the Strategic Plan
• Corporate Blogging -- Worth the Effort?
• From Scraps to Millions: Entrepreneur, Marsha Serlin, Turns Her Life Around
• How to Write a World-Class Business Plan to Attract World-Class Financing
• Are There Holes In Your Customer Experience?
• Power of Thinking Like a CEO ... and Unlike One
• How Much Money Are Your Salespeople Leaving on the Table?
• Getting Beyond Superficial Interviewing
• Incentive Plans that Work!
• Four Steps to Keep Your Employees Motivated and Turnover Low
• The Top 10 Hiring Mistakes
• Six Steps to Effective Delegation
• Managing the Hidden Side of Change
• Creating Customer-Focused Teams
• Leading Your Organization So Others Can Manage It
• Wealth "Myth-Management": Debunking Popular Misconceptions about How to Invest Your Wealth
• Let's Take the Family Out of the Business
• Cleaning up the Messaging Mess: How to Separate Your Sales Messaging for Improved Sales Results
• Think Smaller, Grow Bigger!
• Reading the Mind of a Whale: How to Take Care of Your Biggest Accounts
• Vistage Greater New Orleans Brings Home the Importance of Gulf Coast
• TEC Changes Name to Vistage International

Five Secrets Every CEO Should Know About Finding Crucial Info

Do you ever have that "needle-in-a-haystack" feeling about a critical piece of business information?

Despite the advent of the Internet -- and its powerful search engines like Google and Yahoo -- it can be difficult to sort through the wealth of information available for the golden nugget you need.

For instance, the article you are reading now would not show up on an Internet search engine since it is archived on a secure server -- only accessible by members of the Vistage community.

"Much of the good business information is locked up on 'the invisible Web' -- meaning you won't likely find it using standard search engines like Google and Yahoo -- or it's only accessible through expensive, premium subscription databases that can be accessed only if you pay a fee," says Sam Richter, a Vistage member and speaker who is president of the James J. Hill Reference Library, a private library in St. Paul, Minnesota featuring a world-class collection of business information, resources and business knowledge experts.

"Our business information specialists estimate 25 percent of your best business information isn't found online anyway," he adds. "It's in trade journals, industry directories, local newspapers, etc. that don't have an online component, or certainly an archived one."

Richter offers five simple steps to access info as quickly as possible.

1. Ask an expert.

   Have someone else do the work for you. Among the possible sources:

   • The library from the college or university that is your alma mater;
     
     
   • Your local community/city library;
     
     
   • An appropriate trade association, which you can find through the American Society of Association Executives (it might be worth the price of joining if the association only responds to members);
     
     
   • The Hill Library, where you can e-mail a simple question to info@jjhill.org -- and researchers will answer for free. (For instance, one Vistage member from Chicago accessed this service and received an answer in half an hour that would have taken at least 10 times as long.)
     
     
2. If you're using a search engine like Google or Yahoo, use the "Advanced Search" function.

   Clicking on "Advanced Search" at Google or "Advanced Search" at Yahoo takes you to a form within each respective site.

   Don't be intimidated by the form. Spending 20 extra seconds on the form can save you 20 minutes of reading results, since you will receive a more targeted response.

   "If I wanted to search for the Norwegians who came to the U.S. in the 1500s, I'd type in 'VIKINGS.' That gets 1 million+ results, almost all of which are related to the Minnesota Vikings football team. Using advanced search and taking out the word 'FOOTBALL' brings only 415,000 results," Richter explains. "Already, my work is cut in half and most important, the top 20 results are exactly what I'm looking for."

3. Use the U.S. Census site.

   This might not be the first place you think of looking, but it can offer unexpected, valuable insights if you want U.S.-based information on businesses, individuals, what people buy, what they're like, etc.

   For example, Richter tried a search for "boats" and received more than 1,000 results -- excursion, charter, fishing, sightseeing, etc.

   Start your search at www.census.gov.

4. Search local publications.

   If you are making an introductory sales call -- or any other "first meeting" type of interaction, it's a good idea to check local newspapers and Web sites for news. There, you might find out interesting facts about the company's accomplishments or challenges, which could help in your discussion or presentation.

   Two sites worth bookmarking for this purpose are:

   • Newslink, and
   • Business Journals.
     
     
5. Check out "vortal" sites.

   "'Vortal' means 'vertical portal.' This is a Web site that has compiled a wealth of information on one topic," Richter says.

   Here's how to find a vortal:

   • Go into Google and type in the name of the industry you're searching. Let's say it is "lighting."
     
     
   • Then add -- in quotation marks -- "list of links."
     
     
   • Your final search entry will look like this: lighting+"list of links"

The results will give you sites that offer a list of links on the topic.

"It's critical to get the information you need to run a business. But a lot of time is wasted going down blind alleys," says Richter, whose library is considered one of the nation's top resources for business information and is open and free to the public. It also offers a variety of membership programs including HillSearch, the Library's online research portal and HillResearch, its fee-based research service.

"With these five tips, you can maximize your time online," he says.