Secret agent plan: spy new business by taking tips from the secret service

Entrepreneur, June, 2005 by Kirsten Osolind

The U.S. Secret Service was first organized in July 1865. What the Secret Service does best: intelligence analysis. It leaves no stone unturned.

The parallel here for entrepreneurs? To generate topnotch business contracts, you need to prospect C-level decision-makers. No need for dark suits and glasses--according to the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, 95 percent of competitive intelligence information is publicly available. Some techniques to try:

1. TACTICS PLANNING AND PROSPECTING: Build company lists and characterize key C-level decision-makers with Hoover's Lite (www.hoovers. com). Also, stake out the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Watch basic patent and trademark applications for the inside scoop on a company's next potential move.

2. PROFILING: They Rule (www. theyrule.net) provides a roster of corporate executives and their corporate board leadership connections. Or try Patricia Gardner's new book, The Million Dollar Sale, which explains how to find "company code-breakers"--external, internal and customer resources.

3. PENETRATION: Selling to Big Companies (www.selling tobigcompanies.com) can help you penetrate big accounts with incisive business development techniques. Entrepreneur readers get a 20 percent discount on e-books, sales tools and audio programs in June (use code 047015643).

KIRSTEN OSOLIND is CEO and founder of re:invention inc. (www.reinvention inc.com), a Chicago-based marketing consulting company.