* Trade associations. Trade associations may prove your best source, or they may prove useless; the only way to judge is to contact them. Even a mediocre association should point you toward some industry statistics, publications, and trade shows. Find trade associations listed in the Gale Encyclopedia of Associations in the library, indexed by name and subject, or in the Small Business Sourcebook.
* A trade group may also help identify your competitors. And while they may one day be your enemy, consider them your well-informed friends for now -- and hope they reciprocate. Chip Perfect has started three businesses in Lawrenceburg, Ind.: a ski resort, a warehousing facility, and a business incubator. In each case he's found others in the industry more than willing to share thoughts about equipment and operating ratios. Those outside his market opened up more quickly, but when Perfect started his warehousing business, he spoke to the biggest local player in the industry. The competitor didn't mind a small company catching the little fish it threw back. "Its attitude was, we'll help you out as long as you recognize your place."
* Perfect also got help from university professors. "They've spent a lifetime studying your subject and are certainly eager to tell someone about it." When Perfect was planning his warehousing business, one professor listed five books on the subject and told him which one to read if he read only one (which he did). The professor also gave Perfect the names of industry contacts outside the area and a consultant who, in a free interview, provided Perfect with basic industry information. (Professors in entrepreneurial studies can help with a range of issues; for a list of them, call George Solomon at the SBA, 202-205-6665.)
* In addition, small-business institutes at colleges around the country can provide students who'll do some of your market-research legwork. Call the SBA for the name of an SBI near you.
* How to Evaluate the Potential for Success of a New Product or Technology: A 36 Point System for Spotting Money Makers and Avoiding Money Losers, by James F. Riordan (James F. Riordan, 1989, $49.95). A bit pricey, but not for what you're getting. Straightforward and rigorous process that's used as a "test" by one seed-capital firm we know.
Inc. Reprints Market Research
"But Will It Fly?" (January 1987): A terrific new product is just the beginning.
"The New American Start-up" ([Article link], September 1988): A new, and systematic, model of entrepreneurship.
"Customer Service: The Last Word" ([Article link], April 1991): Intuit has learned ways to find out what customers need.
LIBRARY SCIENCE
So how does one explore libraries' wealthy mines? "Your single best first step is to find a good research librarian and buy him or her lunch. It's librarians' job to help find answers, and they love to do it," says David Thornburg, director of the Small Business Development Center at the Wharton School of Business, in Philadelphia. Adds Debra Malewicki, director of the University of Wisconsin's Innovation Center: "If you can define your problem even nebulously, the librarian can target your search. Most entrepreneurs haven't been in the library for a while. The technology has changed. There's information stored on CD-ROM now, and you can do database searches."
Most people we spoke to recommended visiting a large public or university library. Staffers there can introduce you to RMA's Annual Statement Studies , which gives income statements and financial ratios for four sizes of businesses in every major industry; The Almanac of Business and Financial Ratios, also annual, which lists total receipts and 22 ratios for industries; U.S. Census data, from both the popular census and the census of the retail trade, conducted every five years; State and County Business Patterns , which list local businesses' sales, annual payroll, number of employees, and more; Thomas Register , which lists American manufacturers and their trademark names; the Standard Rate and Data Ser-vice's guide to direct-mail lists; Grey House Publishing's directory of catalog marketers; and on-line databases that show you what the media has said about your market and competitors. Also, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has designated libraries around the country to conduct patent searches.
If you're bothering the librarian too often, check the shelves for the Small Business Sourcebook , edited by Carol A. Schwartz (Gale Research, Detroit), a perfect guide through the tangle of resources. Profiles of 224 types of businesses target resources for everything from accounting services to yogurt shops. That last listing, for instance, points you to four sources of start-up information; four key associations; eight other associations, including the American Cultured Dairy Products Institute; such reference works as The Very Best: Ice Cream and Where to Find It; and information on suppliers.
CAPITAL
With small-business loans and venture capital hard to come by, we won't bore you with a list of how-to-get-money-quick books. Instead, we present reading material that will help you put the various capital options into perspecti
