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It’s one thing to find a good business information provider for private company research. It’s another to try and find that company’s information once you choose a provider. Remember, all commercial business information providers are not created equal, and some providers will have more information available than others. With information from four leading publishers of business information, Manta makes it very easy to do a company search online. Search by name, industry, location or business information publisher, making it easy to find the company you want to research.

Less than 10 percent of US businesses are publicly traded companies. That means the rest are privately held. So chances are that your business is privately held as are those of your competitors. So whether you are doing competitive analysis, looking for sales leads, or trying to figure out the next step for your business, private company research is going to figure into your plans. That’s why it’s important to use a professional information specialist like Manta, which has profiles of millions of private companies available online. Do a company search on Manta’s web site and see for yourself.

Looking for free private company research? Private companies are required to file with the secretary of state in the state where the company is incorporated. And you can pick up information from newspaper articles, Lexis-Nexis or other information services, available at a library, for example. And most business information providers offer some free sample company information about every business profiled. But if you want real private company research from a leading publisher of business information, you will need to pay. With Manta, at least you don’t have to pay much. Per-download prices start at $13.00 per month and top out at about $210, with no membership costs or other hidden fees.

If you are considering purchasing private company research from any commercial business information provider, you need to make sure the provider offers samples of the information you are thinking of purchasing for you to examine before you actually pull out your credit card. Manta, for example, offers full sample company reports on PDFs for any of the half-dozen tiers of information it offers on any of the millions of companies in its database. Manta also offers a synopsis of the information available on each company for free on its web site Do a company search and see for yourself.

You don’t always have to pay expensive monthly or annual membership fees to obtain private company research from a business information specialist — although it might not turn out to be so expensive in the long run if you use the membership daily. But for most of us, purchasing business intelligence as needed is going to be a better deal. Manta, for example, does not require any membership fees for access to its private company research. Manta charges as low as $13.00 for a business contact list and only $139.50 for a comprehensive company profile. So with Manta, you’re only paying for what you actually use.

If privately held companies do not have to give up any detailed financial information, how do you know the information you get from a business information specialist is accurate? Good question. There is no way to prove that private company research is accurate unless the company officials actually confirm it for you. But the leading publishers of business information rely heavily on selling private company research for their own business success. If their private company research isn’t consistently accurate, no one’s going to buy it for very long. Manta subscribes to four different publishers — Dun & Bradstreet, Current Analysis, Datamonitor and Snapdata.

This means you can compare and contrast private company research from different providers. If the information is consistent across the different information providers, chances are it is probably accurate.

Remember that only about 10 percent of US businesses are publicly traded companies, the rest are privately held. So if you’re looking for business intelligence, you’re likely going to end up doing a lot of private company research. You will need to use a provider who has access to the most business profiles, especially of privately held companies. With access to four leading publishers of business information — Dun & Bradstreet, Current Analysis, Datamonitor and Snapdata — Manta has millions of company profiles available. Most of these profiles are of privately held companies. While others may claim more business profiles, it’s hard to beat the collection available online at Manta. Try a company search and see for yourself.

You can try to do private company research yourself, but unless you have serious research skills and connections, it’s not going to be an efficient method of private company research. Privately held companies are not required by law to answer your questions or give out any sensitive financial data. Looking for private company research? It’s much more efficient to pay a business information specialist like Manta, which charges by the download with prices as low as $9.95 per company search.

Private company research is a lot more difficult than researching a public company. Public companies — those that issue common stock — are required by the US government to release financial reports and other information on a regular basis. Private companies are under no such requirement. So unless you have extraordinary research skills and connections, you’re going to need the help of a business information specialist to do private company research. Manta offers information from four of the leading publishers of business information — First Research, Current Analysis, Snapdata and Datamonitor — giving Manta access to profiles of millions of privately held businesses. Doing private company research? Do a company search at Manta and chances are you’ll find what you need.

If it’s so difficult to successfully do private company research, how does Manta do its private company research so successfully? Manta subscribes to four of the leading publishers of business information — Current Analysis, Dun & Bradstreet, Datamonitor and Snapdata.

These companies have large and experienced editorial and investigative staffs that are acknowledged experts in private company research. It’s like paying for the services of four specialized business consultants at the same time.