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I'm looking for a book that lists all the businesses in my area?

Its not the plain old yellow pages, the book I'm asking about has info like how many employees per business..What is it called or where can i find it?

Public Comments

1. Go to your local Chamber of Commerce and ask for a list of all local businesses. They have this and in most small cities it is many pages stapled together. Another place is the Better Business Bureau.
2. There are quite a few companies that provide this info, but they are pricey. Dunn & Bradstreet (DnB) offers lists you can buy, very pricey though. Lexis Nexis, same thing costs a small fortune. Polk Directories, company is HQ in Michigan. You can buy last years books cheap ($200-300 instead of $500), just ask the rep on the phone (I believe you can get the 800# from 800-555-1212 I use, melissadata.com they provide reasonable rates (as cheap as 10cents an address) and you can customize what info you want to buy and pay for. Also if your local library pays for Reference USA access, you can use them and hand write the data down. As this is really costly, not every library pays for access. Keep in mind that all these lists have some big holes in their info. Companies that have moved, gone out of business, wrong info listed. This really is not a reflection on the company selling the lists, as privately held companies (not traded on the stock exchange) are under no legal obligation to provide any of these companies with accurate info. We get calls from D&B annually, and I refuse to give them accurate info as I know the main reason for the call is for other companies to bother me by trying to sell me something. As for the above answerers suggestion of the Better Business Bureau and Local Chamber, keep in mind these organizations are in business to sell memberships to businesses. If the company doesn't pay dues, they are not listed with them. As a marketer, this is one of your worst options due to the number of businesses that are not members. Good luck on your marketing efforts!