How to Contact a Corporate Headquarters

Contacting a corporate headquarters can be a frustrating game of phone tag, or involve a labyrinth of web forms and email addresses. Finding the appropriate way to contact a company headquarters takes detective work coupled with common sense, but it can be done, even when it seems the corporate honchos don't want you to find their contact info.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Browse the website of the company you wish to contact. Most of them have phone numbers and email listings under the "Contact" or "About Us" tabs. Some smaller companies or websites under construction have tiny, clickable text links at the bottom of the home page that lead to email addresses or phone and snail mail information.
2. Search an Internet phone book like Switchboard and enter the corporate name, address or any other information you have. Links to phone numbers, company websites and location maps will appear.
3. Email the corporate headquarters, using a general email address or with that of a specific person who works in the company's headquarters. If you can't find corporate email data via web searches or Internet phone books, search through any paper brochures or other printed sales material you have for the company.
4. Check "Return Receipt Requested" when you send an email to a corporate office. Keep a log of your attempts if you are contacting them with a complaint or other serious matter. When emailing a company office, it's best to send an email to a specific person, like an executive secretary or the Vice President office, instead of a generic company mailbox.
5. Approach web forms meant for corporate offices carefully. Many of them won't send a responder email acknowledging your sent email, so once again you will have to keep a log and possibly a printout of all correspondence and attempts to contact them.
6. Call a main corporate number with as much specific information as you can. Say "I need Mr. Smith's office" or "Extension 344" instead of "I need to talk to the person who handles returns for the state of Missouri." You'll save yourself time and frustration by compiling names and extensions before you make the call. Maneuvering through automated menus to get details is tedious and also wastes time.
7. Contact the company the old-fashioned way. Look up their data in the phone book or a directory geared to that particular industry, like MacRae's Blue Book for industrial manufacturers, and call the main switchboard at the corporate headquarters or visit in person.