How to Make a Business Profile

Business profiles are a helpful tool in a number of instances. Marketing and Sales professionals create business profiles on existing and prospective customers as a way of understanding the particulars of their clients and thus anticipating their needs. Companies themselves often create a business profile as a compliment to their web sites and other informational documents. In this application, a business profile can serve as the basis for pursuing a working relationship such as a joint venture with another company. The profile may also be a means of providing interested parties with key information about the business. Whether you are profiling prospective customers or creating a business profile for your own company, there are a few steps that you should observe.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Assemble the contact information that will be included in the profile. This includes the name of the company, physical and mailing addresses for the corporate headquarters, and the main telephone number for the business. The contact information should also include the web site address if the company current has an online presence.

2. Define the core business of the company and how it is conducted. This can include such factors as noting the number of facilities owned and operated by the company, the major products or services provided by the business, and general information on the profitability of the company, such as the total amount of sales completed in the latest fiscal year.

3. Provide background on the history of the business. Start with the founding of the company and move on through any periods of expansion in facilities, growth into new consumer markets, and the creation and marketing of innovative products or services. Include data on any event that was of key importance to helping the company achieve its current status.

4. Build basic profiles of key figures in the corporate structure. This would include information about such figures as the Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. An overview of their educational credentials and business experience is often included, with an emphasis on their achievements since the beginning of their association with the company.

5. Include projections of the future performance of the business. This can include such factors as proposed expansion into new markets, development of new products to meet emerging consumer demands, and any reorganization projects that are anticipated to allow the company to efficiently achieve its future goals.

6. Arrange the data into a simple format that easily transitions from one section to another. Always include the contact information at the beginning of the profile. The other sections can be effectively arranged by choosing a chronological approach or by determining the level of importance of the other sections based on the corporate culture or the intended purpose of the business profile.

Tips & Warnings

• There is no one right way to organize a business profile. This basic format will work well for everything from a mom-and-pop home business to an international corporation. As long as the primary contact information is located near the beginning of the profile, the other data can be arranged in any manner that is in the best interests of the business.
• Do not cut and paste information from other sources to create the business profile. For example, do not use the text of the web site content as the text of the business profile. While it is fine to use the web content as a resource, the purpose of the business profile is to create a logically structured information resource that is capable of standing on its own merits.