19. Customers/ Clients

19.1 Who are the principal customers or clients? Provide demographics.
19.2 If individuals, provide as much information as possible about top customers/clients or demographics of key customers/clients.

Iden­ti­fy­ing cus­tomers and clients is impor­tant when try­ing to under­stand how your tar­get firm operates. Do they have many cus­tomers, or just a few? Are they highly iden­ti­fi­able clients such as Wal-Mart?  In their campaign at Ravenswood, the Steelworks were able to prevent major beer and soft drink firms from using nonunion aluminum for the cans during their lockout.

Workers are the best source for identifying customers and clients. Some information may be found on the company’s SEC Form 10-K (available from the SEC’s EDGAR database), the company web site, or the company annual report. Panjiva can also be used to identify customers.

To find out if your firm is receiving government contracts, go to USAspending.gov FedSpeding.org or the Federal Procurement Data System.

Customer reviews and complaints can be found on Angie’s List, the Better Business Bureau, Yelp, and many other websites.  State attorney’s general sites may also provide lists of complaints against companies operating in that state.  An example from Massachusetts here.

You might also learn about customers and clients from industry publications. Refer to Research Step 14.

Paid Resources (Subscription Required)

Students can identify a company’s contracts with advertisers and marketing firms through Ad$pender.  This information may provide leads on understanding how the company’s services are made available to the public.

WISERTrade provides trade statistics on countries around the world, which may help you track down customers and clients.