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BUSINESS TRACK: Powerful business tool now available at your local library

A database of 1.5 million Canadian businesses is available to FVRL members

Are you trying to hunt down new business-to-business clients, source new suppliers or scope out the competition? Fraser Valley Regional Library’s (FVRL) newest online resource, ReferenceCanada, will give your business the edge it needs.  This powerful database contains information on 1.5 million Canadian businesses, and is available free online 24/7 to every FVRL member.

“Businesses need to be resourceful to grow, and this database will knock your socks off –and it’ll knock the dust off your marketing plan too,” says Diana Marshall, librarian at FVRL’s Mission Library. Marshall should know–she’s served countless entrepreneurs ravenous for good marketing data in Vancouver Public Library’s Business Division. “ReferenceCanada is the single, most useful tool that businesses, new and established, need to know about.”

There are lots of directories available, so what makes this one so special? Malleability. ReferenceCanada can be searched by a wide variety of company characteristics, including the usual phone-book fare like company name and category, but also by more unique characteristics, such as phone area code, postal code, the number of employees, or sales volume. In addition, the information available about a company can include executive names, web addresses – even an indicator of how long the company has been in business.

Why does this matter? It means one company can pull out a list of potential clients in any particular industry and location, another can find a list of comparably sized competitors in their area, and a third company could use it to track down Canadian suppliers for their latest venture.

“The possibilities are endless,” says Marshall, “we even have job hunters tapping into the hidden job market using ReferenceCanada. Finding reliable statistics and information like ReferenceCanada offers can cost companies a lot of money and time. FVRL is excited to help grow local businesses with free tools like ReferenceCanada, and our many other useful databases.”

For more information about ReferenceCanada or to ask how the Mission Library can help answer your business questions, call the library’s Information Desk at 604-826-6610 or visit at 33247 Second Avenue, Mission.