But many ventures simply partition markets based on what is identifiable and accessible via purchased customer lists, SICcodes, LinkedIn, Facebook, or the sheer number of cold calls.
By matching the names or addresses of its customers with their SIC (business-category) codes, it discovered that a major portion were not contractors or homeowners--as it had long believed--but small businesses such as pizzerias, hair salons and bars, which either bought their maintenance supplies from Lowe's or wanted to refurbish their facilities themselves.