• Review your customer's latest press releases so you are up-to-date on their business
• Read your customer's Annual Report to learn about strategy, priorities, organization and performance
• Review your customer's About Us page or In the News pages to learn about initiatives
• Use on-line sales intelligence tools (i.e., Hoovers reports) to gather company overview information, leadership profiles, corporate challenges, etc.
• Google their name along with key phrases like "Ford Motor Company, Customer Service"
• View their social networks (i.e. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter)

Additional questions to consider:

• What are the organization's top customer service initiatives according to the annual report?
• What are the organization's hot points / key challenges according to the annual report, blogs, reviews, PR, etc.?
• What are the key financial objectives for the business? How well is the organization performing against these objectives?
• Is the organization operating in a highly regulated industry and has the organization incurred any significant penalties or revenue loss for poor customer experience, non-compliance or been subject to any Fraud?