Librarian of Fortune

Are you a supermarket or a personal chef?

In my ongoing obsession with the need to add value to information services, I just wrote a newsletter item on the difference between "merely" doing great research (a great supermarket) and providing the client with distilled, actionable intelligence (a personal chef).

Competing on value, not price

I had a few talks that I had recorded and needed transcribing. I headed over to Elance to see how cheaply I could get it done. After looking through some listings of transcriptionists, I would up selecting Jenifer Toussant (jenifertoussant.elance.com), who's based in the US. I asked her how she survives while competing with $3/hour off-shore transcriptionists and here's what she said:

I do run into lots of people who use an offshore transcription service for about 1/3 of the price that I offer, but that has drawbacks for those clients, both tangible and intangible.  I  know I cannot compete on price so I must stand apart in quality, both the quality of my work and the quality of my relationship with my client.  To this end I also provide broader, one-stop services as far as article writing, editing and proofreading - skills that require an amount of critical thinking or artistic flair. I can build a larger network by offering higher-end freelance services than I could by just marketing to people in my local area, which is still depressed economically.

This is exactly how I think that info pros can also address the challenge of offshoring or outsourcing. Offer tangible value that an off-shored person can't offer, and you'll keep your clients, and your job.