Librarian of Fortune

It's always about the customer

The Virtual Presenter blog had a great Q&A on how to entice people into attending a webinar. The same principle applies whenever we're talking to a potential client. 

People don’t need more noise in their lives, and what they pay attention to are things of self-interest. What are you going to help them get?

We have to talk about WHY we're offering a service, not WHAT the service is.

Does information want to be free?

For your beach reading, don't forget to bring along my latest EContent column, Divas and D&B Reports, in which I opine:

I never did believe that information wanted to be free ... just respected for more than its good looks. Apparently, no one else got the memo.
[...]
E-content, in and of itself, often isn't seen as particularly valuable. We can find the same material elsewhere on the web if we look hard enough, or we can find something else that we perceive as good enough. For information-and access to it-to be priced profitably, the value of the content must be readily apparent.

WWMEBD, or, where's the info profession heading?

In April, I was invited by the SLA student members of the GSLIS program at Simmons College to host a conversation about where our profession is heading and how to position ourselves most effectively. I had a fabulous time, and met some LIS students who are going to be great assets to their employers.

You can listen to my presentation and the Q&A here. And yes, there were actually signs on the hallways pointing the way to WWMEBD. Obviously, it's time to start ordering wristbands...

"What does 'added value' mean?"

I do a lot of talks and writing about how critical it is for info pros to provide insight, not just information. I'm always on the lookout for good descriptions of what "added value" means in a research context.

I also always read the monthly newsletter of Access Information, a Denver-based research and information management company. The April 2010 issue has a great summary of what "value added research" means.

Adding value involves:

• knowing (really knowing) what would be most useful for you client
• communicating regularly with your client
• providing distilled deliverables
• offering primary research
• providing project management for large jobs
• following up, showing you care

Nice job, Wanda, Judy and Marcy!

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.