Best Practices

Tips to Make Requests More Effective

Better requests result in better information for your client. Keep these in mind when writing yours:

• When a client emails you a request, don't simply forward it to us. Ask yourself if it will it make sense to us, despite never having met client before?  Is client asking for too much, too soon? You are the mediator.


• Could a large request be spread out over multiple visits? 

• In what industry is the client’s business?

• In what stage of business is the client?

• If you seek a business list, does client know that quality is more effective than quantity?  What does client need the list for?

• What research has the client done already, if any?  “Searched the Internet” doesn’t reveal much.

• Reconsider asking for “anything” on an industry – if you think there won’t be much, tell us your concerns

• What is a sample business plan used for, exactly?

• Demographics – radius searching is improved when an exact address is known (rather than simply a ZIP code or a post office box). We can easily do comparison reports - feel free to provide up to three radii in a ring study or specific geographies at the same level (ie multiple counties) or a level up (ie county vs. state).

Please keep in mind:

• The Research Network consists of four librarians with nearly eight decades of collective experience answering a wide variety of reference questions. But we are not lawyers or doctors or accountants or real estate agents. We cannot, for example, tell you if an activity is legal, although we may be able to find the wording of applicable law. In those requests that require a specialized professional opinion, we will do our best to make a referral.

• Research Network librarians sign the same confidentiality agreement as SBDC advisors. You can assure your clients that we will not share confidential information about their product or service. If we are to provide helpful research, especially in terms of patent searches or supplier research, we need to know the relevant details.

• The Research Network does not typically provide primary research, that which comes directly from the source (surveys, competitive intelligence phone calls, etc.) We work from published sources.