New York SBDC Research Network

"Unfortunately, more and more of our target markets are turned off by the old sales pitches and will look for true help elsewhere." This article from Small Business Newz suggests relationship-building with customers as a way of improving the bottom line.

Back in early December 2007, I sent out an email to the advisor population of the New York State SBDC. It concerned how advisors used norms and ratios data when working with clients. Over 120 people were asked this question, and I received 37 responses. What I didn't do, obviously, was tell you about the answers. In short, the question was this: We at the library typically provide you with the last three calendar years of norms and ratios data. We have four distinct sources for this information, but "norms and ratios" has seemingly become synonymous with "RMA". Did you, however, actually need three years' worth, or was the most current year enough? Four were squarely on the fence, where one year or three years applied, depending on the circumstances. Of the remaining 33, there were 19 who said that one year was more than adequate, while the other 14 said that three years of data was still necessary. Back in the early 90s, in the infancy of our library,

There’s been a lot of talk lately about electronic books, what with new portable readers and digitization initiatives. We’ve sent some of you links to Google books, but it often seems that the pages that would be most helpful are precisely those not included! Wouldn't it be nice to have a directory of free online book resources? For those of you willing to take the online reading plunge, librarians at the University of Pennsylvania have put together an index of freely available online books, The Online Books Page . They’ve indexed more than 30,000 books on the internet, and the records are searchable by keyword, author, title, subject etc. There are also special features – like banned books and prize winning books online. I did a quick search for “marketing” and turned up a small handful of books, including a link to Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors . And around we go…

There is a recent article in Forbes magazine , delineating the ruckus that Madison Avenue ad man Jerry Della Femina has found himself in. In the January 23, 2008 edition of Della Femina's weekly Hamptons newspaper, The Independent, editor and columnist "Rick Murphy wrote what purported to be a column written by Barack Obama headlined 'Why I Should Be Our Next President, with a photo of the actual Obama and an overline that was blatantly racist," Forbes' media columnist James Brady writes. I became aware of the imbroglio early on when an SBDC staffer sent me a copy of The Independent column. The previous week's column on Hillary Clinton, for which the paper has also apologized, still had a working link as of February 5. The pieces never made any sense to me because the tasteless stories - yes, I can send you copies, if you want - seemed out of place in what is essentially a Pennysaver-type adzine publication, albeit for the Hamptons. The story has gone fr

Years ago, when I was a newbie librarian (newbrarian?), a staple on the reference shelf was the annual "U.S. Industrial Outlook". Put out by the Department of Commerce, it ceased publication several years ago. Periodically, though, the private sector puts out reports like the " 2008 Industry Outlook ". Deloitte issued this in late January. Its layout reminds me a lot of the old "Industrial Outlook," in that you get a snapshot view " the entire spectrum of industries that Deloitte serves" (which is pretty broad). You're not going to get in-depth information here - it's not intended to be a market research report, nor is it covering the same depth as, say, Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys reports. However, if you want to get a snapshot perspective on how external factors (e.g., the Presidential election, the rising costs of energy, etc.) are affecting certain major industries in the U.S., this is a good place to start.

I was born in Massachusetts, and about 90% of my extended family still lives there. They live for the Patriots, and are just living the dream right now. I recently married a fan of the Giants, who comes from a family filled with like-minded souls. They, too, are feeling good about life. You can see, then, how selecting my rooting interest in the Super Bowl on Sunday can be complicated. It's a classic dilemma - not forgetting my roots, or knowing that cheering against the wife can result in a long, cold winter of sleeping in the garage. I sought help from the people here at the central office for the New York (note emphasis) SBDC. Here's what they say will happen: Al NY 28 NE 24 Roger NY 24 NE 17 Amelia NY 24 NE 21 Tammy NY 27 NE 24 Mary NY 24 NE 21 Jim NY 35 NE 31 Andy NE 27 NY 17 Cheryl NE 31

I feel for small business owners - from my perspective, I hear their tales of woe and I am impressed with their initiative and drive. But every once in awhile I find myself on the other side of the equation as the small business customer and I really wonder how they function. I have been trying to find a contractor to do some work. It occured to me that I had already met a person refered to me by a local architectural planning non-profit- someone I trust and have faith would do a fine job. So I emailed him - via his web site. He replied promptly - to say that I should call for an appointment. And I thought, why? This is after all a form of communication. But I called, and left a message. Then he called me back and left a message. Then I called and left a message and then he called me at work on a national holiday and left a message and so on. And I thought, this is ridiculous. If he had emailed me back and said: "I have time here, here and here: choose one." I would have and

Do you have clients interested in reaching the Generation Y crowd? You may want to recommend that they check out Ypulse: Media for the Next Generation - “Daily news and commentary about generation Y for media and marketing professionals…” Here’s a few highlights: “ College Student Love Their Video ” On any given day 19% of internet using adults download online video. 62 % percent of college students are watching, most often at their parents' houses . “ The Ypulse 2007 [Y]ear in Review ” Trends include changes in the gaming industry, celebrity gossip gone wild, and the expansion of virtual worlds. A link to “How Fashionistas Shop” is on this page (The short answer: they gather information online, but often make in-store purchases)

Now that the Research Network has a membership with Hill Library , I decided to take some of the free classes they've offered. One dealt with finding information about companies. Here are a few tips, some of which you know about, I'm sure. PUBLIC COMPANIES Reference USA database (available from Hill on a trial basis, but also found at many public libraries) Dun & Bradstreet Hoovers SEC/EDGAR ; if you don't know the stock market ticker symbol, check the CIK, for there may be several companies with similar names Big Charts - US and Canadian stock market wsjie.com - articles Annual reports (lots of sources on the Internet, many of them free); I found the Financial Times site easy to use Company websites Periodicals PRIVATE COMPANIES D&B, Hoovers Secretary of State of the state in which the company is incorporated Secretary of State association site www.nass.org . (Incidentally, the NASS has 2008 Presidental primary information , as well as a regional Presidential

Here's a new tool to help businesses see how they do in comparison to the rest of their industry. Entrepreneur.com and a research organization, CentrisPoint , have teamed up to create the Business Performance Dashboard . The Dashboard provides business performance data by industry, and covers quite a few. The data describes all businesses in that industry, as well as top performing companies (the top ten percent), including stats on average revenue, revenue per employee and years in business. Thanks to the J.J. Hill Library's " Business Web Site of the Week " for pointing out this resource.

I sometimes get the impression that our advisors are less than inspired by some of the inventors they meet. It does seem that inventors are so taken with their idea they have not actually stopped to see if anyone else has done it. This always amazes us - but also we do see some odd but interesting ideas. It is hard to imagine them in the world. Today I was reading an article in the most recent issue of Inc. Magazine (Feb 2008) by Joel Spolsky called " Inspired Misfires: Why the most important innovations are often those that appear to be fatally flawed " which goes into some of the hallmarks of truly original idea. He says it's easy to buy into some ideas precisely because they exist already. The hard to imagine ones are - new. Time Magazine Invention of the Year 2007 A review of all the wacky and wonderful products that have come out in the past year. And then this morning, a friend sent me an email with this list of nifty products . I try to keep an open mind - and

The following appeared originally in the October 2007 "LaGuardia SBDC Quarterly Newsletter". It is an interview with an owner of a successful manufacturer & distributor of ethnic food items. I think that it could be of interest to any number of our clients. It is reproduced here with the permission of the LaGuardia SBDC. My thanks to them. *** House of Spices was started in 1970 with one store in Jackson Heights, New York by brothers G.L. Soni and Kumar Soni. In the following years they experienced extraordinary growth and opened up warehouses around the U.S. that import, store, manufacture, and distribute over 3,000 different food items from all over the world to the ethnic as well as mainstream markets. The following interview was conducted with Mr. G.L. Soni: Q: House of Spices has grown to be a large and successful wholesaler with exclusive distributorship of major food labels including several of its own. However, it all started as a small retail store. Lookin

How does the economic safety net really hold? See The Effects of Taxes and Transfers on Income and Poverty in the United States: 2006 from the US Census.

Maybe it's because it's nearing Friday night, or maybe because restaurants are easily the top source of requests for our library. Or maybe it's because I'm hungry. Regardless, to continue from Josee's recent post, here's a story on this website which describes the results of a recent survey from Cornell's Center for Hospitality Research. It's called "A Consumer’s View of Restaurant Reservations Policies," and it's an ideal read for clients with sit-down restaurants who want to get a better handle on what patrons expect from a reservations policy. (While reading it, I couldn't help but think of this "Seinfeld" episode. I know I'm not alone in doing so." There's a link link to the full report, but it requires (free) registration to get at it. If you're waiting for a table over the weekend, bring your laptop, log in, and give it a read.

If you were at the directors’ meeting today, you know that in general the research requests you send us have gotten more complicated, and require more time to answer. There’s nothing wrong with that- we librarians love the “thrill of the chase” even for the most obscure types of information. That said, there are certain things you can do to help us do our jobs more efficiently and effectively, getting your clients better information faster. Here’s a few ideas: Looking for information to prove a point, or fill in a section of a business plan? Let us know how you plan to use what we give you. Sometimes your client is focused on a particular statistic that just might not be available, but if we know generally what that information will be used for, we can find something similar that could prove the same point. Have you done some of your own research? Did your client come in with information or articles related to their business idea? Give us the details of what you already know, so