Best Practices

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Subscriptions Agents

By Bonnie Cribbs

Stephen R. Covey made a great impact on many who read and followed his profound principles outlined in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.  While there are many traits and qualities that go into comprising a successful subscription vendor, I would like to outline seven of the top qualities I have discovered in my twenty years of working with serials.

1)     Be Flexible

             To say the least, the needs of a library are ever-changing.  Equally so, the world of serials, publishers and content delivery are just as active.  A highly effective subscription agent is not only reactive to those changes, but active in forecasting, altering processes, enhancing services, and delivering options that will increase the value it brings to libraries.  A subscription agency must be flexible if it is going to meet the needs of the library it is serving.

2)     Be Detail Oriented

             The American author and publisher William Feather once said “Beware of the man who won’t be bothered with the details.”  Likewise, beware of the subscription agency that ignores them.  With details about titles unpredictably changing, details about your collection inevitably shifting, and details about electronic access swiftly expanding, an effective subscription agency has to be attentive to the details.  Laziness in this area causes more work for the library.  Dedication in this area maximizes collection access and availability to the library’s patrons.

3)    Always Offer a Helping Hand

             In the library, anyone who works with journals, magazines, newspapers – any type of serial – knows that maintaining and keeping up with the details is hard work.  You have high standards for your library staff; shouldn’t you expect the same from your subscription vendor?  A highly effective subscription vendor will look for ways to be of service to you and your library, offering their service, expertise and experiences with other customers to help you discover solutions that will benefit you and your library.  Each library is different and all have unique needs.  A subscription vendor who works hard for you is like having extra staff in your library at no extra cost.

4)    Always Be Right

             No, not in the sense of “we told you so” but in the sense of being accurate, precise and up-to-date.  Specifically when it comes to orders and invoices, a highly effective subscription agent will do all possible to make certain it is ordering your subscriptions with the most up-to-date details.  Having incorrect prices and details on your invoice only adds to budgeting problems, accounting headaches and frustration.   It is always better to do things right the first time!  Accuracy is the only choice.

5)    Be Accessible

             Being accessible in 2010 not only means providing a personal representative as a main point of contact, but it also means providing quick and easy access to the details which are important to you and your account.  Reports, payment histories, past orders, electronic content and access details, title changes, current invoice details, past invoices, electronic data in multiple formats:  A highly effective subscription agency will provide multiple ways to access the details, data and avail themselves to you to provide the help you want when you need it.

6)    Be Focused

             Your subscription vendor should be focused on you and your collection.  All too often, vendors are focused on serving their own needs, meeting their own goals and pushing their unwanted programs on their clients.  A subscription vendor who is focused on meeting your needs, helping you meet your goals and enhancing your collection will be highly effective.  Look for a subscription vendor who focuses on subscriptions and who is focused on your account and your success.

 7)   Be Responsive

             When things go wrong, as they so often do with serials, you want a response.  And you want a quick one!  When you submit claims or need answers, your subscription vendor needs to be quick and eager to respond.   Being responsive, quickly investigating problems and working for your preferred resolutions all indicate the subscription vendor is aware of the importance and urgency of the situation at hand.  A quick response should be considered a common courtesy – especially when you are paying hard-to-come-by budget dollars for something so simple.  A highly effective subscription vendor will be quick to respond, eager to resolve issues and happy to report the details.