Business Insight Zone

First things first: gratuitious self-promotion. I’m quoted in these two articles from today’s papers on the health and doings of the IPO market:

• USA Today: Investors’ reactions mixed as IPOs make a comeback
• Wall Street Journal: IPO Market Snaps Back as Taste for Risk Returns (subscription required)

The upshot of my commentary is that the current busy, busy week for IPOs counts as big news not because any one market debut is so important — though A123 Systems is sitting pretty this morning — but because it marks such a departure from the drought-like conditions through which investors, underwriters, and aspiring IPO debutants have been suffering.

On tap: a much fuller pipeline of IPOs . . . and possibly more commentary from yours truly appearing in the national press. Meanwhile . . .

Do you think the IPO markets have really turned?

~

Photo via Bob Bobster.

Next Wednesday, September 30th, our own VP of Business Development, Heidi Tucker, will be one of the experts speaking at this event:

Heidi will be joined by Michael Hammons of Infinity Info Systems and David Myron of CRM Magazine. The three of them will help you understand how you can use the data in your CRM system to build revenue, reduce costs, and create greater loyalty among your customers.

I can tell you from working with her that Heidi is Grade-A sharp, and the session should provide an interesting mix of perspectives, given Hoover’s expertise in business information and Infinity Info’s command of analytics.

Hope you can join us! Follow this link to register.

The bullet: Gary Hoover, the serial entrepreneur who founded our company nearly 20 years ago, is joining the faculty at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business.

For more details:

• UT press item: Hoover Joins McCombs School as Entrepreneur-in-Residence
• Austin American-Statesman: Veteran entrepreneur Gary Hoover to coach, guide students at McCombs

Gary is one of the smartest people and most engaging speakers you could ever hope to encounter. Those McCombs students are in for a treat!

~

Related post:

• And now a word from our founder . . .

~

It’s just that simple. We at Hoover’s have spent nearly 20 years building ourselves into the world’s top provider of information on companies, industries, and the people who lead them. And it’s more than great data: we offer you the tools to find and use the data you need to drive business results.

Stick with me, because it gets better: recently, we’ve done more than ever before to help you integrate our data and tools right into your daily workflow. Need company information delivered right into your Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics CRM? No problem. Have a software package that would be more useful to your own customers with our data piped into it? We’re ready to help you.

Maybe you’re a small outfit that only needs to find new leads every so often. We’ve got you covered there, too.

Salespeople, marketers, entrepreneurs, researchers, recruiters — they turn to Hoover’s for the answers they need and insight they can trust.

How do I know? I’ve been here since 2000, which makes me a short-timer compared to many of our editors and other colleagues. (Yeah, Hoover’s is a great place to work, on top of all the rest.) And I’ve heard a thousand stories from customers who’ve been with us for ages — who couldn’t imagine doing their jobs without Hoover’s.

You know I make few outright commercial appeals on this blog. But I’m proud to work here, I’m proud of how we’ve weathered this recession, and I want you to know that we’re ready to earn your business.

Now, what can we do for you? Leave a comment, e-mail me at twalker {at} hoovers {dot} com, or head straight to our Products & Services pages for more information.

We look forward to hearing from you.

What prize would you like with your Hoover’s subscription?

We think the value of Hoover’s speaks for itself, but we also understand that sometimes it’s easier to bite the bullet on a purchase when there’s a sweetener thrown in. In the past, we’ve sometimes offered iPods or the like as an incentive, but the bloom is off the rose on the iPod front, and anyway we want to know what YOU would covet.

So, within reason (no yachts!) . . .

What would be your favorite incentive or prize to go along with a Hoover’s subscription?

The floor is open for suggestions. Please leave yours in the comment thread below.

~

Photo by Lynn Merrick.

We’re running a survey with a whopping two questions to get a better idea of how we can meet your needs. Please take 30 seconds to follow this link and give us your feedback.

Thanks!

~

Photo by Rob Shenk, used under a CC-Share Alike license.

We’ve won awards for our customer service. If you need help with your Hoover’s service, call 800.486.8666 between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday, to speak to a customer support rep.

Our trainers are fantastic. Subscribers can access our Training Center to find pre-scheduled trainings, to book a custom session, or to view self-guided modules.

Our sales reps would love to talk to you — no pressure — about how Hoover’s products could help build your business. You can get a preview of what we offer on our Products & Services page. If you want to know more, call us at 866-307-3812 in the U.S., or check this page for a listing of international numbers.

What could we help you with this week?

~

Photo by Anthony Easton.

You may know Patrice Sarath from her trenchant commentary on our Bizmology blog. Those of us lucky enough to work with Patrice appreciate her for her friendliness, dry wit, and serious editorial skills. But beyond the confines of these four walls, Patrice is also a fantasy novelist with the chops to have not one but two novels published by sci-fi/fantasy stalwart (and Penguin imprint) Ace Books.

The second book, Red Gold Bridge, came out just a few weeks ago. It’s the sequel to Gordath Wood, which debuted in 2008. On her Web site, Patrice explains the tricky genre-straddling act that she’s pulled off with these two books:

Gordath Wood is hard to categorize. It’s fantasy but with only a touch of magic to it. It has romance, but is not a romance (a very different beast). It has a murder-kidnap mystery in it. Basically it has all of the elements of books I like to read. And although everybody has different tastes, I am betting that more than a few of you also like your books the same way I do — shaken and stirred. So if you like fantasy-mystery-romance novels, this one’s for you.

Oh yeah, it also has horses in it. Lots and lots of horses.

For more about Patrice and her work, check out her blog. You can also find out more about her and her approach to writing in a two-part interview at her literary agents’ blog (Part I, Part II), and in an interview she did last year for RevolutionSF. You can also go to Patrice’s site to read an excerpt of Red Gold Bridge.

Bonus! — If you’re in the Austin area, you could even go one better and hear Patrice speak — or have her sign some books! — at Armadillocon, Austin’s own annual sci-fi convention, which is coming up this weekend. Follow this link to see Patrice’s Armadillocon schedule.

Congratulations to Patrice on her literary success!

We’re very excited about the launch of our new Jobseeker Reports, which are tailored to help job hunters find the next position in their career. To find out more about the new product, I talked with Dan Tharp, the leader of Hoover’s e-Commerce team.

~ ~ ~

Lots of people in the United States are looking for work. Is that what prompted the creation of the Jobseeker Reports?

Tim, it’s a market where we knew we could bring exceptional value, and that’s always the motivating factor. We’re excited to be able make this product available to customers at a time when many of them are entrenched in job searches that sometimes last months and can be highly competitive.

How did you decide which information to include in these reports?

More than anything during a job hunt candidates are looking for a boost in confidence that can give them an advantage over their competition. There is no better way to improve your confidence level than by feeling fully prepared. That is really what this product is designed to do — give jobseekers the extra confidence that gives them an advantage over their competition.

For any company that we cover, the report contains proprietary coverage from our editorial team that includes a company overview, contact information and description, top competitors, recent company news and announcements, stock performance, and key financials.  But — absolutely key to boosting the jobseeker’s confidence — the reports also provide interview preparation questions and an overview of business challenges and opportunities that are specific to the prospective employer’s industry.

One reason I feel sure we’re delivering value with these reports: I had an expert in the employment industry tell me that he has spent hours in failed attempts to try and pull together exactly this type of information for clients.

How can those folks who are hunting for their next position get the most out of the Jobseeker Reports?

I would recommend that each jobseeker use the product from the beginning of the process to tailor a cover letter and resume. We’ve all sat down to do this and been a bit overwhelmed by the process, because you want to be sure you’re able to catch a recruiter’s attention.  Jobseekers should use the report to call out specific business challenges and opportunities that a company is facing, then align their own experience to those challenges in their cover letter and resume. By doing this, you increase your odds of getting a call from a recruiter, and when they do call you can have a meaningful conversation with them and demonstrate real insight.

The interview preparation questions are a great way to get a meaningful conversation going once you get to the interview. Another great way to use the report is by getting familiar with the “Opportunities” section and discussing those during the interview. If you’ve ever interviewed someone and they were full of relevant ideas that could help you grow your business, you know that really goes a long way to move them to the top of your consideration list.

Can we expect to see more products in this vein?

Our customers will tell us that, I believe they will respond positively to the product, and that may lead to other opportunities to provide them with additional value.

~ ~ ~

Thanks to Dan for taking the time to lay out his thoughts on this new product. To find out more about Jobseeker Reports or to purchase your own, click here.

If you’re a Hoover’s subscriber, you’ll know how much our reporting on industries has blossomed in the two years since we acquired First Research. Now, I’m happy to point out the redesigned stand-alone First Research site:

Please click on over to FirstResearch.com, wander around, and tell us what you think!