‘It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it,’ goes the old Ella Fitzgerald song. True enough – but the real wisdom is in the last line: ‘That's what gets results’.

Whether you're helping members of the public, mentoring students or providing a full research service to a specific organization, there's every reason to take pride in the answers you provide. This is partly for your personal satisfaction, but it's also really good customer relations. A service that looks and sounds good inspires customer confidence and wins repeat business; one that doesn't risks losing that confidence, resulting in declining business and possibly even closure. In helping people find the information they want, you haven't been doing something easy, you've been doing something highly skilled – so don't spoil it with a weak finish.

Obviously, presenting your answer well matters when you're providing finished research results. (We're going to look at this in more detail in Chapter 7.) But it's just as important to be clear and concise – and to prioritize the information you provide – when you're advising enquirers on sources or search techniques. Presentation also matters when you're advising on a transaction such as how to request a document, access an electronic resource, use an online service or follow a procedure. Whatever the circumstances, presentation isn't an optional extra; it's an essential ingredient for the future development of your service. To achieve it, you need to be able to think creatively.

Quality-checking your answer

But just before you present your answer, it's wise to have one final quality check – just to make sure you haven't missed anything important or accidentally done something silly. As with so many of these stages in the enquiry-answering process, it may seem a bit tedious – but it's far better if you discover a howler before delivering the answer rather than letting the enquirer find it afterwards. So a few thoughts on final things to check …