There are directories for just about every conceivable profession and properly monitored they are an essential tool in finding the right person for the right job.

With the advent of the internet all directories are more often than not fully on line as well as printed in hard copy. The most obvious are telephone directories which are still delivered to the doors of every home and business in the U.K. each year.

Someone I know went on a business trip to Finland from his home in the U.K. and whilst sitting in the hotel room in Helsinki noticed a telephone directory which covered the whole country. As he had a surname of Finnish origin which he knew to be from sound long distant relative who had originally come from Finland he idly picked up the directory to see if he could track down any relatives.

In the U.K. there are only a dozen people with this surname and when he opened the directory and found the name he had to laugh out loud as the name in Finnish was the equivalent of the name Smith in the U.K. and there were around two hundred pages of them.

Directories are useful not only to find someone or some trade but also to check the credentials of people in various professions. Every professional body produces lists of their members and so for instance it is possible and prudent to check the doctor you are seeing or the optician testing your eyes is not only in the directory but also has the qualifications to be treating you.

Even MI5 and MI6 along with other secretive organisations like the big one in Cheltenham must have directories of all the staff even if it is heavily restricted.

A local business directory of all types of trades and services is one of the most effective forms of advertising and is generally always cost effective. If you offer a service in anything from A to Z then it makes a lot of sense to be in the directory and will always bring results.

Just now and again something can happen which disproves statements like the one above! Many years ago a lawyer friend told me that one day someone in the office noticed that they were not listed in the Yellow directory. This omission in the latest copy meant that all the other legal practices in the city had their free listings and therefore an unfair advantage.

Unfortunately for the telephone listing company the call of complaint came from one of the lawyers with a great deal of knowledge and experience to make the most of the problem and after shouting down the phone and threatening legal action they compromised on a deal that every single phone bill would be paid for by the phone company for the next twelve months.

The smart lawyer knew that the firm was so old and established that very few new enquiries came through that directory anyway and also that with nearly fifty lawyers in the practice their phone bill the previous year was close to one hundred thousand pounds.

Additionally, all the lawyers kept their clients as long as possible on the line that year as they charged per minute on the telephone.

This was awinning situation that increased profits far more that year than if they had been in the directory to begin with and this is the only exception to the maxim that if your business is in a directory for free then it is always profitable.