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Did you ever hear of the expression “there is no such thing as a second impression?”

While I agree with it, I also think your second impressions is just as important.

A number of years ago, my husband and I decided to update our dated backyard, so we interviewed a few landscapers.  We found the first landscaper at a garden expo in Raleigh. We chatted with him for quite a while at the show and genuinely liked what he said to us. His brochure looked great so we thought he would do a great job.  When he came to the house, however, he asked very few questions and wrote very little down. After a few weeks went by, he finally emailed his drawing, which a 10 year old could have done. He gave us absolutely no information on what plants he would plant or how much it would cost.  Horrible.  We never called him back.

The second landscaper also had an awesome brochure. He asked questions, wrote things down and suggested plants for our yard. We both loved him!  It's been over 6 years now and we still have not heard back from him.  Did we hire him?  No.

Eventually we hired a company a friend recommended. They had a nice website and asked many questions like the first two companies, but they did something the others didn’t. They emailed us back and followed up! They sounded genuinely interested in us and were incredibly warm and friendly. Did we hire them?  Absolutely.

Second impressions are just as important as the first one. If you promise to call someone back. Call them back in a timely manner. If you promise to meet someone at a specific time, then be there at that time. I can't tell you how important it is to your business!  It can seriously make or break you.  Follow up on all your proposals and follow through on all your promises, each and every time.

Your second, third and tenth impression should be just as awesome as the original one was. 

Over the top customer service every time is the key to a successful business.

Here are my ten "P's" of success!

Plan – Create a business and marketing plan

Publicity – print media, radio, television, direct marketing, networking and social media.

Persistence – Don’t give up!!  Never ever give up your dream. Determination and persistence is the key. Did you know that General Foods started in 1929? If they have the guts to start in a depression, you can start yours now!

Passion in what you’re doing.

Product - know your product inside and out.

People - understand the people you are selling to! They’re not just clients, they’re real people and you can talk to them. No matter who you talk to, remember that they are a person first. Everyone on the planet puts their pants on one leg at a time.

Prioritize – don’t do too much at once. Pick 5-10 things and then do them. Don’t be so widespread - know what you’re going to do first. Also, focus on one or two niche markets when you are first starting out.

Places - Network, network, network! Go to every networking function that you can find. Build an army of people who heard about you through word-of-mouth.

Promote - Market for new clients even when you don’t need any. Sure this month you have more work than you can handle, but what happens if the client pool runs dry next month. Then what? NEVER stop marketing!!!

Plus! Always give them more than they expect … go the extra mile. Customer service should be your number one priority!!!

Lastly, don’t let people tell you no! When they tell you “no” ask “why not?” Ask them why they are saying no … is the price too high? Do they already use a company for this service? ASK THEM!

Until next time,

Katharine Giovanni

This month I thought I would talk about publicity. Here are 10 tips ..

Be familiar with the show/publication. Your pitch should be about how your story will work for them.

Don't take "no" personally.  Perhaps it’s just not right for them, or they just did a story on your topic. I suggest you ask them if they can suggest another publication/show that might be interested. You never know what contact name you might get!

Keep your email short and to the point. DON'T send any file attachments because they won’t open them, or they’ll be deleted as spam. Just include a link to your website.

They prefer email over fax. It’s fast and easy and can be forwarded. It is fast to review, and can be easily forwarded to several others.

Prepare a “sound bite” – What if they call you? Well, I know very few media people who have the time to listen to your entire story. What to do? Prepare a 30-second elevator speech that will capture their attention. In 30 seconds or less, tell them why your story will make their show the best it’s been in years.

Follow-up – Follow-up with everyone. No exceptions. Also return your emails and telephone calls within 24 hours or less. Again, no exceptions.

Believe – Believe in what you are doing!  You can’t promote something if you don’t believe in it with all your heart. Speak with passion!!

Headlines – Make the headlines on your press releases attention grabbers … they should literally reach out and grab them and make them want to read the story.  Should be short, no more than one line.

Word of Mouth – Tell everyone you know what you are doing!! Network, Network, Network!!! Bring your business cards with you absolutely everywhere because you never know who you are going to bump into.

KEEP TRYING!  Never give up … if they say no just call again in a few months with a new angle or different story idea.

Until next month!

Katharine

Turn your email off.

Check your email when it fits your schedule and not the other way around. Read it at your own pace rather than the minute it arrives in your in-box.

Use your voice mail.

Let your voice mail answer the phone for a while. You can return the call later.  This way you can finish that report your working on! 

Take one thing at a time, one day at a time.

When you start to feel overwhelmed, try taking one thing at a time. Make a list of things you need to do and put the most urgent one at the top. Once you have completed it, cross it off and move on to the next one. Soon they’ll all be done!  

That’s what I do … I run two companies and one association out of my office so to avoid getting overwhelmed by it all, I do one project at a time. Otherwise I would go nuts!!

Until next time everyone!

Katharine

Why Hire a Concierge? 

By Katharine C. Giovanni

Why should you hire a concierge?  I can think of a hundred reasons actually. Here are just a few ...

People around the world are trying to squeeze thirty-six hours into a twenty-four-hour day, and when you do that you don’t do it very well. If you continue to do it on a regular basis, then eventually your body will resent it and you’ll get sick. Concierge are here to give you your health back. They’re here to give you the extra hours that you have been craving and will do what has to be done, so that you can do want to do like spending more time with your children or spending a few extra hours at work.

Companies around the world are also getting into the act. They are not only starting to use concierge, but they are making them a part of their corporate benefit packages. They are reasoning correctly that the less time people spend running personal errands during the workday, the more time they can spend at their desks and, subsequently, with their families at night.

Still not sure you need a concierge?  Here are a few more reasons why you need to hire us …

• The average U.S. worker admits to frittering away more than 2.09 hours a day, not counting lunch, on personal business. This costs companies an estimated $759 billion a year.” - Salary.com and AOL Survey.
• The average worker skips 24 minutes of his or her lunch break every day, the equivalent of approximately two weeks more holiday per year (figures from Data Monitor).
• Since 1969, family time for a working couple has shrunk an average of 22 hours a week. U.S. Government
• Workplace stress is costing the Australian economy $14.81 billion a year. Medibank-commissioned research
• Stress related presenteeism and absenteeism are directly costing Australian employers $10.11 billion a year. Medibank-commissioned research
• According to the Health and Safety Executive, 6.5 million sick days are taken every year as a result of stress -- costing £7m per week and £1.4m per working day.
• Approximately 13.7 million working days are lost each year in the UK as a result of work-related illness at a cost of £28.3 billion per year – National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

When looking at these statistics, it is easy to see why time has become the commodity of the century and will be even more so in the decades to come. The popularity of concierge services stems from the fact that people are stressed out, overworked, and need help dealing with life so they can spend their free time nurturing themselves and their families. As good workers become harder to find, businesses are looking for concierge services to offer as perks to keep valuable employees happy.

That being said, below is a list of 20 ways you can use a concierge (the real list of what a concierge can do for you is endless)…

1. Obtaining tickets to concerts, special events and sporting events
2. Transportation Services – train, plane or automobiles … concierge can get it!
3. Travel and Vacation Planning
4. Business Referral Service – need a landscaper or a plumber?
5. Restaurant Recommendations and/or Reservations
6. Pet services
7. Internet Research – need research done and you don’t have the time to do it?
8. Personalized shopping and delivery
9. Dry cleaning pick-up and/or delivery
10. Grocery shopping
11. Senior care
12. Picking up or returning a gift
13. Bill paying
14. Auto Maintenance
15. Home Organization
16. Notary Services – many concierge area a traveling notary and can actually come to you.
17. Delivering a Meal - breakfast, lunch or dinner
18. Prescription Pick-up and delivery
19. Repair and Service Calls
20. Sick Care – sick in bed? Call a concierge and they’ll do your errands, arrange for dinner to be delivered and can be on hand to help your family out

So get your life back!  Hire a concierge to do what has to be done so that you can do what you've always wanted to do.

If you are looking to hire a concierge, then I suggest you visit www.ICLMA.org and check out our international concierge directory. We have members from all over the world who can assist you.

Good Luck!

About the Author: Katharine is an award-winning author and the world’s leading concierge trainer and consultant as well as a Certified Concierge Specialist (CCS) and Speaker. She is one of the founders of Triangle Concierge and is the Chairman of the Board and Founder of the International Concierge and Lifestyle Management Association (ICLMA) as well as the author of several business books including her award-winning book Going Above and Beyond and The Concierge Manual.

If you wish to re-print this article, that's fine. Just include the biography at the end of the article. Thank you!

copyright © 2011 by Katharine C. Giovanni, CCS

Believe it or not, I actually get asked this question a lot. 

For those of you who have been in business for a long time, it might be time to go into a different niche to get that phone ringing again. Look at what services are working and throw away the ones that are not. Go back to the basics and look over your entire operation with fresh eyes.

For new business owners, remember that every new business takes time to start up, it takes time to get your name out there.  I know you all would like the phone to start ringing the first week you are in business, but it will most likely take weeks to get the word out. Patience.

Marketing is the name of the game here!  Market your service to absolutely everyone. Talk to everyone.

Go to all the networking functions that you can find and chat with as many people as you can while you are there. 

Go online and live on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Get a Facebook fan page.

Send out a press release and see if you can get the media to do a story on you. 

Market, market, market!  Talk it up to everyone you know!!!

Patience and persistence is the key here!!!  DON’T GIVE UP!!!  I know you can do this.

I was doing a search on concierge companies the other day when I noticed something very odd. Most of the websites I found didn't give me any information about the owner of the company!  The "about us" section was generic and had no names in it. There were no biographies, no list of staff,  nothing.

I don't know about you, but I like to know who I am doing business with. I like to read about the history of a company, and when I call them, I also like to have a name to ask for.

I completely understand that many of you might wish to remain anonymous for security reasons. I get that. I also understand that security issues might be why I can't find where you are located anywhere on your website. At least give me the city and state!

Well, here's the good news and the bad news.

The good news is that hiding your name and location will indeed help keep you secure in today's world.

The bad news is that it might cause you to lose customers. Hiding your name and company location might cause people to wonder why you are doing this. They might suspect that you have no experience, or worse ... that you have a something to hide.

At the very least, I humbly suggest that you put your name and title on the website. You don't have to have a biography if you don't want to, just give us a contact name. You also don't need to list your full address, just give me the city/state where you are located!!! I might not know that 212 is New York City, so to find out where you are I'll have to do an internet search on your area code. I've done this search many times over the years, but your clients won't. They'll just click off and go to your competitor.

Until next time, 

Katharine

Being able to work from home and be home with the kids is a dream come true for most, not all, but most moms.  But working with kids around can be quite challenging.  What do you do with them in the summer months when they're off from school?  Do you take them on the errands with you (especially when you cannot afford day care/camp)?  What's an entreprenurial mom to do?

Each year, the ICLMA conducts a study of the independent concierge industry. In fact, I'm extremely proud to report that our association is still the only organization in the world currently providing statistics on this industry!

I know how busy you all are, but I do hope that you will take a few minutes to complete our short survey. The data that you provide is invaluable! Please make sure you answer as many questions as you can.

This is open to EVERYONE in the independent concierge industry regardless of whether or not you are an ICLMA member.

Here's the link: http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e3z8zpcwgod9n5o4/start

The survey will be closed out on August 1. The results will be published in September/October and placed in the Members library on the ICLMA web site at www.ICLMA.org.

Those not affiliated with ICLMA who take the survey will be emailed a copy of the results (please make sure you give that to us at the end of the survey).

Thank you again for your time and participation.

Warm regards,

Katharine C. Giovanni, CCS
ICLMA Chairman of the Board

Hello Everyone!

The four ICLMA members in Scotland decided to meet up and form a circle….a circle of friendship, understanding, experience and knowledge. This is only one of the benefits of being an ICLMA member! Most of us are men and women who work on our own and it is such a relief to be able to sit down with fellow concierges to discuss the highs and lows of doing what we do. Every few minutes you could hear an exclamation from one of us saying “so, you’ve found that too!” or “oh, I feel like that too!”. What a relief!

Now, we did not really know one another before this so you can imagine how nervous we all were at meeting up with a) virtual strangers and b) competitors, but I cannot say it enough, it was such a pleasure!  We learnt from one another, shared funny stories and realised that we really loved the fact that we could speak about what we do or moan about difficult clients (not that we have many of those, of course!).

I thought we would just have a coffee, make polite conversation and leave but after the second coffee we all looked at one another and decided to have a bite to eat. After we had run out of time…as we had to get back to our work and to our clients, we decided that it had been such a good experience that we should do this every quarter. So, our next meeting is going to be at the same place on the 21^st June.

Thank you Amanda (Edinburgh Girl Friday), Susan (Girl Monday), and Jane (Helping Hand Support Services) for an enjoyable few hours. I can’t wait for the next one!

Mariella MacLeod

Dickory Dock Lifestyle Management

Glasgow, Scotland

THANK YOU MARIELLA!!!