Consider It Done!

By Linda Chaff

One of the more popular buzz phrases of the ’90s was: “I’ll have my people contact your people.” In the ’80s, as women worked up the executive ladder, it was: “What I need is a wife!” In both instances, it’s a given that there are others available to handle the details of the corporate and industrial worlds, and someone else to attend to the minutia of everyday living—namely, a wife. But “my people” are busy, and today’s “wife” isn’t the same “little woman” she used to be.

This has led to a new kind of business on a national level. Instead of hiring a full-time personal assistant (and it’s politically incorrect to expect a secretary to handle personal matters), small errand-running operators are springing up, as well as larger companies geared to meeting the social and corporate needs of the busy executive or homemaker.

These service-oriented companies are geared to organize a dinner party or a wedding, pick up dry cleaning or someone at the airport—as well as aid the harried host and hostess who could use ten extra hands for a weekend visit by out-of-town guests.

If time is money, contemplate the benefits of having someone else oversee the details of organizing a convention or trade show, spend an afternoon or a whole day as a personal secretary making reservations, sending flowers, picking out a birthday gift, and so on.

With the advent of the mall, many specialty shops are conveniently located in one location. However, consumers usually have favorite places to do business that aren’t necessarily at the mall. If one shop is at Hamilton Place, another is in the Brainerd area, a third is across the bridge downtown, it’s easy to see that more time will be spent in transportation than in actual shopping. Then there’s finding a convenient place to park. In the meantime, the kids will be home in an hour and a half and there’s no one to let them in; your pet has an appointment with the veterinarian at 4:30; an accident on Broad Street is tying up traffic; and you’re getting a migraine.

That kind of additional pressure is what prompted me to start up The Concierge Level, a service-oriented business in Chattanooga. Whether you’re a husband, wife, mother, dad, grandparent, or a sibling, there’s a way to shed the burden of unavoidable errands, organization of special events (at home or the office), or the thousand poxes that the flesh is heir to. In brief: Farm it out. Even if someone isn’t really all that busy, not everyone is talented at coordinating a multiple-task event. Being organized isn’t just a trait, it’s a skill.

Across the nation, not just individuals are availing themselves of such services, but more and more corporations are seeing the benefits of similar services. Liberated from sidetracking thoughts, executives are more productive and certainly feel less pressured. Office complexes are beginning to recognize the value of having a service-oriented company right on the premises—get your shoes shined, purchase a gift for an anniversary, or mail a package at the post office…without having to leave the office or the building.

For services of this type to be beneficial, they must also be cost-efficient. While there are some excellent caterers in our community, or dry cleaners who will pick up and deliver, there’s no one in the area who can provide the variety of services that the Concierge Level does, and at an attractive price.

In the past, a concierge was someone who managed or saw to the comfort of guests staying at a hotel, or perhaps an apartment building doorman with broader responsibilities. One doesn’t even see an elevator operator any more, much less a concierge at a hotel.

So the reemergence of this type of service is analogous to one-stop shopping. With a single phone call, arrangements for multiple tasks can be attended to meeting the client’s schedule and needs, and the client may indeed, “Consider it done!”