How to Start a Concierge Business

Concierge businesses are becoming a strong small-business trend, thanks to our increasingly frenzied, rat race lifestyles. Everything from picking up the dry cleaning to writing thank-you notes is being outsourced to "right hand" assistants, for fees that can exceed $150 an hour.

Like any new business, however, concierge service takes lots of hard work, and if you don't have a strong drive toward customer care, it may not be right for you.

We asked Katharine Giovanni, author of the "The Concierge Manual," president and co-founder of Triangle Concierge, Inc. (http://www.triangleconcierge.com), and a leading trainer of concierges, to join us as our guest expert in the field. She shared the following tips on how people can get started in this well-compensated area, which is predicted to see continued strong growth.

1.Do a business plan. It really doesn't matter how short or long it is, nor does it have to be fancy with colored charts. However, you really should do one so that you know where you're going, what you're doing, and how you're going to get there.

2.Create your brochure, business cards, website and sales kit. This can all be done on a shoestring budget with today's software, but having them is a vital part of a business. You can obtain some terrific free business cards by visiting www.vistaprint.com, and you can create a relatively inexpensive website as well. If you don't want to do it yourself, here are a few links to some "instant" website creation sites, where you can have a site up in minutes: http://go.bigstep.com/, www.networksolutions.com, www.godaddy.com, and www.1and1.com.

3.Get some business liability insurance. Please don't start a business without it. You can visit my resource directory at www.triangleconcierge.com and you'll see a few insurance companies who are currently insuring the industry. You can also join www.ICEAweb.org and get insurance through them.

4. Legal Documents -- contracts, agreements, etc.: Get this right the first time and you won't have to put out fires in the future. You'll need both client contracts as well as vendor agreements.

5. Do not quit your job. Nor should you go out and rent an office, buy or rent furniture and hire employees. Think about it first. First and foremost, you need to be able to feed your family and pay your bills, so make sure that you have either enough money saved to last you at least six months, possibly even a year, or you have some other form of steady income flowing into your household.

6. Find a target market. There are so many niches for this business that you might be tempted to do them all when you first open up. However, I strongly suggest that you choose one or two niche markets and go after them first. Do them well and then you can choose a few more. If they don't do well and tank, then you have hundreds of other niches to choose from. Choose a new niche and then re-focus, re-work your business and then re-launch. The key here is to never ever give up. Some niches around the United States include hospitals, small/medium/large companies, condominiums, shopping malls, airports, office buildings, neighborhoods, individuals, colleges/universities, country clubs, the senior market, and more. I could go on and on, there are so many out there.

7. Market, market, market. Join your local chamber of commerce, networking groups. Get out there and shake people's hands and tell them what you do. Talk it up everywhere you go. Attend as many expos and receptions as you can. I think face-to-face marketing is key when starting up a business - so talk it up people!

8. Be warm, friendly, approachable and extremely courteous 100 percent of the time. This is the key to being a great concierge! People may not remember what you did for them, but they will always remember how you made them feel and how you treated them.

9. Keep your focus on where you're going and not on what is hitting the fan at any particular moment. Know that you can do this. See the future that you want, daydream about it and see yourself being there.

10. Finally, the most important part of concierge work -- Customer Service. It's the hallmark of the concierge industry -- over-the-top unbelievable customer service. I think everyone should build a customer service plan. You should talk to your staff about customer service every day, not just once in a while. It's a way of life, and something that you practice every minute of your life and in every facet of your business.