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MINDING YOUR
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| THE
FIX-IT FIRM By Mike Ashley |
Now that secretaries
have been replaced by "executive
assistants," who's going to save your bacon
when you forget your spouse's birthday? Valerie
Siddons may be the answer to your prayers, and
the savior of your marriage. |
 artwork by Michael Goodman |
Siddons
runs Executive Concierge of Virginia, a
Richmond-based company that provides the same
personal services offered by good hotels, minus
the hotel. She or one of her six employees will shop for last-minute gifts, do your grocery shopping, track down theater tickets or even book a purple dinosaur for a birthday party. "We provide corporate concierge services for office buildings," Siddons explains. "We work for the tenants of the office building as an amenity provided by the property owners." Begun in 1991, Executive Concierge has grown
to serve five locations: one in Norfolk, three in
Richmond plus the White Oak semiconductor plant
in Sandston. |
| "We're there as a
convenience service, and once people realize how
much we can do for them, they really come to
depend on us," she says. Some requests are stranger than others: One executive was driving to work and heard on the radio that Barney the dinosaur was heading to town. She used her car phone to call the concierge, who organized an appearance by the purple papoose-pleaser at her 4-year-old's birthday party. Property managers pay about $40,000 a year to line up an executive concierge for their building, but that's not the only way Siddons' company generates revenue. Executive Concierge also gets a cut from area businesses such as dry cleaners, florists and shoe-repair shops. Clients of the concierge pay market rate for these services and $20 per hour for personal shopping and errand running. Likewise, because Siddons has the contacts and she can deliver the patrons, Executive Concierge can land hard-to-get tickets and reserve the best tables at popular restaurants. "If someone gives good service, I'm going to send my customers there," she says. "You develop relationships within the community. The concierge is that go-between that's opening the door for a lot of businesses."
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