You may be able to help me with a business concept problem..

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You may be able to help me with this business concept problem…

I have a totally new business idea for the service industry. I’ve identified a need and found a way to satisfy that need.

It involves a part-time Personal Assistant (provided by me) taking over and managing certain activities* in my client’s life for a period of approximately 13 weeks (X as many clients as I can generate). The clients would be drawn from a base of people sharing these same activities.

If it makes it any easier for you to understand, you can call these activities “their daughter’s wedding.” It isn’t this, but the illustration may help you.

*The idea could make me a fortune. So you’ll appreciate why I’m keeping the exact details to myself.

However, it may be difficult to get the concept off the ground.

This is where you come in - you may have suggestions for ways around the difficulty.

The problem is that, 1) I am an unknown quantity; I have no track record to fall back on, and 2) I’ll be promoting an entirely new idea to the buying public.

And it gets worse - my concept comes at a relatively high price.

If I was the buying public, I’d be wary of me.

So, can you think of any ways in which I might persuade prospective clients that I’m on the up and up, that I'm sincere, that I know what I'm talking about, and that I can “deliver the goods?”


Thank you for your input.

Is this something someone would need or want more than once? If so, find one or two people you believe will be repeats and do it for them for free the first time, then give discounts in return for referrals after that.

Tough spot in any perspective business. Services is not like just putting an ad in the paper and opening up a store and hoping people come in.

You've really got to work off of word of mouth. It's tough to give advice when we've no clue what it is, what you've described is really generic and doesnt help much at all. You provide personal assistance to people who are doing some kind of big event similar to a wedding?

Any kind of big event has two things, Someone holding the event and someone planning the event (depending on the demographic that could be the same person) So you need to get your foot in the door with them. Anyone you know related to the field you are interested in? Who can say to a client of theirs "oh, you know I've got a colleague who can really help with this"
I'm guessing just looking for cold clients at first isnt going to help much, it seems like it is an expensive service you are wishing to offer, aka people will want references or be refered to you by someone.

So it is all about who you know, so get on the phone with friends and friends of friends and network.

Okay, for those of you who want details...

Here’s a hypothetical situation for you to consider, that explains the concept.

Let’s say you’re a home owner. Anyone, from young married with children to elderly and retired. And let’s say you’re thinking of moving house. The reason why is irrelevant. One criteria is that you are financially well-off.


Now I’m going to ask you to use your imagination. I want you to think of as many things as possible, that might need to be done as part of this moving process, from the moment you first start thinking of moving, until you’re putting your feet up in the new place. I’m sure you’ll agree the list is too great to set out here. And can have as many variations as there are people.

For most people, moving house is near the top of the list for stress-inducers. For some, it’s top of the list. It shares top billing with death and divorce.

Okay.

So how would it be if you could have a Personal Assistant take over and manage everything, and I mean literally everything, that’s involved in this process, from start to finish? Maybe over a two- to three-month period. You still pay any costs incurred, but that’s where your involvement ends. It would mean that all you’d have to do is point, while you sit back with a drink in your hand.

Is that a service you’d be prepared to pay for?

If yes…

Would you consider a fee of US$13,500 to be reasonable?
That’s €9,500; GB£8,400; AU$15,000.

…that’s the service I’m thinking of providing.

My aunt used to do that kind of thing for executives while working for a large and (I think) international company, and she was even involved in finding and suggesting specific houses for them. Maybe you could do the same as an outside contractor for one or more companies and not have to go looking for individuals as clients.

I would think you would at least make some sort of portfolio so you have a clear strategy and potential customers know that you know what you are doing. It would need to show that you have usefull experience and possibly some proof of training in management, and also done some research, such as modern trends in real estate and ways your service can help your customers. This can help boost the confidence of your potential customers that you know what you are doing.

Sounds like a solid idea. And something people would pay for.

But I see where being young and having lacking experience will hurt you. There is a ton involved in moving (i imagine ). Well, how young are you? (i dont know why but i always assume everyone here is young) If you've moved around a lot then that is the experience people are looking for.

Do you have a real estate license? Here in the states to be in real estate agent you need a license. It's a relatively inexpensive course( at least i dont think it costs much, i know a lot of poor friends who got their real estate license to become agents and try and get work ).

If you could couple the knowledge of selling a home and the experiance of moving a lot you're in a good place to pitch your service I think. You can always embelish it as well, new companies do this all the time (if you've moved a few times in the last 5 years you can say "5 years of experiance, though thinking aloud, with a service like this your new clients will probably very likely want references). But, it is common practice to embelish stats like that for a new company (say 2 guys start a roofing company, one guy's been doing it for 10 years, the other 5, they'll put "15 years of experiance", that kind of thing).

I think you also really should target real estate agents. I think that is who you want to network with. They've got the connections. Getting a real estate license might help you network with some people, make a few friends tell them why you're getting your license (i'm sure who ever teaches those courses are probably practicing real estate agents as well and could be interested). But, you make friends with them and that's your in. They can help pitch you to their clients (i see the possibility of them stealing the idea though, but hopefully they just want to concentrate on selling homes and not side track into something else).
Ideally though, you network with a couple real estate agents and they offer your services to their clients. They are pitching it saying "i've got a colleague who can really help with this as well, once your house is sold he offers....yada yada yada (insert all you do)". Obviously you kick back to the real estate agent a worthwhile cut.

I'm also thinking (this might get too complicated) that you not just network through agents but partner. That they include in their closing commission your service. They are pitching "i charge my 7% comission or 7% plus an additional $13,000 for this service as well" And the real estate agent takes his $1000 out of the 13, you get 12 and he wipes his hands clean and goes on to his next sale while you pick up from there helping the client move.

What I think helps with that is the pyschology of it to the client. They just sold their $500,000 house and are paying the agent a few 10s of thousands commission (how ever it works, i'm not familiar) so if you can pitch to them the idea that they are realistically getting say $470,000 for their house, or make it $457,000 and you get this additional service. It sounds a little easier to stomach that way (i'm pretty sure that's how real estate agents pitch things anyways - they tell the person "we sold the house, after comissions and fees you'll be getting $470,000 for it.)

Similar to that, here's something else that might be a big help in pitching yourself. Something that is probably going to take time until you've got real capital saved up. You want to offer the idea that you do everything, to me that should mean you are paying for it all as well. The service you offer is going to be a huge help to your client, but financially speaking you are going to be giving them another bill (which is why i like the above idea of partnering with agents, but this is another option). It's one more thing they have to sign a check for. But if you can offer them the idea that you will be taking care of everything that is involved in their move (the moving service, cleaning services or what ever is involved) and then giving them one final bill at the end of it all (for all the costs of those plus your services it will help sell yourself a lot (though your service is probably something you'll invoice your client for at the end of each month.) But, while you are meeting with a perspective client it's something that will help mask your cost. You'll also be able to negotiate deals with moving companies and those other services to get big discounts. Another thing that will help pitch your service.