CINCINNATI -- Julie Hagenmaier launched My Girl Friday here three
years ago to meet needs -- for home care, errands and pet-sitting
-- she had seen in her own life that were making it difficult to
juggle the demands of a traveling husband, a small child and a
career that also called for travel.
There were never enough resources for help, she said, so she
quit selling pharmaceuticals and started offering services designed
"to alleviate stresses in two-income households."
Three years later, Hagenmaier is operating what appears to be
the first organization to offer a range of opportunities --
involving both in-home and telephone-based services -- for agents
on a national basis.
She marketed most aggressively to women executives because they
are most affected by the multiple demands of family, career and
travel, she said.
Proffered services range from the unusual -- supervising a
carpet cleaner, decorating the house for a special occasion or
weeding the garden and shoveling the driveway -- to those that some
agents might already see as routine: getting the client to the
airport or arranging event tickets.
Services also include plant and pet care, car upkeep, security
checks for an empty home, shopping for gifts, laundry, dry
cleaning, valet services (like packing and unpacking suitcases) and
stocking the refrigerator for a returning customer.
This year, Hagenmaier said, after consulting with local CEOs,
she decided to sell through agents.
The program, rolled out at ASTA in November, includes a
Web-based booking capability at www.myneighbornextdoor.com. The agent product is
called My Neighbor Next Door, Making Travel Easier, but in the real
world, it is My Neighbor, Hagenmaier said.
Commissions are 10% of charges, which are generally $30 an hour;
if a customer moves to direct business, the agency gets 5% for a
year.
Participating agencies make My Girl Friday their exclusive
provider of concierge services and commit to 10 hours of business a
month, minimum. Some 27 Cincinnati agencies have signed on.
The services are available in 52 cities, and Hagenmaier said
agents can determine if their city is on that list by registering
at www.myneighbornextdoor.com, at no cost, and searching by ZIP
code.
Hagenmaier is negotiating with the GDSs to offer services
jointly.
She also is bidding to be the provider for member-based groups
that would offer My Girl Friday as a private-label service to
members.
She said her business is "fully bonded and licensed."
Her 25-member staff provides the concierge services in four
cities (Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Kansas City), and
third-party contractors do the work in other cities.
She said the contractors are required to have general liability
insurance, "hired and nonowned" auto insurance and fidelity bonds
of $25,000 per occurrence and to conduct background checks on
staff.
She acknowledged the challenges of keeping standards high,
especially with a business that is spread across the country and
whose staff go into empty homes, but she said she had gone after
the "cream of the crop" among providers and put them through
"rigorous training."
She added that "most people are in this business because they
have good hearts."
The background checks have not turned up any inappropriate
employees, she added.
As to Hagenmaier, she started down this path because she was a
harried businesswoman with a family and a heavy travel
schedule.
She is a harried businesswoman with a family and a heavy travel
schedule -- but she uses My Girl Friday.
For additional information, go to www.egirlfriday.com.
Joining the ranks of the agent/concierge
CINCINNATI -- One of My Girl Friday's providers will be a travel
agent, Sandy Salle, in Charlotte, N.C., effective in late
January.
Salle and a partner, Meredith Hill, created the non-ARC agency,
Fresh Ideas Travel Planning, about five months ago.
From the outset, Salle said, the agency offered pet-sitting and
home-care services as a way to broaden the base of business for the
new agency, which emphasizes customized travel, and its sister
business, Hills of Africa.
Although Salle is the My Girl Friday representative, she and
Hill will operate the concierge business together, and Fresh Ideas
will be the first participating agency.
The partners will market to other Charlotte agencies, but Salle
does not expect them to mind that she is a competitor.
"I'd be pleased to use another agent's services to get this for
my clients," given that another agent understands what it means to
be an agent and keep clients happy.
Early users of the My Girl Friday concierge service are
enthusiastic about the potential for modest added income, happier
clients and increased customer bonding.
Michele Uckotter, vice president and general manager of Pier
& Port Travel in Cincinnati, said she has always believed her
agency had to "go the extra mile" for its customers.
My Girl Friday is another way to do that in an era, she said,
when busy clients "want more one-stop service."
This, she said, is for professionals who lack time and "who
don't have people they can impose on" for help.
"They want our seal of approval. It is a way to ease their
minds."
This "won't be a huge moneymaker, but it will be another reason
to come to this agency," she said.
In its first few months as a My Girl Friday agency, Uckotter
said Pier & Port has booked products several times, mostly for
in-home services; a few clients had food delivered to their houses
just before returning home.
Wayne Taleff, president of Talgood Travel in Cincinnati, who
joined more recently, said he has promoted the product line in a
new brochure and a newsletter.
He called this a "great" program because it gives him the
opportunity to add income while providing services that
differentiate his agency from others.
He said airport transfers and pet care are popular options, but
he sees potential for some of the in-home services and errands that
My Girl Friday promotes. -- N.G.