Business on the performance of foreign whims
Yulia Lukoyanova, a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, a very charming and pleasant girl, opened her own concierge service in Moscow, which fulfills the wishes of wealthy residents of the capital, and also helps foreigners to quickly establish life in another country.
We perform other people’s whims. Expensive.
On the service concierge service, Julia learned while studying at the university. Then the idea of working in such a company so captured the young lady that she began to combine the work of a night concierge and training in the magistracy MGIMO. For a long time, Julia mastered the basics of the profession, got acquainted with the right people, and studied the subtleties of working with VIPs.
In 2013, Julia opened her own firm Capital Concierge. Now Julia’s firm works with two dozens of corporate clients, serves more than 150 individuals and helps expats to get used to the new place.
The idea of working in this direction came to Yulia to her liking while studying at the university. Since childhood, Julia has shown considerable interest in everything bright, luxurious, unusual, expensive and exclusive. Such tastes of the daughter not only pleased, but also astonished parents a lot.
Once in one of the fashion magazines, Julia read an interview with the founder of the concierge service in England. This article touched the girl so much that she decided to write a letter to the company and asked for a job.
After a face-to-face interview, Julia began working in the company as a night concierge. This work was difficult, but from the very first night Julia liked it. She still remembers the first client who wanted to get a box of expensive and exclusive wine to her country house at night for an exclusive wine that hadn’t been brought to Moscow without a preliminary order for half an hour … Although the company could not get a box of an exclusive drink, but picked up a decent replacement and the client was satisfied with the work of the concierge service.
We perform other people’s whims. Expensive.
Own team
A few years passed and Julia realized that she was ready to move on. Since she liked the job very much, Lukoyanova decided to open her own concierge service company. With people working in the current team as a technical director and financial director, Julia met while working in a former firm.
The market of concierge companies is very small, and all workers in this service sector are familiar with each other and periodically overlap.
The Moscow office of Capital Concierge now employs 7 people. All the staff Julia picked up HeadHunter through ads on the stock exchange, with each employee Julia conducted a personal interview. Lukoyanova admits that very serious demands were made to all the employees — she personally checked the benevolence of the employees, the desire to help the client, knowledge of foreign languages, etc.
In addition, concierge service employees should be well versed in fashion brands, know the city well and be able to get from point A to point B. as quickly as possible.
Starting funds
In order to open her own business, Julia spent 3 million rubles. Close friends and relatives were able to help with this amount – Julia did not get involved in lending at banks, she just shared her idea with close people, and they helped raise money for the first steps in this market.
The funds raised were spent on creating the image of an expensive and decent company – an office was rented in the center of Moscow, because VIP clients need a convenient location of the company; A first-class technical base was organized in the office, which allowed us to organize an excellent call center (all requests are accepted in the format of e-mail or telephone requests).
The next item in the company’s plans is to create a high-quality and expensive website – this website will be the “face of the company” and will immediately have to make an impression on the prospective client.
Customers
The first clients of the “young” concierge service appeared almost immediately – after all, Julia was already familiar with different people and was able to get two large corporate clients thanks to friends who had invested large sums of money in the concierge business.
Now Capital Concierge works with three large clients, with 20 small firms, as well as with individuals.
In total, the company serves no more than 200 clients. Thanks to such a limited number of clients, Capital Concierge can work with each client personally, selecting for him advantageous offers and subscriptions. Now you can purchase a package of services for 3, 6 or 12 months.
The concierge service market in Russia appeared around the beginning of the 2000s. Like any work with people, this business is full of curious cases and emotions.
If at the beginning of the business, many customers called the concierge service for the sake of courage, trying to find out where the line between services that you can buy and services that you cannot buy, now the average client’s portrait has changed a lot.
Where to get money to start your own business? This is the problem that 95% faces….
