Archive for October, 2008
Why hire a personal assistant?
It’s 8:30 a.m. on a Monday. You’re staring at your calendar for the week and already you can feel the stress building up: board meetings, department meetings, emails and phone calls to return, hair cut appointment to be made, soccer practice to attend, new hard drive to research. How will you get through it?
Hire a personal assistant. Too costly, you say. Well, not any more. Thanks to the Internet and advances in technology and telephony, gone are the days when having a personal assistant is the domain of wealthy entrepreneurs or CEOs. Remote personal assistants can perform any tasks that do not require face-to-face interaction. Prialto’s remote assistants or time managers have been helping our members with a myriad of services ranging from restaurant reservations, event planning, research on a new computer, and recurring reminders, tracking down a specific style of antique desk on Craigslist, research on financial sponsors, etc.
How to best work with your assistant
People are almost always thrilled by the prospect of having their own dedicated personal assistant. They often stumble, however, when working to determine exactly how they will use a new helping hand. They deliberate on what they will off-load and how best to work with someone remotely.
Our members have successfully handed off hundreds of unique tasks to their Prialto assistants, many of which I will discuss individually in upcoming posts. Regardless of the tasks that our members have sought to hand off, some simple practices have proven to be universally helpful in making their time manager/productivity assistant their go-to person. Following are some of the practices you can establish that have been useful to our members:
Enterprise class technology for small businesses
Many sole proprietors and small businesses struggle to find the right technology solutions. Several questions arise: what email system to use; how to share documents; how to backup data; what type of phones to select.
A lot of small companies don’t have the time, expertise, or willingness to deal with technology. After all, it’s not their core business; yet, it’s a complete necessity for doing business today.
In today’s fast-paced business environment, “push email” on your mobile device is critical to working “anywhere” and collaborating with people, teams, and clients from around the world. Furthermore, everyone realizes the need for backing up email and data. So, when you’re a consultant specializing in, let’s say, real estate marketing, how do you get yourself and four other business partners a domain, an email system, push-email, and an automated and reliable backup of your emails? Here’s how.
A time manager’s story
Setting a good example for my 10-year-old daughter is the guiding principle in my life. In my endeavors, personal or business, private or public, I try to think of doing things that would make my daughter proud. My home is open to friends who come to seek advice, or to just hang out, watch movies, or listen to music. I lead a simple and uncomplicated life.
Work is an extension of home life, where I strive to do my best and create an atmosphere of camaraderie with my coworkers.
Satisfaction at work comes from satisfied members. Although I see it as just doing my job, when a member calls to let me know that I’ve done exceptional work for him or her, it does make my day.
One of the kudos that I received was from a new member. The request was a recommendation for a dental clinic at a specific location, a clinic that uses nitrous and accepts his dental insurance. Within a few minutes, with the help of another time manager, I was able to zero in on a clinic that satisfied all three requirements, provided the member with detailed information on metered parking and location of parking garages (along with their rates), and convinced the receptionist to book the appointment. I say “convince” because I was told that they would not accept appointments for new patients without prior submission of some personal and clinical information. I promised the receptionist that I would give her the information before the member’s appointment, and took it upon myself to contact the member to a) confirm that the date and time were suitable and b) gather all the information and submit them to the receptionist prior to the appointment.
What made the completed task impressive to this particular member was not just the speed of the execution of his request, but also the adroitness in navigating the turns that I encountered during the process. Seeing the effort that I put in to get him the appointment made this member a believer in our service.
I used to work at a call center where tasks were predictable, and so was the job. Working at Prialto, is different because the work here is varied, engaging, and challenging. We are encouraged to think independently and are provided with on-going training to improve the skills that we already have. For me, what Prialto stands for is Growth + Opportunity.
Eddie Rizzo in one of Prialto’s time managers.
Going above and beyond
One of our time managers was recently asked to find a printer with a scanning feature. This was all the information that was given. Encouraged to look beyond the information provided and to anticipate possible questions, the time manager set about completing the task. Based on reviews and the member’s requirements, he narrowed down the search to four printers. But the assistant didn’t stop there. He also compared, and found, the best prices on the Internet with reasonable shipping charges. In addition, he called an Office Max near the member’s house to see how the prices compared to those he found on the Internet minus the cost of shipping. The result was a comprehensive, detailed list that the member could act upon.
Going above and beyond what is expected is what we strive for at Prialto. Throughout our training program, and on an on-going basis, we encourage our time managers to be proactive and to think ahead. We ask them to not only answer the request, but to also think about what other questions may arise so that they may provide an actionable task that could save a member time, money, and energy.