virtual office assistant
Yes, you can still afford to travel…
As a travel junkie who’s always looking for deals, I came across this great article on money-saving travel tips from Travel + Leisure. Reading it, however, I began to wonder how much time I’ll be spending on the phone and on the web researching the deals that are currently being offered by hotels, cruise lines, etc. Then I thought, “I’ll just have my Prialto assistant do it for me.” Problem solved. Now I can continue with my work so I can afford these vacations!
To read the article from CNN.com, click on the following link:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/traveltips/01/20/money.saving.tips/index.html
“Let’s just say that I am impressed. Great job!”
A wine enthusiast, Steve’s father Brent is quite particular about his wines. So particular in fact that he had trouble finding two vintages that he had to have. One was a 1999 Sylvain Cathiard Vosne-Romanée, and the other was a 2006 Domaine Ramonet Bienvenue Batard Montrachet. Steve is a Prialto member and a believer in the merits of its services. When he found out about his father’s difficulty in finding the wines, he decided to ask his Prialto assistant for help. Steve’s assistant, Eddie, then went to work. Eddie contacted around 25 stores, speaking to fine wine specialists to try and locate the wines, and to also find a retailer that delivers to Pennsylvania, where his father lives.
Although a 2006 Batard Montrachet was easier to find, a 1999 Vosne-Romanée, at about $1,200 a bottle, took more time to locate. Eddie finally found one at Christie’s auction house. After locating the specific vintages, Eddie then had to figure out why there was an issue in shipping wine to Pennsylvania. It turned out that Pennsylvania maintains one of the tightest, most restrictive liquor-control systems in the U.S. and both Steve and Brent were unaware of this. So, Eddie brought this issue to their attention, and it was decided that the wines were to be shipped to Brent’s address in New York City.
What did Brent think of Prialto’s service? Here’s his email to Eddie:
Eddie,
Let’s just say that I am impressed. Great job!
Thanks,
Brent
Passport to getting things done efficiently
Veronica, a Prialto member, was at Costco recently, hoping to take advantage of their passport photo service so she can renew her passport. Unfortunately, when she saw the size of the photo, she realized that it might not have the right dimensions. You see, Veronica does not have a U.S. passport, and until this moment, she hadn’t thought about photo size. So, she called her personal assistant and sought his help. While Veronica went on with her shopping, her personal assistant did some research on the web: He looked up the guidelines for passport photos on the consulate’s website, and compared that with the U.S. passport photo guidelines. Once he determined that the requirements were different, he then proceeded to research photo studios that did passport photos for various countries. He found one at a location nearest to Costco. He then called her back and passed on the information to her.
Without any interruption to her schedule, Veronica was able to go on with her day. And for a mother of three, very active children, assistance such as this helps her manage her time efficiently.
Efficient Facilities Management
Expansion is a common goal for most companies looking to grow their business beyond the confines of their existing operations. For retailers, opening new stores is a costly endeavor. To sustain its competitive advantage while growing its market, this retail company needed to find ways to cut cost, increase its efficiency, and manage its growing retail operations.
Member Profile
Fashion Forward* is an innovative clothing retailer based in California. The company has been in business for 17 years and continues to add retail stores in the West Coast. It is looking to penetrate markets throughout the rest of the country.
Background
When Fashion Forward embarked on expanding their retail operations, it decided to turn to Prialto to find cost-saving solutions that would enable them to meet their goals. The company needed a partner that could create process efficiencies, and optimize employee productivity.
The company previously had one person who was charged with the responsibility of handling facilities issues in addition to managing store openings and special projects. With 24 stores (and growing), Fashion Forward’s operations manager had his hands full. This meant that operational problems were dealt with inefficiently and reactively. There were no processes in place that could produce timely resolutions and no tracking system that could help establish proactive measures to avoid future problems.
Solution
After consulting with Fashion Forward, Prialto identified areas where operations could be streamlined. A key area was facilities management and the need to establish a standard operating procedure for better management of the company’s store facilities. Working closely with Fashion Forward, Prialto integrated processes that aided in the efficient handling of the company’s operational problems. A Prialto representative was assigned to handle all service calls; a web-based tracking tool for trouble tickets was implemented; and a central phone number was provided to all employees for reporting maintenance issues.
Conclusion
With Prialto managing Fashion Forward’s retail facilities, maintenance calls are now dealt with more efficiently and proactively. A Prialto assistant handles all trouble calls, and an escalation process has been established resulting in quicker turn-around time and follow-through. Problems can now be avoided using the tracking tool to identify patterns and common issues that occur. These processes have also freed the operations manager from the task of resolving store issues and has enabled him to focus on coordinating store openings and special projects. And by outsourcing this operation, the company realized immediate cost savings, achieving $30K of annual savings to the bottom line.
Today, the company has considerably reduced the amount of time it spends on facilities management, freeing valuable resources to focus on expanding Fashion Forward’s retail operations. It is also continuing to work with Prialto on adopting additional solutions to help with the company’s continued growth.
*The client’s name has been changed to protect its privacy.
She saved me more time than I even realized!
How do you efficiently schedule 20 separate phone interviews? Have your remote personal assistant do it!
I had a list of about 20 individuals, all located in the East Coast, with schedules as hectic as mine. Contacting them and trying to coordinate a time to talk would have taken me 2-3 hours, which I did not have. So, I turned to Remelie, my personal assistant, to manage the process. I sent her a spreadsheet containing all the contact information, and as she had access to my calendar, she proceeded to contact each person on the list. Throughout that day and in the succeeding morning, I could see my calendar updating on my iPhone. The calls were scheduled and made seamlessly throughout the week - all without interruption to my existing schedule.
What made the execution of the task memorable was not that the calls were scheduled, but that my assistant took the initiative to research some of the incorrect phone numbers that I had given her without calling me. She knew I had a busy week, so instead of asking me, she found other ways to get the information. On one occasion, she tracked down one of the candidates by searching him on Google. She found his former employer, contacted them, told them who she was and the purpose of the call, and asked them to verify the phone number she had (I had transposed a couple of numbers). They told her which two numbers were off.
I only knew about what she had done when the candidate informed me of how determined Remelie was in attempting to get the correct phone number. He was impressed. Remelie never told me what she did, as she considers this kind of follow through part of what she does. Wow!
You can’t buy that kind of follow through today. Don’t outsource just to save money. Outsource to find the right talent and attitude when you can’t find it nearby. That’s what Prialto helps you do.