Office cruise directors - Capitol Concierge - Making It - Company Profile

Nation's Business, Nov, 1996 by Roberta Maynard

Mary Naylor has heard some odd requests over the years. One client wanted her company, Capitol Concierge, to track down pet food for a tarantula. Another insisted that Naylor's service locate an obscure hot sauce made in Texas. One couple even asked Naylor to arrange their wedding in the Caribbean.

Capitol Concierge, a Washington, D.C., company, provides services to "time-pressed, time-starved professionals--busy people," explains Naylor. While a concierge at a hotel might book guests on bus tours and make restaurant reservations, Naylor's concierges have very different duties. She hires, trains, and places concierges for office buildings. Her employees arrange catered lunches for tenants, drop off their dry cleaning, and order tickets of all kinds for them.

In fact, no request is too far-fetched, according to the company's motto, "Consider it done." Naylor's concierges also develop a sense of community in their buildings by working with building managers to arrange events such as ice-cream socials. Naylor likens her employees to "cruise directors in an office building."

In the early days of Capitol The concierge Concierge, Naylor, now 33, was from the sole employee. "I delivered tickets, took back videos, ran errands. You name it ... I did it," she remembers. The company now has about 100 employees and operates in 78 buildings in the Washington area

The inspiration for creating the company struck Naylor at 17,000 feet. While on a plane, she read a magazine article about a California concierge company. Back on the ground, Naylor, then 24, moved back home to Washington to live with her mother, from whom she borrowed $2,000 to start Capitol Concierge in 1987. It took her eight months to find her first client; most companies liked her idea but didn't want to be the first to use her services. Finally, the John Akridge Cos., a regional commercial-real-estate company, took a chance on Capitol Concierge, and Naylor was in business.

Capitol Concierge now has annual revenues of $.1 million. Property managers pay a monthly fee; tenants pay only for their purchases. Contracted service providers, such as caterers and florists, pay Capitol Concierge a percentage of their gross sales.

Naylor no longer has to drop off clients' dry cleaning herself. Instead, she has excelled at running Capitol Concierge and ensuring its success. After recognizing that some of her employees were performing poorly, for example, she heeded some advice from a job trainer "No amount of training makes a bad hire right." That inspired her to funnel money into recruiting and hiring rather than into training.

Naylor also sends a lost-bid survey--a tool she created--to property managers who chose not to use Capital Concierge, asking them what factors affected their decision. She says the managers often are surprised to receive the survey but usually fill it out. The responses help her in general planning and in presentations to her advisory board, a volunteer group of CEOs she pulled together to help her look at strategic issues. The survey even helped win over one client who initially turned down Capitol Concierge.

Finally, Naylor attributes the company's success to its growth plan. Instead of merely trying to increase the number of customers, Naylor strives to increase business with existing customers.

Over the past two years, Capitol Concierge has developed a software program that anticipates clients' needs. If, for example, a tenant orders flowers for a friend's birthday, Capitol Concierge will send a reminder of the date a year later and ask if another order should be placed. The program also includes clients' personal data so particular services can be offered to them.

Maybe even finding dinner for a spider.