HUFFINGTON
10.28.12
THE HELP
climbing out of the recession,
with association membership
numbers dropping by 40 percent
as recently as 2011. But Giovanni
says that those numbers have
started to rebound this year as a
consequence of Americans being
busier at work.
“Everybody on the planet is trying to squeeze 36 hours into a 24
hour day,” says Giovanni. “I don’t
care what the economy is doing, that’s what’s happening. And
when you do that, inevitably you
don’t do it very well.”
Giovanni has a term for the
currency flowing toward the concierge industry: “targeted money.”
“People who have the money
to spend are saying, ‘I’m going
to spend targeted money. So
what means the most to me?
Spending more time at the office
or spending more time with my
kids?” she says.
Starner Keenan, the lifestyle
concierge who found the good
window guys for Jones, says she’s
already seen signs of increased
demand in terms of the number of
clients she is working with. At the
same time, there’s been a subtle
shift in how some of her clients
are spending money, which she
links to the recession.
“EVERYBODY ON THE
PLANET IS TRYING TO
SQUEEZE 36 HOURS
INTO A 24 HOUR DAY.”
“Even my very, very wealthy
clients, everyone took a moment
and stopped and really reassessed
their spending. I think a lot of
people were very nervous,” says
Starner Keenan.
She says the cautionary mood
hasn’t reduced her business, but
rather made her clients more
practical, and thoughtful, in their
spending, going after value-based
services. They might ask her
to develop a plan to make their
homes more eco-friendly, incorporating solar panel floors to save
on operating costs. Other requests
include having her shop around
for bids from contractors to get
the best deal on a remodeling
project that will eventually increase a home’s value.
“It’s not 100 percent valuebased,” admits Starner Keenan,
“I get some really fluffy requests,