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Under-promise, over-deliver: How to be the perfect Christmas PA

By Diana Cambridge
THE GUARDIAN, London
Saturday, Dec 18, 2004, Page 9

ILLUSTRATION MOUNTAIN PEOPLE

Buying gifts just for family and friends is enough of a chore for most of us. What if you had to repeat the negotiations endlessly? Buy appropriate tokens for people you don't even know? Choose and sign cards for hundreds of strangers? Order holly-wrapped canapes in September and coordinate Christmas menus ad nauseam?

If you're a Christmas "trawler" (you make at least 21 vague "shopping trips") rather than a "precision shopper," then having to "do" Christmas for work might not be ideal. But some people choose it. Welcome to the world of the Christmas personal assistant (PA).

"My key skill is organization -- I used to be in project management." sighs Gill McCafferty, knee-deep in snowman wrapping paper and robin tags.

Her West London company, just2busy, specializes in Christmas "admin." Buying gifts is key.

There have been some intriguing festive requests this year.

"One client rang me and said she'd seen [British Prime Minister] Tony Blair wearing a shirt with naked ladies on the cuffs, could I get one?" she recalls. "I found out they were from Paul Smith. Someone else wanted a flight in a Gypsy Moth plane, which I arranged, plus some racetrack days. I sort out lots of lavish pampering gift days. Most people I shop for have generous budgets so I might be spending a few hundred pounds. I'll choose treat weekends, crates of wine, Red Letter Days. Smaller gifts include magazine subscriptions and theater options."

"If you over-promise and then under-deliver, clients even with challenging requests, are very disappointed and probably won't use you again."

Lisa Bradshaw, PA

McCafferty's hourly rate is ?20 (US$40) but clients tend to buy blocks of time -- five, 10 or 20 hours. As a time-saving device, she claims to be worth every penny.

"I have so many contacts and sources now that I can probably achieve in 30 minutes what it would take someone else three hours to do," she says.

Haley Dwyer of Leatherhead, Surrey, is "virtual PA" to 32 clients. Her company, E-nough.biz, manages customers' offices, and their lives, remotely, with the help of three "virtual assistants."

She offers packages from ?49.95 for two and half-hours to 20 hours for ?324.95. During December, she has four events to attend every week, all parties grateful customers have invited her to, plus assignments including arranging a murder mystery party, a champagne business breakfast, and a smart supper with tickets to the comedy club.

"This year I am organizing four different parties, plus business to business promotional gifts," she says. "I also track down personal presents for clients. A typical request came this week from a client who asked me to find him six Neil Diamond concert tickets."

Dwyer's advice to well-organized PAs looking to branch out on their own is to join local business networking groups. She claims to get at least 50 percent of her business from local traders' groups.

"They often are too busy just working to be able to handle the Christmas stuff they'd like to do -- yet it's the Christmas marketing that brings them extra orders for the next year," she says.

She deals with clients' diaries, takes on desktop publishing for them, filters and replies to electronic greetings. Her clients include a health club, a school, and computer and communications consultancies. In one year, she has built up 60 percent repeat business and nearly 40 clients.

"It's very cost-effective for clients as they pay for only the time they use, and a virtual assistant is totally productive," she says in justification of her job.

Because December is so frantic, Dwyer celebrates her own Christmas in April on her birthday.

"I have a party at my office, invite customers, do a presentation and have wine and nibbles -- that's the Christmas I really enjoy!" she says.

Newcastle, in northeast England, PA Lisa Bradshaw has started "Easy Time," offering freelance PA services at ?20 per hour. She buys ingredients for stylish dinner parties, freeing up time-poor hostesses, buys and gift-wraps Christmas presents, does last-minute accounts, picks up dry cleaning and even takes dogs to the vet.

"The key thing is to deliver the results within the time that you have agreed -- there can't be any delay or postponement, as there may be in an office," she stresses.

Another of Bradshaw's tips is "under-promise, over-deliver." She recalls how one customer wanted gifts and cards and music that were all Beatles-related, for a client's Beatles Christmas party.

"I knew I could find the cards and music and said so," she says. "But I also sourced some black and white musical notes wrap, some old Beatles original posters and memorabilia, as well as a small collection of photographs. I used eBay, plus back numbers of collectable magazines and the net. The client was delighted that I could offer more than she expected. If you over-promise and then under-deliver, clients even with challenging requests, are very disappointed and probably won't use you again."

Joann Waudby is PA to the finance director of Pitman Training. She arranges, single-handedly, a Christmas dinner and conference for 150 people, with staff awards -- prizes for which include the ever- popular Red Letter days, cases of champagne and sets of crystal glasses. Her top tip is to "Be extra careful when booking -- never commit yourself until you know exactly the numbers that will attend. Otherwise your company can end up with a big bill for food no one has eaten."

A welcome trend for corporate shoppers is easing the pain by buying something really nice for you. That's me off, then.

How to be a clever Christmas PA

■ Keep clear records of every festive source you use, with notes on reliability, quality, cost -- all ready for 2006.
■ Log your own Christmas card list of friends and clients on to your computer and keep updating it.
■ Use only one system -- `Outlook' is the preferred choice.
■ Under-promise, over-deliver.
■ Have back-ups of essential equipment, like mobile phones and computers.
■ Don't forget to cost your own gift-seeking travel time.
■ Your office skills need to be excellent, but you could "outsource" some tasks.
■ Network locally -- don't be too "virtual." Network groups bring business.
■ Always show enthusiasm, no matter how prosaic the festive chore is.
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