Tom Cole asks;
>Now I'm thinking about the fact that she is paying me my evaluation fee and
that >also I will receive a finder's fee from the dealer because we have a
standing deal.
If you have enough of a question, in your own mind, to write about this,
imagine how much question there would be in your customers mind.
I think your "standing deal" with the dealer makes you, by extension, a
salesman for his wares. If you think that your future is best served by
this, go ahead.
If, however, you believe that your career is best served by
establishing a reputation as the customer's advocate, and by having the
ability to be totally impartial, then the money from the dealer must be
foregone.
What will be the result if a competing dealer or tech points out to a
customer that you are being paid by the dealer you are recommending? Your
credibility is shot, as customers are suspicious of dealers to start with, (
witness the furor that erupts on the message boards when a question is asked
about dealer's reputations.!)
Over the long run, being regarded as a source of a completely objective
( insofar as possible), opinion on the pianos will be worth more than the
dealers money.
Integrity is not enough, it has to look like integrity too, and in the
customers eyes, that dealer money in your pocket can make them question why
you are saying what you are saying. ( even though, in this case, the Kawaii
was the right piano for them)
Good luck,
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