Salesman's quandary

[Jon Page]

Good one Les,
How 'bout these quick-comeback answers to customer's questions:
Holes in the plate of a grand piano -'tone excapement holes'.
Holes in sound board for strut supports - 'when the sounding
board expands with humidity, it needs someplace to go'.

These guys talk on the fly.  What they don't know, they'll make up.
This is a universal salesman trait. I've caught paint salesman making
up stuff!  One salesman I knew said, "If they believe me, it's their fault".

I know, I know not all salesmen (persons) are slime.

But this Belarus thread shows that some will sell anything too.

Please don't take offense to this light-hearted look into the
'other side' of the piano biz.  No offense intended, just pointing
out observations,  you could probably work it into a stand-up
comedy routine.

I'm sure to remember more later,
Jon Page
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. (jpage@capecod.net)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At 05:33 PM 3/16/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi, Ed.
>
>While I agree in principle with your statement, you still have to admit
>that  there are some pretty shifty characters out there hustling pianos.
>I'm reminded of the time I walked in to tune a Story and Clark grand
>for an elderly gentleman, some years back. He led me to the piano, re-
>moved the music desk, and proudly pointed to the plate inside. "Do you
>know that this is?" he asked. To which I replied. "The plate." "And do
>yuou know what it's made of?", he inquired. To which I answered. "Cast
>iron."  "Correct! He said; "and do you know that Story and Clark holds
>a tune better than any other piano, because they're the ONLY manufact-
>urers who use cast iron plates?" He wasn't kidding. At that point his
>wife came in and said that that's what the saleman had told them, and
>that was why they had chosen that particular instrument. I guess it's
>also why they decided that it only needed to be tuned once a decade!
>
>Les Smith
>lessmith@buffnet,net
>
>On Sun, 16 Mar 1997 ETomlinCF3@aol.com wrote:
>
>> John Page and list,
>>
>> You made a comment...We all know a salesman will tell you anything to make a
>> sale.  This is part of the problem.  People make general comments that ALL
>> salesman this...and All salesman that.  I have been a tech for many years now
>> and have also been a top saleman with a large North West dealer.  We should
>> NEVER make general comments like this.  I find most salespeople in this
>> business want to deliver the best instrument someone can afford to buy.  I do
>> not LIE to make a sale and wish that comments like this would cease.  No good
>> can come from this type of  talk.  We need salespeople to sell and they need
>> us to tune.  Working together for the common good of pianos and music is what
>> we should be in the business for.  Let us not say things that devide us.
>>   There are good and bad salespeople and good and bad tuners.  Be careful not
>> to over generalize.
>>
>> Ed Tomlinson
>> Tomlinson Tuning and Repair
>>
>
>
>