Too much of a good thing

[Wimblees@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 98-11-23 09:20:26 EST, you write:

<< I am certain some of you long ago reached the point where I am now, so I
 would be interested in your advice.
 
 After six years of full-time piano service (and 11-12 years part-time
 before that) I am swamped with work.  How does one go about reducing a
 workload?  I am committed to reliable service for my current clients,
 and I have a waiting list that will probably take me into February, and
 others keep calling.  I do no advertising except in the phone book.
 
 Ideas I have considered:  refuse to go beyond a certain distance; refuse
 all new clients; stop calling back faithful clients who have old
 clunkers; become more expensive; there may be others.  When you got too
 busy, what did you do?  Would you do it the same way again, and if not,
 how would you do it differently?
 
 Regards,
 Clyde Hollinger, RPT
  >>


First of all, Clyde, congratuations. You must be doing the right thing to get
yourself in this postion, considering there is lots of competion out there.

You mentioned a couple of possibilites on how to reduce your clientelle, but
here are some that might work.

1. increase you fees dramatically, say 25%
2. reduce the area in which you work. Don't travel more than it take to do a
tuning, and then charge the customer the extra tuning.
3. work only on "good" quality pianos.

One word of caution, however. In the 22 years I have been in business, I have
been in your situation a couple of times. And guess what, before I knew it,
the phone stopped ringing, and was looking for work. Although it is very
tempting to find ways to reduce your clientelle, perhaps you should just
accept what you have, and keep plugging away as if you don't have a back up of
customers, because one of these days, the back up will be gone.  You can do
the three things I mentioned, but don't give up everything.

Just my thoughts.

Willem Blees