Scheduling customers

[Clyde Hollinger]

IgorKatz2U@AOL.COM wrote:
> 
> I schedule customers 9:00, 11:00, 1:00 & 3:00 to allow time to do any extra
> work that needs to be done.  If all they need is a basic tuning then I get
> ahead of schedule & I'm early to my appointments.  Some customers seem to get
> offended if I show up early.  I could wait somewhere until the appointed time
> but this would be a waste of my time.  I'm interested in how much time the
> rest of you allow between tunings?  Thanks in advance from David Porter in St.
> Louis, MO

David:

I can recall only once that I showed up early.  I had tuned the piano
several days before and she had a complaint, so I said I would come by
at the end of my regularly scheduled day, maybe around 3:00 (no, I don't
usually finish by 3!).  As it turned out, my last customer forgot and
wasn't home, so I showed up at 2:00.  She was upstairs in the bathroom
washing her hair.  Although she was very polite to me, I could tell she
was displeased, and I made up my mind NEVER again to show up early
without calling first and getting an OK.  Surprisingly I didn't lose the
customer although I expected to.

I allow 1 1/2 hours between tunings.  After the first one I always give
at least a window of one hour ("I will arrive between 10:00 and 11:00,
Mrs. Greatheart").  I almost never have a problem with this.  In the few
instances where someone has to leave work to open the house for me, I
call them from the previous appointment and can narrow my arrival time
down to within ten minutes.  

I don't want to waste time, either.  Sometimes I take reading along I
want to do anyway (the October PTJ will be going with me today).  Other
times I give myself a coffee break and think how lucky I am to be able
to do so!  :-)

Clyde Hollinger