customer perception

[Ron Nossaman]

>Great response.  One can still take this conversation several directions.
What
>do you do if after a *year* the tuning is still essentially where you put 
>it?  I
>used to suggest two-year tunings are adequate in some instances, but 
>respondents
>on this list disagreed with me.

Gee, someone on this list disagreed with me once too, but I forget the
circumstances <G>. I have customers I tune every other year, and some every
three or four. If that gets it for them, and the piano isn't suffering from
big pitch adjustments each time, I don't see a problem. I don't "lose" the
income from those interim tunings, because they never owed me those tunings
in the first place. They're people, not inventory. With surprising
frequency, a customer will ask how much it costs to restring "a piano", or
replace "the pads". The last tuner told them they needed new strings, or
"pads" in their Lester. My first reflex is to advise against putting over
$300 dollars worth of work in a $700 piano, though I've done it before and
could very well do it again under the right circumstances. My next
consideration is the criticality of this alleged need for strings or
whatever, by both the piano's and the owner's requirements. My first rule
is that if the piano does what the users need it to do, there's no
emergency unless I find some critical condition they aren't aware of. It's
the same thing with better quality instruments, but the cutoff point for
what is and isn't an issue for concern is considerably higher, but still
tempered by the customers needs/expectations. 

     

>Something else to muddy the water--  On the facial expressions of some 
>clients it
>appears that I actually lose credibility if I suggest tunings less often.  
>After
>all, some of them know the official line is every six months; I even inform 
>them
>of that, while also suggesting that annual tunings suit most clients, 
>considering
>the way they use their pianos.  Even with annual tunings, most of the change I
>make has to do with humidity variations; the whole piano is a little sharp or
>flat, by a cent or two.  I surely do wish more of them would take humidity
>control more seriously.  (To counterbalance this I should add that in some
>instances very frequent tunings are advisable.)

I figure I owe credibility to myself first, and if they hear something from
me that they aren't prepared for, they can either discuss it with me until
they get over it or call someone who will tell them what they want to hear
instead of what I think they need to know. There are plenty of folks out
there who don't want to hear anything contrary to what they already "know"
(this is starting to sound strangely familiar, somehow), but just want
validation from the professional. After talking about the yearly interval
option, if they still want six month intervals, I'm happy to oblige. The
difference is that THEY have made that decision based, at least in part, on
real INFORMATION, rather than just what some unnamed expert told them once
without explanation. Also, there are those who are knowledgeable and
demanding enough that they can hear the difference and are already
realistically setting the tuning schedule to their needs. No contest, I can
certainly improve a six month old tuning even if it is still pretty close.
In any case, the customer's more informed, I'm covered, and everyone walks
in with their eyes open and gets what they want - win win. 



> My dentist wants to see me every six months; I think annual is
>perfectly acceptable. 

Likewise, and Xrays are prescribed far more frequently than I consider to
be necessary. Also the insistence of the doctor to schedule that follow up
office visit to "see how you're getting along" when nearly any moron should
be able to tell for themselves how they're getting along without being
soaked for an unnecessary office visit. Talk about losing credibility, the
medical profession has nearly none left on my charts, and is moving further
into the "last resort" category with each office visit.  


> I change my car's oil every 3,000 miles, wondering if 
>it's
>necessary when it still looks almost as clean as when it was put in, and 
>this in
>a car that has run trouble-free for 110,000 miles.
>
>Regards,
>Clyde

You're a better man than I, Clyde.

Sorry about the length.
Regards, 

Ron N