Cost of Fear(was prices)

[A440A@AOL.COM]

>David Love wrote:
>> 
>> My general observation in all this (assuming a reasonable statistical
>> sampling), is that piano technician's are not charging enough given their
>> time, travel, skill and expertise, and the lasting benefit of what they
>> deliver.  Don't be such wimps.  Charge what you're worth.

Greetings, 
    There are a depressing number of service people that take pride in 
keeping their prices steady for as long as possible, as though this is giving 
the customer something more valuable than the lost income the provider 
suffers.  I submit that there are reasons to constantly increase the price of 
our service.
   None of us has more than one shot at life, here.   We have careers that 
develop  as we go, evolving or calcifying, depending on our ambitions and the 
luck the draw.  If we don't plan on a progressive increase in our abilities 
and income,  we end up going backwards.   It is essential that the beginning 
technician know where they want to take their skills and themeselves, and it 
has to start early.  
     In the beginning, an unknown tuner has no reputation to sell, only time. 
 She/He will work on anything, for almost any price,(I know I did).  The 
trick is to leave no skeletons in your closets, no burning bridges in the 
rear view mirror, and as few unhappy customers as you can.  If you don't sell 
quality, early, then you will have that much less foundation to build on as 
you go.  Some of these early customers just might grow with you and you will 
be helping them buy the grand of their dreams some day,  but only if they 
didn't lose confidence in you when you replaced that string on their console 
years ago.   
      The pricing should go with the expertise.  This is why beginners should 
accept that they will often have to compete via price and  do the lower 
paying work early in their career.  As they become more proficient, and more 
confidant, the more demanding work will begin to show up in the schedule.  
Room must be made for this higher paying/demanding work, and this room is 
best made by becoming more expensive.   If you don't raise your prices, you 
run out of time.  If you don't raise prices for years, and don't have much 
work,  look at your quality because something is missing.

     I have had a tech tell me that he had an 18 month backlog of tunings!  I 
thought that was insane.  When asked about his price, he was 25% under 
anybody else in his area.  I saw him a month later, he had raised his price 
25 %  and hadn't lost any customer yet, and that he couldn't believe he 
hadn't done it sooner.   
   What this tells me is that for an unknown period of time, my colleague had 
not been paid what he was worth.  This income is not recoverable, the time 
and the money are now past, and the best he can hope to do is stretch the 
envelope in the other direction and make up ground in the future. Some 
forward planning  would have resulted in more ca$h then and now. 
     So, why not raise the price?  Usually it is fear that the lost customers 
will not equal the increase in income.  This can be a legitimate fear in 
areas where the competition is high, but is usually unfounded.  You sell 
yourself before you sell the job, and your price is a component of your own 
self image.  It is important for any technician to run as close to their full 
potential as possible, and knowing when your prices are "well tuned" is 
critical to getting there.  If no customers are complaining, then you can be 
sure you are not charging enough, since there are customers out there that 
will complain about virtually anything!  
     When an appliance repairman comes to my house, spends 22 minutes 
installing a $25 timer in my refridgerator, and bills me $135,  it makes me 
think.  He is working on something that costs $700, and makes almost $90 per 
hour.  When I belly up to that $25,000 grand, and spend 90 minutes pounding 
my knuckles into mush,  what should I get?  
    Raise your prices until you hear squeaks,  it is the only way to know you 
are running full speed.  Fear of losing your customers can shortchange you 
every job you do, and will cost you far more than the loss of some of them. 
Regards, 
Ed Foote RPT