How to sell a broken string

[Dean May]

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As David and others have said it is primarily a matter of confidence. I
remember in the early days sweating how to explain to the customer that
they were going to have to pay extra for a new string. Now I charge
three times as much for a string as I did then and it is never a
problem. Of course I break fewer strings now as well. 
 
I tell them that if a string is going to break it is most likely to
break during tuning since that is when it is bound to see its greatest
stress load. It could have been any one of the faults David listed, but
it will happen when the string gets the extra stress load of tuning. 
 
Another factor is when I first started tuning my customer's tended to be
lower on the food chain than the customers I have now. I was underpriced
and I attracted customers who were very price conscious and who thought
tuning once every 20 years was adequate. That kind of clientele is going
to be more suspicious of upsells. 
 
Bottom line: be confident of your skills, develop a smooth pitch on the
reasons for string breakage, don't undercharge.
 
Dean
Dean May             cell 812.239.3359
PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272
Terre Haute IN  47802
 
-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Geoff Sykes
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2005 12:23 AM
To: Pianotech@Ptg. Org
Subject: How to sell a broken string
 
Greetings all, and happy holidays to everyone --
 
I had such great success with my last question that I thought I would
post a second one. (I have a third one coming in a couple of days.)
 
Broken strings happen! Sometimes you can see the precursor evidence that
indicates strings MAY break, but there really is no way to know for sure
that it may until it does.
 
When a string breaks, how do you explain to your customer that it wasn't
your fault? Naturally this may be a little easier with established
customers with whom you have developed some trust. But what about those
first time customers? The ones to whom you may have already had to
explain the concept of pitch adjustment and stability, and that
subsequent additional charge. How do you explain the situation, either
before or after the fact, so that they will not only pay for the repair,
but also (hopefully) call you again?
 
Bonus question: What measures do you take, beyond being careful and
crossing your fingers, to help prevent string breakage?
 
-- Geoff Sykes
-- Assoc. Los Angeles

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