Pricing

[Brad Smith, RPT]

Thanks to all for kind replies to my post this morning,  
Glad to hear from like-minded pros!  
Analogies really help us make points quickly. 
I'll be doing a class on 'Sales Fundamentals' in California at
SACPTG.ORG convention.   
http://sacptg.org/classdata/bradsmith.htm

Hope to have a book on the subject within the year, we'll see. 
Mean time, I do have a 'manual' of rough material which I developed to
teach sales basics.  
You are welcome to dig into it if you wish, it's at this link: 
http://www.smithpiano.com/salesfundamentals.htm
The manual is there in a reduced form 35 page .pdf file. 

Thanks to everyone for contributing to this list. We are all wiser and
wealthier for it! 
Best regards,
Brad Smith, RPT
 


Brad

I really appreciate your analysis of the 'art' of presenting our
services . .  there's many times that I've been caught in the trap of
quoting a price on the phone, only to find that there is more work
needed, which must be done in good consience, either with payment, or
for free, to have the piano reach a level of minimum performance. The
customer is invariably sceptical of explanations which, to the unaware,
sound like an 'up-sell' to which we all have been subjected, and
dislike.

Your comments on the dynamics of 'selling' what we do, and the control
issues involved in the transaction were quite enlightening. I'd love to
hear more.

I have always had a twinge of uncomfortable-ness when in the position of
' revising a quote' and am slowly learning to NOT give a firm price,
rather explaining that I have to see what is involved. I use the analogy
of taking their car in to be fixed, and the mechanic pricing the repair
before he sees the car! . . . They seem to see the logic in the
comparison.