At 12:50 PM 9/11/2005, David Ilvedson wrote >But it was at your expense to drive back Drive back? I never drive "back". I fit them in between other appointments and tack them onto day ends on the way somewhere. Smart scheduling can make the time and driving spent on callbacks negligible... >and futz with the piano and you >support the customer's belief that something wasn't quite right with >your work. >Now you may have kept the customer by coming back but maybe not and >is it worth it? We are in a service industry. While we may think that our product is a properly tuned piano, in reality our product is customer satisfaction. Like it or not, that's the nature of a service business. Now, there are clients who can never be satisfied - and so we need to learn how to recognize those and not waste our time on them. As for the others, they are certainly worth the time and the expense of the occasional callback. I see myself as representing the PTG and the entire trade. I do not want to come off as the arrogant "expert" who is not responsive to customer concerns. Yes, there were some callbacks that turned out to be a waste of my time. There were others that paid for themselves many times over - some directly, some indirectly. Some yielded steady customers and referrals. Some were opportunities to educate piano owners about their instruments - like the difference between tuning and voicing. I'll never forget the lady who - as a result of a callback - was convinced that her 85-note Young Chang was really a toy and got herself a 7 foot Grotrian instead (and a nice fat dealer commission for me). Then there are the people who, after a callback, offer to pay for my time. And the occasional ones who cancel a callback before I can get there because "it sounds OK now". So, sometimes these callbacks generate income - immediate or deferred. And almost always they generate goodwill - which is a valuable commodity in our business, even if you cannot translate it into dollars and cents. So is it worth an occasional twenty minutes of my time and a buck's worth of gas? You bet... >It IS worth it if you are looking for work. You mean your clients never die, move away or go broke? Israel Stein
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC