An open letter to Marshall

[pianotune05@comcast.net]

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Hi Avery,
Johns letter was a private letter, or suposed to be anyway.  It was just a simple misunderstnading as what always happens on this list, well to me anyway. :)  Nothing was ever offered in terms of mentoring apprenticship etc by him to my knowledge.  I e-mailed him and took care of the matter because I value our techs here and their experience. 
Marshall
 ps. I'll keep lurking until further beatings occur . ;)  Please use a lighter tuning lever, my student lever might work.  
-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Avery <avery1@houston.rr.com> 
Marshall, it should be pretty obvious.

Avery 

At 12:53 PM 1/22/2006, you wrote:

and the point of this post is?
Marshall

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Pianofxrguy@aol.com 

To: pianotech@ptg.org 

Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2006 1:21 PM

Subject: An open letter to Marshall


I would make this a private e-mail to Marshall, but he has been very public in his comments:



Marshall,

    This is John, one of the other South Bend tuner/techs.  I am a lurker on the list, because I only get to check every couple of days and by the time I could make a comment on a topic it has usually been well commented on by everyone else. I greatly value the information shared among piano technicians on this forum and find that it echoes the general helpfulness when techs get together in person.

    I feel that you need to chill out a bit in your opinion of this area and the current piano business atmosphere. The "one" local dealer has survived because he concentrates on selling pianos and being of service to his customers instead of bashing other dealers and their products the way the rest of the, now defunct, dealers in this area have done. I have done floor tunings for him for over 30 years, and there are 2 other tuners who also tune at the store part of the time.  I don't know, but I suspect that having yet another tuner coming in would be a bit of overkill. 

    If you recall from our conversation a year or so ago, I told you that I didn't have time to do a mentor/apprentice thing with you but that the Potter course would be a good start and then you should get further information from someone with knowledge about the particular things you would need to learn as a sight challenged tuner. I also told you that I would be happy to answer any questions that you had, but that following me around on the days that I tuned in the store would be inconvenient for my work and a little uncomfortable for the dealer. Most dealers don't want people wandering around the store who aren't either customers or doing some sort of work. A store is a place of business, after all. If you had come in once a month or so, as I suggested, there was some work, for instance de-stringing a grand piano in the back room, that I was going to hire you to do. It would have been good experience for you, kept me doing what I am mainly there to do, and the dealer was fine with the arrangement. You never came back. I didn't know whether that meant you were not all that interested in learning the business or if you took offense at something I had said. I can now assume the latter.

    In our area, every piano tech that I know of has come in and taken a couple of years to get up and running with a business, working other jobs at first to make ends meet and some finally going full time. Each one has built up a client base and developed their reputation and has worked hard to keep their business afloat. I don't think that any of us is "hogging" piano customers, and I know that none of us is wealthy enough to stop taking on new ones. Unlike most other service businesses, tuners from time to time call another tuner to cover for them at a particularly busy time of year or if there are scheduling conflicts that can't be overcome, but we call on people whose tuning skills we are familiar with and whom we trust with the piano of one or more of our valued customers. You have been in the business a month or two and none of us knows anything about your work. You may be a fine tuner, but it is unlikely that I would recommend you to someone who trusts my judgement until I know that you would do a satisfactory job. If you screw up, I get the blame. 

    I think you need to work on your attitude toward the other tuners in the area, every one of which has been in some measure willing to talk to you and answer questions as far as I know. Regarding our area; I have lived here all my life and love this area, even with its artistic deficiencies, but if I hated being here, I think that would show in my relations with my customers. If you are truly wanting to get started around here, it would be to your benefit to work well with others. No one owes you a start in this business, but if any of us can send something your way when it seems appropriate, it is likely we would do it once we know who and what we are dealing with. 

    I have, perhaps, been a little free with the terms "we" and "us" since I haven't talked to anyone else about this. In fact, I only know 4 other tuners personally, but from my understanding of the ones that I know and from what I know about the others, I think we're a pretty laid back bunch and fairly easy to get along with given a little effort. Call any tuner you wish and offer some suggestions about how to demonstrate your skills and I think you might pick up some referrals, but it would be best not to assume that a tuner has a lot of time to chat in the evening as he/she is either making business calls of their own or trying to spend a little time with their family. Brief and to the point makes a good call, maybe set up a mutually agreeable time to have a longer conversation. I would not suggest that you make this your primary source of customers, however, because other tuners are in the business of building their own customer base and it may be that they would only have something for you once in a while. You have had excellent advice from others on the list on the topic of starting to build a client list, including several things that I wish I had heard of 30 years ago. 

    It all comes down to you and the effort that you want to put out. If you are seriously considering moving, you would probably not be working with a mind set of long term customer relations and that might effect the way you go about it. I would encourage you to sell your skills and personality rather than trying subterfuge to gain business. Keeping a reputation of honest dealings is more valuable in the tuning business maybe than in some other service related fields.

    I am pretty sure there are plenty of pianos in the area if you have the desire and perseverance to stick it out through the difficult times. 

    Sorry for the length of this e-mail, you should see the stuff I left out.

    Still available for consultation and question answering,

        John Stroup  

    

    
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