[pianotech] Scheduling

[paul bruesch]

On my way out the door, I'll ask a new customer if I should call in 6 months
or a year (<either/or>, not <yes/no>). Then when I get home, I "pencil them
in" for that timeframe and call them in 5-1/2 months or 11-1/2 months to
schedule. Sometimes they beg out when I call (e.g. someone got laid off) and
sometimes they schedule another month out.

When they beg out, I offer to call back in a few months. Only one comes to
mind that said "We have your card, we'll call you." (That was a donated
charity auction winner, decent newer Boston vertical which actually gets
used and was terribly flat when I tuned it.)

Doing it this way, I do have to do dreaded calling (to schedule), but I
don't have to be so organized to know what my "life" schedule will be like 6
months or a year out.

Paul Bruesch
Stillwater, MN

On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 11:00 PM, Matthew Todd <toddpianoworks at att.net>wrote:

> That sounds good, thanks!
>
> Anyone else care to chime in?
>
> ***TODD PIANO WORKS*
> Matthew Todd, Piano Technician
> (979) 248-9578
> http://www.toddpianoworks.com
>
>
> --- On *Wed, 10/7/09, wimblees at aol.com <wimblees at aol.com>* wrote:
>
>
> From: wimblees at aol.com <wimblees at aol.com>
> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Scheduling
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 3:31 AM
>
>
>  Matthew
>
> I had never done pre-scheduling before I came to Hawaii,until I bought the
> client list from the widow of a tuner. He had his customers "programmed" to
> where they were insisting to pre-schedule, not just 6 months ahead, but even
> a year ahead. I've been doing this now for 2 years, and it's great. Before I
> leave, I get out my palm pilot and schedule the next appointment, and write
> it on the tuning ticket as well. When I get home, I've created a spreadsheet
> on which I keep track of all my pre-schedules. I also have programmed my
> data base to show me which customers are pre-scheduled. Then by about the
> 15th of every month, I look at my calendar/palm pilot, and cross reference
> that with my spreadsheet and database. I send out a reminder card 2 weeks
> before the appointment to remind my customers I'm coming, giving them a
> chance to cancel or change the appointment.
>
> No, it's not fool proof. Some customers will call to cancel. Some will
> re-schedule. Some will totally forget to call me, and won't be home. I had
> one the other day, after I showed up, say. "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to call
> you to tell you not to come. I don't need it tuned". And when I got to one
> house a couple of months ago, there was a for sale sign in front of the
> house, and the house was empty. But, by the same token, I've had customers
> call me 3 or 4 months ahead of schedule to re-schedule to another day,
> because they knew they were going to be busy, or off island, for the day I
> was supposed to show up.
>
> So while it may be a hassle for some customers, and for you, to keep it all
> straight, for the most part it works great. Most of my customers are home,
> and they appreciate not only the post card, but also that I am conscientious
> enough to make sure their pianos are kept in tune, even though some of them
> don't even play it any more.
> Almost two thirds of my customers are pre-scheduled for either 6 months or
> a year. This month alone, I have 32 appointments already scheduled.
> Wim
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Matthew Todd <toddpianoworks at att.net>
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Sent: Tue, Oct 6, 2009 5:03 pm
> Subject: [pianotech] Scheduling
>
>    I would like to get everyone's input on scheduling appointments six
> months out before leaving the customer's home.  I just scheduled a few this
> past week.  I don't want to do too many until I get a feel for this method.
> On one hand it can be good because you have that time slot taken.  But on
> the other hand, how often would a customer call to cancel right before the
> appointment, creating a hole?  I guess there is no way to know, which is why
> I only did a few.
>
> Just wondering who has had success with this, and who hasn't.
>
> Thanks!
>
> ***TODD PIANO WORKS*
> Matthew Todd, Piano Technician
> (979) 248-9578
> http://www.toddpianoworks.com
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091007/0be074ac/attachment.htm>