I promise to call them the week before…normally the Friday afternoon prior….to confirm. For what it's worth, I have gotten a lot of very positive responses from my customers who get the post card. They really like it, much more so than thje phone call the night before, like they used to get. Mine are bright yellow, and I see them on the refrigerator or on the piano. I send them out 2 weeks in advance, which gives the post office time to return them if the people have moved, or forward them to their new house, in which case the customer calls me (most of the time). It also give the customers enough lead time to reschedule, or postpone, if necessary. Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician Mililani, Oahu, HI 808-349-2943 Author of: The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com -----Original Message----- From: AAA Piano Works, LLC <aaapianoworks at verizon.net> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Wed, Oct 7, 2009 3:07 pm Subject: Re: [pianotech] Scheduling I agree with Mr. Weiss, preschedule! I use the example of a dentist prescheduling the next appointment and I tell the clients that I follow the same procedure. Recently, I have been asking whether they prefer a 6 month or a year appointment. ( that way they are think “either… or” as opposed to “yes or no” if I ask the question “ Do you want to schedule the next appointment ) If they hesitate, then I=2 0offer them the idea of scheduling a year in advance with the option to call me before that if hear the piano go out of tune. Most go for that option. There is no pressure on them, and I get another appointment from them. I promise to call them the week before…normally the Friday afternoon prior….to confirm. This system works for me, but I try to be deliberate in my wording and aware of small changes in my verbiage that might make my presentation more professional and trustworthy. From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of David Weiss Sent: Wednesday, October 07, 2009 4:31 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Scheduling Pre-scheduling is the way to go. It’s efficient, and makes it easier to arrange your driving to reduce mileage on your car. About 40% of my clients pre-schedule, most for 6 months but some for a year. I send either a post card or email reminder one month in advance. The day before I call to confirm. I call during the day because I want to get their voice mail, not a live person. There’s time for conversation at the actual appointment. Develop a system and give it a try. David Weiss From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Matthew Todd Sent: Wednesday, October 07, 2009 12:00 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Scheduling =0 A 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 c all 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/20091007/7eb04733/attachment-0001.htm>
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