>So thanks everyone for your ideas. I hope you guys are all busy and the phones are ringing off the hook and the e-mails are coming. I hope I dont' sound too depressed. My family and friends tell me I seem depressed. Marshall< Dear Marshall - I just wanted to add a note to all the things that have already been said. I am very sympathetic to your situation, it's a rough place to be in. When I moved to Boone, Iowa in the 1970's, I came as an English teacher, hoping to find plenty of part time work as a tuner to supplement my teaching salary. Unfortunately, there were a number of established tuners withing a 30 mile radius of Boone, and it took a long time for business to build. Even today, there are good weeks and there are slow weeks. The economy has really done a number on a lot of people in this area, and I hear over and over again, "Not this year - try again next year and we'll see if we have more money." I've tried to diversify over the years,and that has helped, but it's still never easy. Anyway, I've been giving a lot of thought of some way you could build up some business in a hurry, and I have an idea that might possibly work. It's something I've never tried myself, however, so there may be reasons obvious to all why it wouldn't work, but let me explain it, and see what you think. Someone mention (I've read every suggestion, but have by now forgotten who's said what) that you use door hangers - which I think is a good idea. What if you were to put a short blurb on there about your business and offer to tune 13 notes (C4 - C5) for free. A baker's dozen of tuned notes. While this wouldn't make sense to someone who had there piano tuned on a regular basis, it might be enticing to the person who had a piano which hadn't been tuned in a long time, who wanted to see what the piano would sound like when in tune. You could state on the door hanger what your fee for a complete tuning would be, and make the offer to provide a tuning at a later date if the owner so desired. Many people who have neglected pianos are convinced that the piano "can't be tuned" and continue to ignore it simply because they think it's a lost cause. You could show them otherwise. Tune one octave, doing you're best work, and then play some simple one-finger melodies for them to demonstrate how the piano could sound. The key to this working, I believe, would be to present yourself as completely agreeable to whatever decision the owner would make, once the octave of notes were tuned. If you push hard for a full tuning, you are likely to just create resentment and resistance. Instead, as you're putting away your tools, talk about the potential for the piano in a completely non-pushy way. If the piano has no potential and would be a waste of money to work on, tell them so. If, however, there's hope, be honest about what you could do for the piano. Offer to give them an itemize list of any additional repairs that the piano might need in addition to tuning (go through and explain the work you're suggesting if they wish to learn what the piano needs), and then cheerfully instruct them to call if they decide to have work done. Then leave. Although I haven't tried this exact approach before, I do know that the soft sell approach has worked for me over the years. When I call people I never push. If they want to wait on their tuning, I just ask if and when they would like me to check back, and I leave it at that. I have always disliked being called by sales people who hound you and won't get off the phone, and have always tried to respect the customer's wishes. I don't know. This might lead to you tuning a lot of single octaves but nothing else. Or, you might not get people willing to even have you try. You haven't said (that I remember anyway) what the situation for you is concerning competition and numbers of potential customers. Are you in an area where there are pianos to be tuned? A snow shoveler in Hawaii would be sunk, no matter how good he could shovel snow. (Wim, I'm sure you could back me up on that. I don't imagine you even own a snow shovel.) In other words, you can't tune pianos if they're not there to be tuned. Also, if there are plenty of pianos to be tuned in your area, are there an overabundance of tuners? If you're the "new kid on the block," and everyone else is well established, it will be rough going for some time no matter what you try. With this approach, you might at least reach some people who don't have a regular tuner. Anyway, just a thought. There are probably reasons this wouldn't work, and I'm sure people will be quick to explain them. I really do wish you the best, Marshall. I've seen people give up on this business for a simple lack of work, and it just seems a shame, when they have so much to offer. If you do happen to give this a try, even on a small trial basis, please report back as to whether you had any success with it. I hope you find something that starts bringing some work in. Thanks, Chuck -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100412/b831f147/attachment.htm>
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