[pianotech] repeat business

Paul T Williams pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu
Wed Aug 18 16:04:12 MDT 2010


I'm glad I learned this before becoming a  CAUT  I can't tell you how many 
times I have to schedule something between 9:30 and 10:30 or whatever and 
have to get the piano tuned in that time frame! If I lollygag my way up to 
whatever piano, I have that much less time to tune the thing...the end 
time is the same.  Fortunately they're close to begin with ,so I just have 
to touch up, but hey, if you're late, you're late. no excuses.  Again, my 
Navy upbringing.  (when a sailor is late for something, some bad thing 
could happen!!) It's not not drastic in our case, but you might all get my 
drift.  make an appointment, and then stick to it. I know things happen, 
but then, call!







From:
William Monroe <bill at a440piano.net>
To:
pianotech at ptg.org
Date:
08/18/2010 04:47 PM
Subject:
Re: [pianotech] repeat business



Paul,
 
I couldn't agree more.  Be on time.  I'm similarly able to be dead-on 
about 95% of the time and have the same policy if I'm early or late - call 
and let them know if I'm more than 5-10 minutes behind.  It may seem 
silly, but people respond to that and feel respected when you do that.  
You're telling them that you know their time is valuable.
 
And Wim, what do you know, we agree.  ;-]
 
I also send the postcard and then follow up with a phone call within a 
week or so.  This way, when you call, their memories have been recently 
refreshed as to who you are, and they don't think you're just some scam 
artist solicitor.  If your clients have asked you to call, they won't ever 
tell you they don't take phone solicitations.  Now you're calling at their 
request.  I've never gotten a snub on the phone for calling.  I do waffle 
on messages though, for the same reason.  I might leave a first message, 
again, it's a reminder as to who I am so they are expecting me when I talk 
to them, but then if I call again I don't leave a message anymore, I keep 
trying until I talk to someone.
William R. Monroe
On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 3:33 PM, Paul T Williams <
pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu> wrote:
I agree with the no return calls and not showing up on time.  I can't 
stand when the cable guy says he'll be there between 2 and 4 for a simple 
call!  What's up with that?  I have to sit and wait....until 4:30. Even 
worse, are the drywallers who just say Tuesday, and then show up on 
thursday.   

When I say 8am, I mean it and even try my best to be 5 minutes early, but 
usually with 90% accuracy, I can time it to ring the doorbell at 8am. This 
was even when I had a 100 mile radius....I just knew where the traffic was 
going to mess me up or whatever. If I was really early then a coffee 
break, if more than 10 minutes late, a phone call telling them I'm on the 
way. Later in the afternoon, if problems arised from earlier appointments, 
I would call just before going into the appointment before asking 
forgiveness, ok to be late, or reschedule. you know how some appointment 
can go 20-30 minutes over, and then another, and then another, and on and 
on ( I never made more than 4 in a day since I had a huge area and a ferry 
boat ride mixed into the mix) 

Maybe I'm just anal about that being raised in a Navy household.  I can't 
stand it when somebody tells me X:xx O'Clock and 20 minutes later, I'm 
still waiting! I guess it's just me.  Don't start me on customer "no 
shows!!" 

Not returning phone calls is a sure way to kill a business as well. 

well, enough from me. 

Paul 


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