Don't start me on customer "no shows!!" Paul I have taken a different opinion on "no-shows". I don't like them, but I don't throw a fit. Just this morning, my first appointment was a no-show. Well, the husband was home, but his wife forgot to tell me I was going to be there, so he sent me away. I went to Walmart and did some shopping, then came home and did some paper work. I have learned that there are many reason why a customer isn't home at the appointed time. One of my no-show customers called two weeks after I left my business card in the door to apologize for not being home. She couldn't be there, and forgot to let me know, because the night before she had a heart attack. Obviously, that is a great excuse. But what about, "I forgot because I was having my hair done". Or, "I forgot because I was shopping, and couldn't get home in time". From our point of view, the reasons might not be valid. But we have to remember that from the customer's point of view, the reason is valid. For some women, getting her hair done is far more important than getting her piano tuned. Someone who went shopping needed to get the things she was getting. It is not our's to judge whether that is a valid excuse, or not. I consider no-show part of the job description of being in business. It comes with the territory. People have not shown up for appointments for as long as appointments have been made. We need to learn to accept it, not let it bother us, and go on with our lives. Wim -----Original Message----- From: Paul T Williams <pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu> To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Wed, Aug 18, 2010 10:33 am Subject: Re: [pianotech] repeat business 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 From: tnrwim at aol.com To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: 08/18/2010 03:04 PM Subject: Re: [pianotech] repeat business Having said all I said, what's hard is knowing how many of the no-callbacks are from my lack of disorganized, largely unsystematic and unmethodical way of running my business... and how many are from people that are putting piano service at the bottom of their to-do's, for whatever reasons. I guess what I'm saying is I wish I knew how much of a chance my business has at coming back. daniel carlton Daniel When I first started in this business 35 years ago, an old timer, who had himself at that time been in the business for 35 years, told me this. For no reason whatsoever, the phone will stop ringing, and then for no reason, it will start again. It has nothing to do with the economy, or the time of year, or the weather. And when I'm sitting around waiting for the phone to ring, the other tuners are running like crazy trying to get all the work done. This will last for a month or two, and then business will OK again for a year or two, and the cycle happen again. Just hang in there, and you'll be fine. I've found that to be true. When I've checked my income from one year to the next over a 5 year period, there never seems to be a pattern of when I'm busy and when I'm not. One year January will be busiest, the next year, January will the slowest month. All I can say is hang in there, and your business will come back. You also said: The reputation of being hard to get and way too busy spreads just like any other kind of reputation (like being prone to nag about repeat tunings, or not returning calls, or being slipshod, or always coming late, or charging a lot more than others... Of the five things you mention I would say that not returning phone calls and always being late are probably the two worst things you do. Customers don't like to be kept waiting, and they expect someone to call them back in a reasonable amount of time. If you can't do that, you need to re-evaluate your business practice, or perhaps think something else to do. But communicating with customers is as important, and sometimes even more important, than the quality of the work you do. Wim -----Original Message----- From: daniel carlton <carltonpiano at sbcglobal.net> To: PTG Mailing list <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Wed, Aug 18, 2010 9:00 am Subject: Re: [pianotech] repeat business Having said all I said, what's hard is knowing how many of the no-callbacks are from my lack of disorganized, largely unsystematic and unmethodical way of running my business... and how many are from people that are putting piano service at the bottom of their to-do's, for whatever reasons. I guess what I'm saying is I wish I knew how much of a chance my business has at coming back. daniel carlton -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100818/a0108307/attachment.htm>
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