Nice to hear your voice Susan (I mean your writer's voice, although since I've met you a few times, my brain makes me imagine that I'm hearing you as I read your posts!) You make a good point about knowing your customers. I try to make a routine habit of letting my clients know that we are happy to do a reminder call at whatever interval they wish. We offer it as a complimentary service. That way we don't feel like nagging. I just make a note on the invoice, and Jean checks in with them when the time arrives. We are VERY low pressure. When people ask how often they should tune their piano I tell them: It depends on a number of factors: The age of the piano, the design of the piano, how hard and often it is played, the stability of the environment, the sensitivity of the player, and the piano budget. I tell them that the manufacture's without exception recommend at least twice a year tuning. This is to cover themselves so that if an owner tunes their piano in July and notices it sounds wacky in December that this is normal - it doesn't mean there's a problem with the piano. In the end I tell them they should tune whenever they like: Probably somewhere between once every two weeks and once every 10 years. So my advice to others is to simply ask your client if they would like a reminder call. In my experience a lot more than half want a call. We tell them there is NO pressure to schedule, that we're just checking in. Also along this vein, don't hesitate to ask your clients to refer you to others. "We are a word of mouth business so if your happy with my work please pass our name along." Likewise, "If you.re happy with the service you have received, please let so-and-so who refered you know about it. If you have the time we'd really appreciate it. Many times people are more than happy to do so. Ryan Sowers On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 9:58 AM, Susan Kline <skline at peak.org> wrote: > Ryan, that's a very good point. > > Still, I think we should consider what messages we are sending when we > phone or mail reminder cards. I believe we *think* we're saying, "See how > professional and organized I am! See what importance I give to the condition > of your piano!" But, sadly, the message which arrives may be more like, > "Nobody has called me for so long I have to go out and drum up work." At > best, it might be something like, "I'm a tight-ass who has to micro-manage > my business, or else I have an anxiety attack." Some people might respond > well to that, being somewhat of that persuasion themselves. (Retirees from > the Upper Midwest, in my experience, though of course there's no hard and > fast rule.) > > So, we might make ourselves a rule: know your customers, and choose your > tactics by what suits them, not by what you might imagine will be good for > you. > > Notice how the whole psychological landscape changes if they've _asked you_ > to remind them regularly! You are providing a requested service! So, if you > really feel your business requires building a good large herd of regular > repeat customers, the trick may be to figure out how to get them to ask you, > instead of your asking them. Perhaps you might just casually mention (during > a tuning) that for a certain number of *really special* customers, you call > them punctually every [however many] months, only it's VERY HARD for you to > find the time, but you try hard to do it on time, because they attach so > much importance to regular service, and you don't want them to feel you're > neglecting them, however busy you are. I think it has to be casual, because > as soon as you come across as giving a sales pitch, you have lost. And, in > my opinion, we shouldn't be giving sales pitches anyway. > > If you take this approach, and succeed too well at it, you might find that > you have made it come true -- that it IS a nuisance doing all those reminder > calls, that you ARE too busy with tunings already, and that even with your > best attempts to prune the reminders to a small number, it's easier said > than done. Reverse psychology can take on a life of its own. > > Doing one good tuning after another, while getting older all the time, > often will lead to more work arriving than one wishes to do, the exception > being extremely depressed areas, or ones with too many piano techs (not a > problem these days, most places), or places with very low population > density. (Lotsa miles ...) > > 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.) Then, if in desperation (REST, I need REST!) one > raises rates, it has a perverse effect. People then decide that of all the > piano techs in the area, YOU are the best, because you charge the most and > are the most booked ahead! And they will settle for nothing but the best. > <grin> > > Still, compared to people used to big salaries who find themselves standing > in lines at job fairs, we are lucky, very lucky. > > Susan Kline > > ------------ > > Ryan wrote: > >> I think it is important to have a secretary to make reminder calls. Its >> more professional than making them yourself. Having a friendly female voice >> on phone is the way to go. Also its easier for your phone person to talk you >> up. You can't do that nearly as effectively yourself. >> > > > -- Ryan Sowers, RPT Puget Sound Chapter Olympia, WA www.pianova.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100818/bf18740c/attachment-0001.htm>
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